Come, Follow Me Daily Study Guide for the week of April 12-18, 2021 covering Doctrine and Covenants 37-40. 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.
IF I AM PREPARED, I NEED NOT FEAR
BACKGROUND/SCRIPTURE
VIDEO: Studio C Five Day Weather Forecast (3:43), click HERE
Just as the weather is not as predictable as we would like it to be, neither is life or the trials that we face. In D&C 38, the Saints had already faced much opposition, and the Lord knew more was coming.
READ: D&C 38:11-13, 28-29
To help the Saints not to be afraid, the Lord revealed a precious principle.
READ: D&C 38:30 *Emphasize the last thing in that verse, “if ye are prepared ye shall not fear”
MINI LESSON
We are living in the last days. We have been counseled to prepare for the Second Coming. What kind of preparation does that entail?
QUOTE BY DALLIN H. OAKS: “We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual. A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow, a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value.” (Italics added, Conference Talk, April 2004)
Let’s talk about both temporal and spiritual preparation.
TEMPORAL PREPAREDNESS
- When you think of temporal preparation, what comes to mind?
- Why is this kind of preparation important?
QUOTE EZRA TAFT BENSON: “The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.”
What are the 3 main things the Church counsels us to have on hand?
- Food supply (three months of food that you normally would eat plus long-term storage such as wheat, rice, pasta, oats, beans, and potatoes that can last 30 years or more)
- Water supply
- Financial reserve (the Church strongly encourages us to get out of debt and save money for a rainy day)
DISCUSSION:
- How prepared is our family temporally?
- Should the family’s temporal preparation be only one person’s responsibility?
- Should we go to extremes or go into debt in order to become prepared?
QUOTE FROM CHURCH PAMPLET ALL IS SAFELY GATHERED IN: “We encourage members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings. We ask that you be wise, and do not go to extremes. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.”
What can we do as a family to become more prepared temporally?
ACTIVITY: Make a list together of the things that your family needs to do to become better prepared temporally. Make a plan as a family on how you will do this. Is there something your family can give up each month in order to have more money to put towards your goals? Perhaps plan a garage sale and use that money towards one of your goals. Plan to work as a family to plant a garden or even a patio garden box. Whatever you do, no matter how small, do it in faith knowing that the Lord will bless your efforts.
SPIRITUAL PREPAREDNESS
VIDEO: If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear (3:29), click HERE
How can we become more spiritually prepared as a family?
PONDER & DISCUSS
- How can being prepared help us not be fearful?
- In your scripture journals write down things you can do to be more spiritual prepared personally.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALKS: Preparation for the Second Coming by Dallin H. Oaks
CHURCH PAMPLET: All is Safely Gathered In
BLOG: Food Storage Made Easy
VIDEO: Be Not Troubled (4:31)
VIDEO: A Flood of Rescuers (6:43)
LOVE IN OUR HEARTS
BACKGROUND
MUSIC VIDEO: Love One Another (1:51), click HERE
SCRIPTURE
READ: D&C 38:24-27
ACTIVITY: To teach what it means to “be one,” draw a large number 1 on a large piece of paper or poster board. As a family, decorate the poster with each member of family’s name in a way that represents them and their personality. Discuss as a family why each person is important to your family. Emphasize that together we are one family. You could also discuss things you can do to be more united as a family. (Adapted from CFM manual)
MINI LESSON
VIDEO: A Friend to All (4:01), click HERE
PONDER & DISCUSS
The phrase “esteem his brother as himself” is mentioned twice in D&C 38: 24 & 25.
- What do you think that means?
- What are some ways that you can “esteem [your] brother as [yourself]”?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: Love One Another as He Has Loved Us By Elder Jose L. Alonso
CONFERENCE TALK: Love One Another by James M. Paramore
VIDEO: Love in Our Hearts (3:14)
LIAHONA: “Sister, I Love You”
THE CARES OF THE WORLD MUST NOT DISTRACT ME FROM OBEYING GOD’S WORD
BACKGROUND
VIDEO: The Parable of the Sower (2:27), click HERE
The Parable of the Sower that is found in Matthew 13:1–23 is Jesus comparing 4 different kinds of soil to people’s hearts and their willingness to accept the gospel. Doctrine and Covenants 39 and 40 mirror the language of this parable in the telling of the story of James Covel.
SCRIPTURE/LESSON
SHARE THE FOLLOWING ABOUT JAMES COVEL: (Taken from Revelations in Context)
James Covel was a Methodist minister who showed intense but fleeting interest in the Church. Covel…started out with great potential. Born the son of a Baptist-minister father and a Methodist mother…Covel became a…preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1791…
Covel was recognized in Methodist circles as a steady and reliable man. By the 1820s, he had become a leader in the Methodist reform movement…Before converting to Mormonism, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and John Taylor, among others, saw themselves as reformed Methodists. In 1826, Covel was named president of the New York Conference of the Methodist Society…
Covel…attended a conference of Latter-day Saints at Fayette in early January 1831. The Church was on its way out of New York then, the call to settle in Ohio having already come through revelation (see D&C 37:3). Covel was more impressed with the teachings of the Church than with the call to move. In fact, he seemed poised to convert. He lingered a few days, talking with Church leaders, and covenanted with God to obey the call to repent and be baptized.
READ: D&C 39:7-10
Now that Covel was baptized the Lord had a work for Him to do.
READ: D&C 39: 13
Such language would have comforted any Methodist preacher, but the next verse was troubling to Covel.
READ: D&C 39:14
For 40 years, Covel had preached east of upstate New York. Now he was being asked to go the opposite direction to preach.
Covel must have known that moving west would mean cutting ties with the deep and extensive associations he had built up over his career. Two of his sons were Methodist preachers, and his years spent working in New York City had put him in contact with the movement’s most powerful voices. All the prestige he had accumulated over the course of a lifetime would have to be abandoned. It took Covel less than 48 hours to decide that he would not move to Ohio. A follow-up revelation made clear that Covel had rejected the Lord’s call.
READ: D&C 40
After his fleeting interest in the Church, Covel returned to his former position. He preached and gained converts for Methodism in upstate New York until 1836, when he moved back to New York City. He remained there until his death in February 1850. By then the Saints had moved still farther west, beyond the Rocky Mountains to the arid Great Basin.
PONDER & DISCUSS
- Why do you think James Covel broke his covenant?
- Where was his heart?
- Which seed in The Parable of the Sower could represent James Covel?
- What does the phrase “cares of the world” (D&C 40:2) mean?
- What “cares of the world” are we facing today?
- How can we overcome the cares of the world?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: The Tugs and Pulls of the World by Neal A. Maxwell
CONFERENCE TALK: The Parable of the Sower By Elder Dallin H. Oaks
LIAHONA: Overcome the Cares of the World by Elder Hans T. Boom
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: Christ is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains by President Russell M. Nelson (APRIL 2021 General Conference), 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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