Come, Follow Me Daily Study Guide for the week of June 29 – July 5, 2020 covering Alma 23-29. 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.
TENDER MERCIES OF THE LORD
BACKGROUND
What does “tender mercies of the Lord” mean to you? How would you describe it to someone who didn’t know what “tender mercies of the Lord” meant?
VIDEO: The Tender Mercies of the Lord (3:48), click HERE
SCRIPTURE/PONDER & DISCUSS
Although the sins that Ammon and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had to overcome were likely quite different from anything in your life, we all rely on the mercy of God.
READ: Alma 26:17-22
- What do you find in those verses that help you understand God’s mercy?
- Have you ever felt God in your life inviting you to repent?
- What blessings have come to you through repentance?
- How has repentance changed your life for the better?
MINI LESSON
OBJECT LESSON: On a big piece of paper, write down a math problem like the one below. Tell everyone you are going to solve this math problem and then they are to check it and tell you if your answer is correct. **When you do the math problem, be sure and get one number WRONG in your calculations causing you to get the wrong answer**
130
x 25
After they tell you the answer is wrong, have everyone watch you go back through the problem, find which number is incorrect, and then redo the problem – this time getting it correct.
Lesson Learned: We can compare doing this math problem to repentance. If we make a mistake but keep going forward, we will never end up with the right answer. We have to go back, undo, and start again.
QUOTE BY JEFFREY R. HOLLAND:
I know it isn’t easy to go back and to undo and to start again and to make a new beginning, but I believe with all my heart that it is easier and surely more satisfying to begin anew than to go on and try to believe that justice will not take its toll. As Richard L. Evans was fond of saying, “What’s the use of running if you’re on the wrong road?” A favorite British scholar said, using the same metaphor:
I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A [mathematical] sum [incorrectly worked] can be put right; but only by going back till you find the error and then working it fresh from that point. [It will] never [be corrected] by simply going on… [C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: Macmillan Co., 1973), p. 6]
BURIED THEIR WEAPONS
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies are a great example of going back and starting anew. Besides having overwhelming gratitude towards God for His tender mercies, they also did something that no one had ever done before as a show of commitment to staying clean and pure.
READ: Alma 24: 14-16 and find out what they did.
SHOW PICTURE:
To show your gratitude towards God and your commitment to staying clean and pure, have everyone in your family write down on a piece of paper something they would like to overcome or abandon. Then dig a hole and bury the papers.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: The Tender Mercies of the Lord by David A. Bednar
BYU SPEECH: Borne upon Eagles’ Wings by Jeffrey R. Holland
BLOG POST: If You Have Ever Wondered What a Tender Mercy Is… by Emily Belle Freeman
VIDEO: Did Nephi Have a Thesis Statement? (1:38) From Book of Mormon Central
INSTRUMENTS IN THE HANDS OF THE LORD
BACKGROUND
VIDEO: Studio C: Message from Above (2:42), click HERE
Just like the video, sharing the gospel sometimes happens in unexpected places and with people you may have never imagined would be accepting of the gospel.
This also happened in the Book of Mormon when we read about the Lamanites who became the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. These people were the sworn enemies of the Nephites. When Ammon and his brethren decided to preach the gospel to them, the Nephites “laughed [them] to scorn” and suggested that killing the Lamanites seemed like a more plausible solution than converting them. (See Alma 26:23-25)
But the Lamanites did change – through the converting power of the Lord and in fact, they “never did fall away.” (CFM manual, pg 102)
SCRIPTURE
In Alma chapter 26, Ammon rejoices in the Lord’s mercies toward him, his brethren, and toward the Lamanites.
READ: Alma 26: 1-2
The hardened and ferocious Lamanites accepted the gospel. There was no doubt that such a blessing came from God. No wonder Ammon felt a reason to rejoice.
How would your family answer Ammon’s questions in Alma 26:2? Perhaps you could make a list of your answers on a large piece of paper and hang it in a place where everyone can see it. Encourage family members to add to it as they think of other blessings God has “bestowed upon us.” (CFM manual pg 104)
MINI LESSON
OBJECT LESSON: Display one or more instruments or tools (such as a hammer, a screwdriver, a wrench, a pen or pencil, a paintbrush, a pair of scissors, a computer, or a musical instrument), and discuss how they are each helpful to your family.
- What do you think it means for someone to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord?
- How were Ammon and his brethren instruments in the hands of the Lord? (Read the following verses to help answer this question)
READ: Alma 26:3-5
SHOW PICTURE:
This is a sickle (like the one referred to in verse 5). It is a farming tool used for cutting grain. The sheaves mentioned in verse 5 are bundles of grain stalks, and garners are grain storehouses.
