Show Notes for Episode 7 of Teach Me to Walk in the Light Podcast. Learn how being a member of God’s kingdom takes more than just being baptized, it takes a new birth. Includes an FHE suggestion and a teaching tip on why you should be using object lessons when teaching. Also includes another fun family activity to add to your family’s winter bucket list.
FHE Outlines are available by email.
Sign up to receive weekly FHE Outlines delivered right to your inbox! Making FHE preparation as simple as possible for you!
PERSONAL STUDY [2:46 ]
Elder Hallstrom taken from his October 2007 General Conference Talk “Do It Now”
[To hear this story, click HERE]
Part of our journey back to our Father in Heaven involves making mistakes. We all do, no one is perfect. What’s wonderful is that although we are not perfect, Christ loves us anyway.
One of my most favorite quotes from Elder Holland is:
“Christ loves us where we are, even if that is not yet where we ought to be” (“Lift Up Your Eyes,” Ensign, July 1983, 13).
How blessed we are to have church leaders and scriptures to point us in the right direction.
One of the things we are taught to help point us in the right direction is that it’s not ok to be reluctant to fix our mistakes or as Elder Hallstrom said, “…delay full spiritual involvement because of laziness, fear, rationalization, or lack of faith.” That’s not ok. That hinders our progression back to our Father in Heaven. That’s because returning back to our Father in Heaven takes more than just being baptized into His church. It takes being born again.
In John 3: 5 it says:
Jesus answered, Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water AND of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Elder Orson Pratt once said,
“Water baptism is only a preparatory cleansing of the believing penitent, whereas, the Baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost cleanses more thoroughly, by renewing the inner man…” [Orson Pratt, “The Holy Spirit,” 49–64, in Orson Pratt: The Writings of an Apostle, Mormon Collector Series, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Mormon Heritage, 1976), 57.]
I once heard Brad Wilcox compare waiting to repent to that of cramming for a test. When you cram for a test, you forget the information after the test. The Lord wants it written on our hearts and make it a part of us.
The reason, when we talk about this mighty change of heart, that it is sometimes referred to as a new birth is, as President Benson has said, “…it is as though we have become a new person. Thus, the change is likened to a new birth.” (Find his full talk HERE)
So how? How do we get this change of heart? How do we get this cleansing of the Spirit and new birth?
In the scriptures, there are accounts of men and women who have dramatic spiritual rebirths like Alma the Younger for instance or King Lamoni and his wife (Mosiah 27 and Alma 36; Alma 18-19.)
President Benson has said:
“…The scriptures record remarkable accounts of men whose lives changed dramatically, in an instant… Such astonishing examples of the power to change even those steeped in sin give confidence that the Atonement can reach even those deepest in despair.
But we must be cautious as we discuss these remarkable examples. Though they are real and powerful, they are the exception more than the rule. For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands of people who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said ‘were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not.’”(Ezra Taft Benson, “A Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign, Oct. 1989)
It’s a slow process of living lives of goodness, service and commitment.
How can we know we’ve been changed?
1.Peace of Conscience. The same peace Enos experienced when he said, “My guilt was swept away.” (Enos 1:6) Spiritual rebirth doesn’t completely take away our memory of our sins, we may remember our sins to a degree that we even feel remorse or pain associated with them, but through spiritual rebirth the guilty conscience is removed, we no longer have that weighing down of guilt and as Alma testified in Mosiah 27:29 “…my soul is pained no more”
2.A Feeling of Joy and Divine Love. Alma testifies of this when he said (Alma 36: 20-21) “And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy”
3.No Desire to Do Evil, but to Do Good Continually. King Benjamin’s people experienced this and declared in Mosiah 5:2: “The Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent . . . has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”
There’s also the high priests in Alma chapter 13 whose “garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb” and whose hearts and lives were changed by the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost so that they “could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence” (Alma 13:11–12).
Once we change, are we forever changed?
No, it takes work. It takes continually living our lives the best we can.
And the downside to it, if we DON’T work on it and we are reluctant, then just as Elder Hallstrom said, “there is an irretrievable loss of progress and surely regression.” So we can cause ourselves to not only stop progression but we could cause ourselves to spiritually regress – to go backward instead of forward.
