{"id":1271,"date":"2014-01-20T07:14:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T14:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/?p=1271"},"modified":"2014-01-20T07:23:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T14:23:38","slug":"mary-and-joseph-travel-to-bethlehem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/?p=1271","title":{"rendered":"Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge vowed \u201cI will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.\u201d I am going to keep Christmas all the year by remembering my Savior and studying His life each week. Scrooge isn\u2019t the only one who can\u00a0<a title=\"Vision Climb\" href=\"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/?page_id=55\" target=\"_blank\">make a change for the better<\/a>. I can and you can. Elder Richard G. Scott promised, \u201cThe best way to make a permanent change for good is to make Jesus Christ your model and His teachings your guide for life\u201d (<a title=\"A Personal Study Plan\" href=\"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/?page_id=238\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cHe Lives! All Glory to His Name!\u201d<\/a>). Please join me and invite your family and friends to join us in keeping Christmas all the year.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GLEjPrdRLuI?rel=0\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from C\u00e6sar Augustus, that all\u00a0the\u00a0world should be\u00a0taxed.\u00a0(And\u00a0this\u00a0taxing\u00a0was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)\u00a0And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Jud\u00e6a, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his\u00a0espoused\u00a0wife, being great with child.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.\u00a0And she brought forth her\u00a0firstborn\u00a0son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the\u00a0inn. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lds.org\/scriptures\/nt\/luke\/2.1-7?lang=eng#primary\" target=\"_blank\">Luke 2:1-7<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Points to Ponder:<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<ol>\n<li>In what ways do people today refuse to make room for the Savior in their lives?<\/li>\n<li>What can we do to make room for Jesus Christ in our lives?<\/li>\n<li>As you consider this video and Matthew&#8217;s account of Joseph, what are your thoughts on Joseph&#8217;s character? How does his example inspire you?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.\u00a0Then Joseph her husband, being a just\u00a0man,\u00a0and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>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.\u00a0And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,\u00a0Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:\u00a0And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name\u00a0JESUS. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lds.org\/scriptures\/nt\/matt\/1.18-25?lang=eng#17\">Matthew 1:18-25<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Click\u00a0<a title=\"New Testament\" href=\"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/?page_id=673\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>\u00a0for additional New Testament posts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge vowed \u201cI will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.\u201d I am going to keep Christmas all the year by remembering my Savior and studying His &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/?p=1271\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,16,25,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus-christ","category-mission","category-new-testament","category-peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1271"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1277,"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271\/revisions\/1277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountaintopmentoring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}