Come, Follow Me Daily Study Guide for the week of November 9-15, 2020 covering Ether 1-5. 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.
I CAN RECEIVE REVELATION FOR MY LIFE
BACKGROUND
QUOTE BY PRESIDENT NELSON:
I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. … Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly. (Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives, Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 96)
SCRIPTURE
Receiving revelation takes work. If we want to receive revelation we must do the spiritual work that is required. Part of that work includes sincere prayer.
In Ether chapter 1 we read how Jared continually cried unto the Lord and received answers to his prayers. *You may have family members scan Ether 1:34-42 and note each occurrence of the phrase “cry unto the Lord.”
In Ether chapter 2 there comes a time when the brother of Jared quit doing “the work” or in other words quit praying unto the Lord.
READ: Ether 2:13-15
Do you think there is any relationship between being in Moriancumer for four years and the brother of Jared’s lack of prayer?
What can we do to ensure that we continually do the spiritual work necessary in order to receive personal revelation?
MINI LESSON
VIDEO: Hearing His Voice – Prophets and Revelation (3:56), click HERE
What work did the seminary students do in order to receive revelation?
PONDER & DISCUSS
It is important that we live in such a way to invite revelation into our lives.
READ: Ether 4:12
Have your family write down some everyday things that influence your family (such as movies, songs, games, or people) on slips of paper and place them in a bowl. Then take turns picking one and discussing whether it “persuadeth [them] to do good” (Ether 4:12). What changes does your family feel inspired to make?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
CONFERENCE TALK: Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives
THE LORD WILL PREPARE ME TO CROSS MY “GREAT DEEP”
BACKGROUND/SCRIPTURE
To get to the promised land, the Jaredites faced a major obstacle: crossing the “great deep.” In order to do this, the Lord instructed the brother of Jared to build barges.
READ: Ether 2:16-21
ACTIVITY: Using the description in Ether 2: 16-21, create boats for the Jaredites using playdough or clay. (If you don’t have playdough or clay you could also draw the boats in your scripture journals.)
MINI LESSON
The phrase “great deep” can be a fitting way to describe what our trials and challenges sometimes feel like. And sometimes, as was the case for the Jaredites, crossing our own “great deep” is the only way to fulfill God’s will for us.
Elder Holland said it best in October 2020 General Conference when he said…
QUOTE BY ELDER HOLLAND:
“With apologies to Elder Neal A. Maxwell for daring to modify and enlarge something he once said, I too suggest that ‘one’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.’ It simply will not work ‘to glide naively through life,’ saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, ‘Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love. In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity.’
“My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable. The path to holiness and happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time and tenacity to walk it. But, of course, the reward for doing so is monumental.”
Although the Jaredites’ task was huge, the Lord told them in Ether 1:42-43 “and there I will meet thee, and I will go before thee…and there will I bless thee.
INSIGHT BY EMILY BELLE FREEMAN: (Taken from Don’t Miss This)
Have you ever had to do something hard? Something you didn’t want to go through? Do you remember how it felt? Sometimes the Lord meets us in those places; other times He sends others to minister to us there.
In our ward, five tiny babies were born and died within the same few years. Our ward members spent those years praying for miracles, and bearing burdens, and giving comfort. When the first baby died, the Relief Society sisters decided to make a small quilt for the mother. In the center we stitched the name of the baby, and in the squares all around each woman in the ward chose one word to represent the hope and joy that baby brought. The squares included words such as strength, angel, hope, eternity, families are forever, and love. The blanket was beautiful.
Those blankets became a tradition in our ward. We made one for every baby we lost. It endeared us to each other.
I will never forget dropping off the last quilt. The thought of it still brings tears to my eyes. We walked into the living room and sat next to the mother, who looked at the blanket and whispered, “I never wanted one of these.” And then she opened it up to look at the words and gathered it close in her arms and said through tears, “I love it.” It was a place she didn’t want to go, a road she didn’t want to travel, but she knew she didn’t travel it alone. Besides the eighty sisters who had stitched squares on that blanket, there were four particular squares that had been hand-stitched by four other mothers who knew exactly what she was going through. I can’t help but think it was the Lord’s way of meeting each of those women where they were.
PONDER & DISCUSS
- Just as a way was prepared for the Jaredites, how has the Lord prepared you for your challenges?
- What might He be asking you to do now to prepare for what He needs you to do in the future?
- How has the Lord met you there and blessed you during your trials?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
NEW ERA ARTICLE: Five Scriptures That Will Help You Get through Almost Anything By John Bytheway
CREATED IN GOD’S IMAGE – COME UNTO HIM
BACKGROUND
OBJECT LESSON: Have 16 stones and ask someone to name a story in the Book of Mormon that includes 16 stones.
SHOW PICTURE
Ask someone to tell this story in their own words.
SCRIPTURE/PONDER & DISCUSS
READ: Ether 3:6-16
Was the brother of Jared the first person to see the Lord?
No, God had shown himself to other prophets before the brother of Jared.
READ: Moses 7:4, 59 for an example
So why did the Lord say to him, “Never have I showed myself unto man”? (Ether 3:15). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland offered this possible explanation: “Christ was saying to the brother of Jared, ‘Never have I showed myself unto man in this manner, without my volition, driven solely by the faith of the beholder’” (Christ and the New Covenant [1997], 23, emphasis added).
What great faith the brother of Jared had!
From this story, what do you learn about the spiritual and physical nature of God? How do these truths help you understand your divine identity and potential?
MINI LESSON
Because of the brother of Jared’s great faith, the Lord showed himself unto him. How do you think he developed such great faith? How can we develop such great faith? (By coming unto Christ)
OBJECT LESSON: (Taken from Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families)
Hold up a picture of Jesus Christ. Ask your family to stand across the room from you with their scriptures.
READ: Ether 4:13 and ask what it is Jesus asks us to do in this verse. (Come unto Him)
How can we know what choices lead us to Christ? (Refer to verse 12, things that persuade us to do good.)
Invite family members to search Ether 4:14-19. Tell them that every time they find something good we can do, something that leads to Jesus Christ, to say it out loud. Have them also tell which verse it comes from. For every correct answer a family member gives, allow that person to take one step toward you. Continue this activity until someone reaches the picture of Jesus Christ.
You may also invite family members to include choices they have made in the past week that led them to Jesus Christ.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (optional)
VIDEO: Where did the Brother of Jared Get the Idea of Shining Stones? (1:10)
STUDY HELPS: The Brother of Jared
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: Waiting on the Lord By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, 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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