Alma 5:26
“And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”
It basically comes down to, in order to keep a change of heart, to continue to sing the song of redeeming love, to continue to move forward on the straight and narrow path, is to choose Jesus again and again. It’s not a one-time thing, it’s a daily decision.
[End with words from a song written by Shawna Edwards called Choose Him Again. To hear the song, click HERE]
FHE Outlines are now only available through the Teach Me FHE Email Group
Sign up to receive your weekly FHE Outlines delivered right to your inbox! Making FHE preparation as easy as possible for you!
*Sign up at the top of the page under the recording*
TEACHING TIP [21:16]
Object Lessons
The Savior himself gave many object lessons during His ministry. The reason object lessons are so powerful is that it helps us to relate intangible gospel principles like faith, testimony, and repentance and relate it to something tangible. Something you can see and physically touch.
It helps bring to life these intangible principles and gives a deeper understanding of the lesson being taught. It’s especially helpful when teaching kids. For example how easy is it to describe repentance to a child? We can’t tell him what color it is, we can’t tell him what shape it is but we could relate it to something like a bar of soap and show how repentance is like washing the dirt away.
Hilary Weeks IG post:
“While holding a bottle of chilled water, my daughter Kenzie asked our youngest daughter if she would like some water. She said yes but her cup was upside down and no water could be poured in. Kenzie asked again. Marley said yes again. But her cup was still upside down. Once the cup was turned upright Kenzie was able to pour Marley some water. She made the analogy that the Savior is ready to give us living water and we need to be ready to receive. It was perfect. Didn’t take long. Didn’t require lots of preparation. Yet it prepared us to learn.”
2 Simple TIPS about object lessons:
- WHEN TO USE AN OBJECT LESSON: A great time to use an object lesson is at the very beginning of a lesson to gain the attention of those your teaching. It causes interest and gets their focus and if you wanted to you, you could build an entire lesson around it. Always referring back to it. AND Another great time you can use an object lesson is at the end to conclude and summarize what it is that was taught. Great way to wrap things up at the end.
- PRACTICE: Practice the object lesson first. Gather all of the supplies and practice the object lesson first. Practice doing it, practicing saying what it is you are comparing the object lesson to. You’ll be more confident when you give your lesson if you practice it ahead of time.
Great resource for Object Lessons that I love. “Scripture Study for Latter-Day Saint Families – The New Testament” by Dennis Leavitt and Richard Christensen. You can find copies of the book on Amazon and it’s also available at Deseret Book. If you’re a member of Deseret Bookshelf PLUS you can actually read it for FREE.
#taketimeforfamily [24:53]
Two ways to create natural teaching moments is through spending time together and conversation. They don’t have to always be big, planned out activities – what’s important is that you make time for it.
Family Movie Night
On our winter bucket list, we have 2 winter movies listed: Iron Will and Eight Below. Both movies take place in cold wintery weather. Themed movie nights can be fun.
A fun thing you can do with Family Movie Night to make it fun is making a snack you don’t usually make or buy a selection of snacks and make a snack bar. OR you could even include a simple dinner like eating pizza while watching a movie.
Another fun thing you can do is dim the lights and throw tons of blankets, pillows and bean bags or cushions on the floor. If it’s warm where you live, plan a movie night outside.
Tradition
Our family has had the tradition for years now, this doesn’t include the whole family but all family members 12 and up one night a week watch a movie together. This started back when my 2 oldest hit 12 and over and I still had 4 other little ones, one being a baby. The older kids always look forward to it. They know it won’t be a cartoon that we watch and they look forward to having mom and dad to themselves. Many times after the movie we end up just sitting and talking and it’s nice because we don’t have the distraction of little ones. It’s been a great thing at our house and it’s become a big deal to turn 12 and join the 12 and up movie night.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to take pictures and post them on IG or FB and use the hashtag #taketimeforfamily – let’s fill the social media world with great examples of spending time with our loved ones.
If you have a fun family activity you’d like to share, you can email me at melanieslibrary@gmail.com. Email me and let me know and I may give you a SHOUT out and share your idea. Also, if you have any good Dinner Table Conversation Starters – feel free to share those too.
Yours Truly,
P.S. Be sure and join the monthly Finding JOY Newsletter that gives you all the latest updates on the newest podcasts and is packed with lots of great gospel resources! 🙂
