Come, Follow Me Daily Study Guide for the week of March 22-28, 2021 covering Doctrine and Covenants 29. For personal and/or family study of the scriptures, geared towards families with teenagers.
**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.
**SCRIPTURE JOURNALS – I highly suggest getting a scripture journal for each person. Many times my outlines will suggest writing 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. Composition books found at the Dollar Store work great!
**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
**OPENING SONG SUGGESTION FOR NON-SINGERS – We are not big singers in our family but I know how powerful music can be when it comes to inviting the Spirit. Instead of singing, we have begun listening to the song suggested on Music for Latter-day Life and as we listen we each write in our scripture journals how we have seen the hand of the Lord in our lives or something we are grateful for. It has been a wonderful way to get everyone in the right mindset and to invite the Spirit for our family scripture study.
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.
JESUS CHRIST WILL GATHER HIS PEOPLE BEFORE HIS SECOND COMING
BACKGROUND
SHOW IMAGE:
Used for educational purposes
READ: D&C 29:1-2
VIDEO: Chick and Hens (1:24), click HERE
(Taken from Come Follow Me Through the Doctrine and Covenants)
Pretend you’re a baby chicken. What are some words you would use to describe being protected by a mother hen? What does Jesus want you to know about how He sees you?
It’s interesting to note here the basic word for atonement in Hebrew is the word Kafar. Kafar basically means “to cover” (Hugh Nibley, Ensign, July 1990). My favorite cross-reference to this is 2 Nephi 1:15, in which Lehi testifies, “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.”
SCRIPTURE
Contrast this loving, safe, hopeful feeling of being protected by the loving arms of Jesus with the following verses.
READ: D&C 29:14-21
- What words would you describe those verses?
- What does Jesus want me to learn about His character and power?
- How can these images motivate me as I prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?
- The Second Coming experience is described as both “great” and “dreadful” (see D&C 2:1) How do you see these words dramatically fulfilled in D&C 29?
MINI LESSON
God has asked us to help in the gathering.
READ: D&C 29:7
How can we help God gather the elect?
VIDEO: A Witness of God (2:40), click HERE
PONDER & DISCUSS
In our day, gathering to Zion means uniting in stakes of Zion around the world. How does gathering as Saints help us “be prepared in all things” for the tribulations that will come before the Savior’s Second Coming? (verse 8; see also verses 14–28). CFM manual
(Taken from Institute Teacher’s Manual)
Even though the elect will be gathered and prepared for the tribulation of the last days, this does not mean that they will escape all hardships. Share the following statement by the Prophet Joseph Smith, who explained why some of the righteous will be affected by the events of the last days:
QUOTE BY JOSEPH SMITH: “It is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer, and ‘the righteous shall hardly escape’[see D&C 63:34]; still many of the Saints will escape, for the just shall live by faith; yet many of the righteous shall fall a prey to disease, to pestilence, etc., by reason of the weakness of the flesh, and yet be saved in the Kingdom of God” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 253).
Why is it still important to be gathered even if we will not escape hardship?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
WORLDWIDE YOUTH DEVOTIONAL: Hope of Israel by President Russell M. Nelson and Sister Wendy W. Nelson
ALL THINGS UNTO ME ARE SPIRITUAL
BACKGROUND/SCRIPTURE
(Taken from Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families)
Write “The Word of Wisdom” on a large piece of paper or white board.
READ: D&C 89:18-21
ASK: What blessings come from keeping the Word of Wisdom?
Write down their answers as they give them, listing physical or temporal blessings on the left side of the paper (such as health, marrow, run, walk) and spiritual blessings on the right side of the paper (such as wisdom, hidden treasures, destroying angel shall pass by). Do not tell them what each column represents.
ASK:
- What difference do you see between the two columns? (one contains physical blessings, the other spiritual)
- Which blessings are more important to you, physical or spiritual? Why?
- In your opinion, is the primary purpose of commandments to provide us with physical or spiritual blessings?
READ: D&C 29:30-35
The temporal and spiritual are one unto God (verse 34).
SHARE QUOTE BY ELDER JOHN A. WIDTSOE:
“…There is a spiritual meaning of all human acts and earthly events. … It is the business of man to find the spiritual meaning of earthly things. … No man is quite so happy … as he who backs all his labors by such a spiritual interpretation and understanding of the acts of his life.” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1922, pp. 96–97.)
MINI LESSON
In order to see the spiritual in all things, we must develop a spiritual perspective.
SHARE THE FOLLOWING: (Taken from New Era Article)
A speaker was trying to demonstrate the evils of alcohol. On a table in front of him were two glasses full of clear liquid. He explained that one of the glasses was full of water and the other full of pure alcohol. He put a worm in the glass of water, and it swam happily. Then he put the same worm in the alcohol, and it died.
“What conclusion do you reach?” he asked.
A voice from the back of the room cried, “If you drink alcohol, you’ll never get worms.”
The conclusion to be drawn from this story, of course, is that…you can perceive—exactly what you want to perceive, according to your own prejudices.