READ: Alma 26:6-7 and find the purpose of gathering the harvest into garners
What is the purpose of gathering the harvest into garners?
QUOTE BY ELDER DAVID A BEDNAR:
“The sheaves in this analogy represent newly baptized members of the Church. The garners are the holy temples” (David A. Bednar, “Honorably Hold a Name and Standing,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2009, 97).
OPTIONAL – Make a note in your scriptures. Write temples next to the word garners in verse 5.
PONDER & DISCUSS
- How does it feel to know the Lord needs you and is asking you to be His hands here on the earth?
- What are some of the greatest blessings that those who serve the Lord by doing missionary work can receive?
- What does the analogy in Alma 26:5–7 teach you about the importance of temple covenants?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: Honorably Hold a Name and Standing by Elder David A. Bednar
SHORT STORY: You Are My Hands
VIDEO: An Instrument in His Hands (5:33)
O THAT I WERE AN ANGEL, & COULD HAVE THE WISH OF MINE HEART
BACKGROUND/SCRIPTURE
Have everyone write down their answers to the following 2 questions in their scripture journals:
- If you could be anyone in the world, who would it be?
- If you could do anything in the world, what would you do?
Then read what Alma’s greatest desire was.
READ: Alma 29: 1-2
Was Alma’s desire righteous or sinful?
READ: Alma 29:3
Watch the following video that gives possible suggestions as to why Alma thought his wish was sinful.
VIDEO: Why was Alma’s Wish Sinful? (1:10) Click HERE
From that video, what are your thoughts as to why Alma felt that he did “sin in [his] wish”? (His wish would take away people’s free agency and/or that he felt he was sinfully envying God while not trusting in God’s wisdom and plan for mankind)
Have you ever encouraged someone you care for to repent but they just wouldn’t do it? How did it make you feel? Perhaps remembering how you felt in that situation can help you to understand the feelings Alma was having at this time.
MINI LESSON
Does God always give us whatever we want?
God does not grant every desire that we might have, but He does allow us to make choices based on our desires – whether those desires will lead to our salvation or destruction.
Draw a line down a large piece of paper, a whiteboard, or have everyone draw their own in their scripture journals. Read the following verses and find all the opposites found in those verses. List one word on the left side and its opposite on the right side.
READ: Alma 29:4-5
LIFE | DEATH
SALVATION | DESTRUCTION
GOOD | EVIL
JOY | REMORSE OF CONSCIENCE
Which list would you rather have and why?
QUOTE BY EZRA TAFT BENSON:
“We are free to choose, but we are not free to alter the consequences of those choices.”
How might knowing this affect your decisions in the future?
QUOTE BY ELDER NEAL A. MAXWELL:
“What we insistently desire, over time, is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity.”
What can we do to show the Lord that we want life and salvation more than death and destruction?
PONDER & DISCUSS
Referring back to Alma 29:3, discuss what it might mean to be “content with the things which the Lord hath allotted.” Explain that another word for “allotted” is “assigned.”
Alma was assigned to “preach the word unto this people” (Alma 29:13).
- What has the Lord “allotted” or assigned for you to do in life? (You may refer to your patriarchal blessing)
- How might being discontent with our allotment in life be offensive to the Lord?
- What can we do if we are feeling discontent? (pray, read our patriarchal blessing, serve)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
MUSIC: Oh That I Were an Angel by Dallin McAllister
BYU SPEECH: The Desires of Our Hearts by Dallin H. Oaks
MERIDIAN MAGAZINE ARTICLE: Oh That I Were An Angel
GENERAL CONFERENCE DAY
Study a recent General Conference talk. A great way to study a conference talk is to have your own conference issue of the Ensign and a highlighter. Listen to the talk and as you listen, 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: Shall We Not Go On in So Great a Cause? By President M. Russell Ballard, click HERE
SUMMARY: Joseph Smith emerged from the Sacred Grove to begin his preparation to become a prophet of God, with the First Vision followed by the visits of heavenly messengers, the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon, and the organization of the Church. Joseph and his elder brother Hyrum experienced rejection, opposition and persecution, ultimately ending with their deaths at Carthage Jail, becoming martyrs for Christ’s cause and name. “As we celebrate this joyous occasion, the 200th anniversary of the First Vision, we should always remember the price Joseph and Hyrum Smith paid, along with so many other faithful men, women and children, to establish the Church so you and I could have and enjoy the many blessings and all these revealed truths we have today.” As Latter-day Saints listen to the Spirit during the weekend’s 200th anniversary celebration, “consider what offering you will present to the Lord in righteousness.”
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.
Featured image “Anti-Nephi-Lehies Bury Their Weapons of War” by Jody Livingston; @beyond_journaling_with_jody or @ibfam_designs on Instagram
Pin Image by Dan Burr
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