Come, Follow Me Daily Study Guide for the week of September 7-13, 2020 covering 3 Nephi 1-7. For personal and/or family study of the scriptures, geared towards families with teenagers, single adults, and empty nesters.
*This is a suggested outline that coincides with the Come, Follow Me manual. There is not just one right way when it comes to studying the scriptures. Everyone should study in a way that is best for them, but I do hope that you find these outlines helpful.
**I highly suggest getting a scripture journal. Throughout the year there will be several times that I will suggest jotting something down in your scripture journal. These are also great for writing down any impressions or “Aha” moments that you might have as you study the scriptures.
***A free PDF DOWNLOAD of the Study Guide is available at the bottom of this post, making it easy for those who’d like to print out a copy. OR you can add Melanie’s Library to your mobile device home screen by following these instructions, click HERE
****SONGS – For a list of suggested songs for each day of the week, be sure and check out the blog called Music for Latter-day Life by clicking HERE
FHE DAY
Start the week off right with a Family Home Evening that is focused around the upcoming week’s Come, Follow Me. Sign up for the Teach Me FHE email group and receive an FHE outline delivered right to your inbox every Sunday morning. Sign up at the bottom of this post.
BEGAN TO BE LESS AND LESS ASTONISHED
BACKGROUND
SHARE INSIGHT BY DAVID BUTLER: (Taken from Don’t Miss This)
We live in a world of bigger and better. The phones and movie special effects and car features that were magnificent and miraculous ten years ago are considered outdated and boring today. I thought this while riding on a plane recently. I was flying in a metal tube across the country while watching a movie on the seat back in front of me and texting my friend who was on the ground. And yet, I wasn’t fascinated by any of it. In fact, I was a little annoyed that the texts were taking so long to load, and there was a static line that scrolled up the LCD screen every few seconds that got so distracting I almost wanted to switch seats. Somehow, I lost the wonder of all these amazing technological feats. They had become commonplace and almost expected.
I don’t know what to do about my technology snobbiness, but I hope this same nonchalance for amazing things never spills into the spiritual part of my life. I never want to lose the wonder and majesty for the things of God. I want to still have my breath taken away when I figuratively see His hand or hear His voice or witness His miracles in my life today. Instead of being less and less astonished, I hope to always be more and more grateful that God would even consider continuing to be so good to me and to this world. I hope my admiration and my astonishment just keeps getting bigger and better.
SCRIPTURE
You might think that witnessing something so miraculous as a night without darkness would stay with you for a long time and be an anchor to your testimony. But the memories of the signs and wonders the Nephites witnessed seemed to fade over time. What caused them to forget, and what were the results of forgetting? (CFM manual)
READ: 3 Nephi 2:1-3
MINI LESSON
President Henry B. Eyring has encouraged us to look for the hand of God and recognize the abundant blessings God gives to us every day.
VIDEO: O Remember, Remember (1:28), click HERE
PONDER & DISCUSS
SCRIPTURE JOURNALS: Invite your family to take a few minutes to list in their scripture journals any spiritual experiences that they have had. Remind your family that spiritual experiences do not need to be dramatic or unusual to be meaningful. Suggest that they ponder times when they have felt the love of their Heavenly Father or the influence of the Holy Ghost. It could be a time that they received an answer to prayer, a priesthood blessing, or when they served someone.
ASK:
- Why do you think it might be important to remember these spiritual experiences today and 10 or 20 years in the future?
- How can forgetting spiritual experiences make us vulnerable to Satan?
- What can we do to ensure that we do not forget the spiritual experiences we have had?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: O Remember, Remember
CONFERENCE TALK: Faith Is Not by Chance, but by Choice
SATAN INTIMIDATES, THE LORD STRENGTHENS
BACKGROUND/SCRIPTURE
(Taken from both Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families & Come Follow Me Through the Book of Mormon)
OBJECT LESSON: Place a heavy object in the middle of the room (barbell, a stack of books, easy chair, and so on). Ask a family member to pick up the object alone. Ask another family member to join the first and pick it up again. Continue adding people until every member of the family is helping.
Discuss how the burden became lighter and easier to handle as more hands were added.
READ: 3 Nephi 2:11-12 and discuss how this event can be similar to what happened in the object lesson
- Why did the Nephites and converted Lamanites unite as one?
- What were they forced to do to save themselves from the Gadianton robbers?
- What did they hope to maintain? (Their rights, religion, and freedom)
READ: 3 Nephi 3: 13-16 and see what Lechoneus, the chief judge and governor, tells his people to do
Compare the gathering of the Nephites with the gathering of Latter-day Saints today.
Although all the members of the church are not gathered together in just one place, Latter-day Saints are coming together all over the world in their wards and stakes.
STATISTICS AND CHURCH FACTS: Explore the statistics of the worldwide Church and the statistics by continent by going to the following website.
newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org
Click on: Resources (at the top)
Click on: Facts and Statistics (in the drop-down menu of Resources)
This is where you’ll see the worldwide statistics and you can also click on different continents and countries at the top.
ASK: How does gathering in families and in wards or branches provide protection for us? What is an example of a time when you felt protected from the attacks of the adversary because of your efforts to gather with your family, ward, or branch?
You may discuss what role unity has played in your experience with youth conference, girls camp, FSY, and so forth.
MINI LESSON/PONDER & DISCUSS
GAME: Play the game Hangman with the word Intimidate
(If unsure how to play, watch this quick video by clicking HERE)
One of Satan’s favorite tools is intimidation. What does it mean to intimidate?
