Bonus content: Christmas talk about Jesus Christ

This is the talk I gave to the Byrd Springs Ward on Dec. 20, 2019.


Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy!

However, in the Book of Mormon, Lehi tells us that there is opposition in all things. Basically, we have to know sorrow to know joy.

I want to take a moment and ask: What would life be like without Jesus Christ? It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? I’ve believed in Jesus Christ for so long, I feel like sometimes I start to take His beautiful sacrifice for granted.

Without Christ, It is a world of sorrow. A world of pain. A world of hopelessness. A world of darkness.


Yet, into that dark world shines a light. As the apostle John says, “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

The same Isaiah who gave such a dark and mournful picture of a world without a Savior also gives us beautiful phrasing of joy, promising the entry of our Savior into such a world of sorrow.

He says,

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.”

This phrase perfectly describes the dichotomy that is Christ. A “child is born” shows Christ’s humanity. “A Son is given” reminds us that He is the divine Son of God. And Unto Us is repeated twice- emphasizing that Christ came for US! For US! That is tidings of great joy indeed.

This year in my Come Follow Me studies, I discovered a new favorite Scripture that brought me joy as I contemplated Christ’s mission on earth. In Luke 4:18, Christ announces his role as our Savior when He says:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

We have Joy when we remember that Into a world full of sorrow, a world full of broken, captive people, Christ comes with love. He is the good news of the Gospel. He is healing. He is deliverance. He is recovery. He is freedom. He is life.

Alma 9:26-27 “the Son of God shall come in his glory; and his glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, equity, and truth, full of patience, dmercy, and long-suffering, quick to hear the cries of his people and to answer their prayers.

27 And behold, he cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance, through faith on his name.

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.”

We have Joy when we remember we are redeemed from the sorrow of our sins and iniquities by this perfect Son of God.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

D&C 19:16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

Isaiah 1:18 Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.”

We have Joy when we remember that even as He promises deliverance from sorrow, He also promises perfect empathy and understanding of the sorrow He is delivering us from.

Alma says, “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he willctake upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.”

And what about death? Because of Him, we have the Joy of knowing that we will live again and see loved ones again. The sorrow of death is banished. As the hymn He is Risen says, “Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory.”

Mosiah 15: 20 But behold, the bands of death shall be broken, and the Son reigneth, and hath power over the dead;

“It was unthinkable, impossible, unfathomable, unprecedented – a single act that changed history, possibility, destiny.

He was a carpenter, a teacher, an outcast, a leader; yet he did what no other carpenter, teacher, outcast, leader had ever done.

Like all who preceded him, he lived and he died, but unlike all who preceded him, he rose from the dead. He lived again.

He lives and because he lives we will live again. Because of him death has no sting, the grave no victory.

We can start again and again and again. Because of Him guilt becomes peace, regret becomes relief, despair becomes hope. Because of him we have second chances, clean slates, new beginnings and there is no such thing as the end. Because of Him.”

Because of Him, we have Joy.

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.”

This Christmas season, I hope you feel these tidings of great joy.

I invite you to rejoice in Christ. Rejoice that sorrow is no more. Rejoice in that little baby that was born 2000 years ago. Rejoice in the man He grew up to become.

Rejoice in all that He is, all that He has done, all that He will do, and all that we have because of Him.

He lives. He loves us. He is our Prince of Peace. He is our Savior and King. He is our Joy. After all,

“For unto us a Child is born. Unto us, a Son is given.”