The scriptures warn us about this. They say that if we give in to our own perceptions rather than following the Spirit, we can easily draw incorrect conclusions. That is what is described in Doctrine and Covenants 1:16, “Every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world.” [D&C 1:16]
DISCUSS: A great example of this is also with the golden plates. How did some people in Joseph Smith’s time view the golden plates with the wrong perspective? How did some people view them with a spiritual perspective?
QUOTE BY DALLIN H. OAKS: The enemies of the young prophet, Joseph Smith, hounded him to get possession of the golden plates from which he was to translate the Book of Mormon. They sought the golden plates to get money, not a message. The temporal value of the plates had a price; their spiritual value was priceless.
There’s a story told by Elder Dunn about his father who had a spiritual perspective when raising his sons.
SHARE THE FOLLOWING:
Elder Loren C. Dunn described how his father, a busy stake president in Tooele, gave his two young sons the responsibility of raising cows on the family farm. He gave the boys large latitude in what they could do, and they made some mistakes. These were observed by an alert neighbor, who complained to their father about what the young cow-raisers were doing. “Jim, you don’t understand,” President Dunn replied. “You see, I’m raising boys, not cows.” (“Our Spiritual Heritage,” in Brigham Young University 1981–82 Fireside and Devotional Speeches, Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1982, p. 138.)
PONDER & DISCUSS
Looking back at the list we made at the beginning with the Word of Wisdom, and using your spiritual perspective, how can the physical and temporal side of the Word of Wisdom still be considered a spiritual blessing?
What might change if you looked for spiritual meaning or purpose in your everyday tasks, even those that seem temporal or mundane?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: Spirituality by Elder Dallin H. Oaks
NEW ERA ARTICLE: Perception
JESUS CHRIST REDEEMS US FROM THE FALL
BACKGROUND
VIDEO: Studio C: Watch This! Ultimate Skate Park Disaster with Shonduras (3:44), click HERE
In this video, everyone kept FALLING down. Every person that fell ended up hurting themselves. In the end it resulted in a tragedy for everyone involved.
Do you realize that many religions today see the FALL of Adam and Eve as a tragedy? But we know, through the scriptures and modern revelation, that the Fall was part of the Great Plan of Happiness and there are positive results of the Fall.
SCRIPTURE
READ: D&C 29:36-50 and find the positive results of the Fall
(You may also look up and cross-reference: 1 Corinthians 15:22; 2 Nephi 2:6–8, 15–29; Mosiah 3:1–19; Moses 5:9–12.)
MINI LESSON
- According to verses 42-45 what happens to those who believe in Christ?
- What happens to those who do not believe in Christ?
- What do we need to do to ensure that we obtain eternal life? (Share the following story to help answer this.)
SHARE STORY BY ELDER GARY B SABIN:
Many years ago, I took the Scouts on a campout in the desert. The boys slept by a large fire they had made, and like every good Scout leader, I slept in the back of my truck. In the morning when I sat up and looked at the campsite, I saw one Scout, whom I will call Paul, who looked particularly rough around the edges. I asked how he had slept, and he replied, “Not very well.”
When I asked why, he said, “I was cold; the fire went out.”
I answered, “Well, fires do that. Wasn’t your sleeping bag warm enough?”
No answer.
Then one of the other Scouts loudly volunteered, “He didn’t use his sleeping bag.”
I asked in disbelief, “Why not, Paul?”
Silence—then finally the sheepish reply: “Well, I thought if I didn’t unroll my sleeping bag, I wouldn’t have to roll it up again.”
True story: he froze for hours because he was trying to save five minutes of work. We may think, “How foolish! Who would ever do that?” Well, we do it all the time in much more dangerous ways. We are, in effect, refusing to unroll our spiritual sleeping bags when we don’t take the time to sincerely pray, study, and earnestly live the gospel each day; not only will the fire go out, but we will be unprotected and grow spiritually cold.
When we are complacent with our covenants, we are complicit with the consequences. The Lord has counseled us “to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life.” And He further declared, “My blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not.” (Gary B. Sabin, “Stand Up Inside and Be All In,” April 2017 General Conference)
PONDER & DISCUSS
How can taking a little bit of time each day to pray and read our scriptures help us to obtain eternal life?
SHARE QUOTE: “Small efforts sustained over time can produce significant results.” By Devin G. Durrant
Is putting forth a little effort each day worth it?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: Stand Up Inside and Be All In By Elder Gary B. Sabin
CONFERENCE TALK: My Heart Pondereth Them Continually By Devin G. Durrant
VIDEO: Why Did Lehi Teach that the Fall was Necessary? (2:01)
SHORT STORY AND OBJECT LESSON: Saving Us From the Fall
GENERAL CONFERENCE DAY
Study a recent General Conference talk. A great way to study a conference talk is to read along and highlight the parts that stand out to you. Then after the talk, review and discuss what you have highlighted.
THIS WEEK’S TALK: Be of Good Cheer By President Dallin H. Oaks, 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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