(According to a dictionary it means: frighten or overawe (someone), especially in order to make them do what one wants.)
Have you ever had an experience where others have mocked you for doing what is right and perhaps also have tried to pressure you into doing something wrong?
Giddianhi, the leader of the Gadianton robbers, wrote a letter to Lachoneus. Read the following letter and look for statements Giddianhi used to try to intimidate or frighten Lachoneus.
READ: 3 Nephi 3:1-10
- How does Satan use similar strategies today?
- According to verses 11–12, what was Lachoneus’s reaction to the letter?
- How can we help each other if one of us is being mocked for doing what’s right or being pressured into doing something wrong?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
GUIDE TO THE SCRIPTURES: Israel—The gathering of Israel
VIDEO: Worldwide Devotional for Youth
I AM A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST
BACKGROUND/SCRIPTURE
What do you think it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Read the following verses and then in your scripture journals jot down what you found in these passages that helps you understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ. *In chapter 5, Mormon is talking about himself and how he is a disciple of Jesus Christ and then in chapter 7 Mormon describes the ministry of another disciple – the prophet Nephi. (Adapted from CFM manual)
READ:
- D&C 41:5
- 3 Nephi 5:12-13, 20-22
- 3 Nephi 7:15-20
Share with each other what you found in the verses to help you understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ. What are some other things that you could add to your list? The following quote may help.
SHARE QUOTE BY PRES. JAMES E. FAUST:
“…What is discipleship? It is primarily obedience to the Savior. Discipleship includes many things. It is chastity. It is tithing. It is family home evening. It is keeping all the commandments. It is forsaking anything that is not good for us.” (Discipleship by James E. Faust)
MINI LESSON
In President Faust’s talk entitled Discipleship he shared the following true story.
SHARE STORY:
During the Mexican Revolution, Rafael Monroy was the president of the small San Marcos Mexico Branch, and Vicente Morales was his first counselor. On July 17, 1915, they were apprehended by the Zapatistas. They were told they would be spared if they would give up their weapons and renounce their strange religion. Brother Monroy told his captors that he did not have any weapons and simply drew from his pocket his Bible and Book of Mormon. He said, “Gentlemen, these are the only arms I ever carry; they are the arms of truth against error.”
When no arms were found, the brethren were cruelly tortured to make them divulge where arms were hidden. But there were no arms. They were then taken under guard to the outskirts of the little town, where their captors stood them up by a large ash tree in front of a firing squad. The officer in charge offered them freedom if they would forsake their religion and join the Zapatistas, but Brother Monroy replied, “My religion is dearer to me than my life, and I cannot forsake it.”
They were then told that they were to be shot and asked if they had any request to make. Brother Rafael requested that he be permitted to pray before he was executed. There, in the presence of his executioners, he kneeled down and, in a voice that all could hear, prayed that God would bless and protect his loved ones and care for the little struggling branch that would be left without a leader. As he finished his prayer, he used the words of the Savior when He hung upon the cross and prayed for his executioners: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” With that the firing squad shot both Brother Monroy and Brother Morales.
SHARE QUOTE BY PRESIDENT FAUST:
… In the early days of the Church, other disciples in addition to Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith also laid down their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ… For most of us, however, what is required is not to die for the Church but to live for it.
President Faust also said:
…Everything in life has a price. Considering the Savior’s great promise for peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come, discipleship is a price worth paying. It is a price we cannot afford not to pay. By measure, the requirements of discipleship are much, much less than the promised blessings.
OPTIONAL – As a family, memorize the following scripture verse. *You may personalize it by adding in your own name after the word “I”
3 Nephi 5:13
Behold, I [insert first name] am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.
Download and print PDF to help you memorize it
Ideas on memorizing:
- Download the PDF and cut up the words in the verse and lay them out for everyone to see. Take away 1-2 words after every time you say the verse together. Repeat the verse until all the words are gone.
- Write down the first letter of each word in the verse on a whiteboard or piece of paper. It’s amazing how just the first letter can help you remember what word it stands for. Eventually, take away the letters one or more at a time.
- Have each person write out the scripture verse in their scripture journals with the opposite hand they usually write with.
- Treat or small candy to anyone who can memorize it
PONDER & DISCUSS
Ponder the following question: How can I be a better disciple of Jesus Christ?
OPTIONAL – Watch/listen to the following song as you ponder the question
SONG: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus, click HERE
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: Discipleship
CONFERENCE TALK: Becoming a True Disciple
CONFERENCE TALK: The Language of the Gospel
VIDEO: How Was Nephi, Son of Nephi, Similar to John the Baptist? (1:00)
GENERAL CONFERENCE DAY
Study a recent General Conference talk. A great way to study a conference talk – with either your device or your own copy of the Ensign and a highlighter – read along as you listen and highlight the part(s) that stands out to you. Then after the talk, review and/or share and discuss what you have highlighted.
THIS WEEK’S TALK: Spiritually Defining Memories By Elder Neil L. Andersen, click HERE
CATCH UP DAYS
Do one of the days that you missed OR any of the additional resources listed.
Yours Truly,
P.S. For more Come, Follow Me resources, check out my post Your Ultimate Guide to Come, Follow Me. It lists over 100 Come, Follow Me resources that are available online starting with the church’s resources at the top. You can find it by clicking HERE.
P.P.S. Sign up here for the Teach Me FHE email group and receive FHE outlines delivered right to your inbox every Sunday morning.
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