Purpose
To help the children want to be good examples and have a spiritual influence on their families by obeying Heavenly Father’s commandments.
Scriptures To Study
The scriptures to study today are 1 Nephi 17.
Here are some of the verses that stuck out to me today:
What does the Lord promise if we obey his commandments?
3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and astrengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did bprovide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.
How have you and your family been blessed because of your obedience?
What gave Nephi such great confidence?
14 Yea, and the Lord said also that: After ye have arrived in the promised land, ye shall aknow that I, the Lord, am bGod; and that I, the Lord, did cdeliver you from destruction; yea, that I did bring you out of the land of Jerusalem.
15 Wherefore, I, Nephi, did strive to keep the acommandments of the Lord, and I did bexhort my brethren to faithfulness and diligence.
23 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake unto them, saying: Do ye believe that our fathers, who were the children of Israel, would have been led away out of the hands of the aEgyptians if they had not hearkened unto the words of the Lord?
30 And notwithstanding they being led, the Lord their God, their Redeemer, going before them, aleading them by day and giving light unto them by night, and doing all things for them which were bexpedient for man to receive, they hardened their hearts and blinded their minds, and creviled against Moses and against the true and living God.
35 Behold, the Lord esteemeth all aflesh in one; he that is brighteous is cfavored of God. But behold, this dpeople had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity; and the fulness of the wrath of God was upon them; and the Lord did curse the land against them, and bless it unto our fathers; yea, he did curse it against them unto their destruction, and he did bless it unto our fathers unto their obtaining power over it.
40 And he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our afathers, and he bcovenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, cIsaac, and dJacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of eEgypt.
41 And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they ahardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying bserpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be chealed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the dsimpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.
43 And now, after all these things, the time has come that they have become wicked, yea, nearly unto ripeness; and I know not but they are at this day about to be adestroyed; for I know that the day must surely come that they must be destroyed, save a few only, who shall be led away into captivity.
Hosea 7:13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
44 Wherefore, the Lord acommanded my father that he should depart into the wilderness; and the Jews also sought to take away his life; yea, and bye also have sought to take away his life; wherefore, ye are murderers in your hearts and ye are like unto them.
45 Ye are aswift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an bangel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were cpast feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.
How can you be like Nephi and show courage and faith in Jesus Christ?
This is a great Family Home Evening Lesson idea:
Place a jar with a lid on it on a table, and ask a child to try to open the jar using only one hand. (Have the child put the other hand behind his or her back.) After a few attempts, ask another child to help using only one hand. Explain that tasks are usually easier to do when we work together. Discuss family goals, such as having regular family home evenings, family prayer, and family scripture study, and ask how children can help the family achieve these goals.
Here is another great lesson on how Heavenly Father is the same today, yesterday and forever and that the course of the Lord is one eternal round:
List on the chalkboard the similarities between Lehi and his family’s journey and the children of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness (see 1 Nephi 17:22–46). Ask the children what we can learn from these experiences.
As I read this lesson today, it made me think of the ultimate promise found at the end of the Book of Mormon:
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not btrue;…
One of our friends pointed this out –
“…the section about the scientific approach. I love how Moroni’s promise is worded in the BofM: “Ask if these things are not true.” NOT. If you’ve ever taken a statistics course, you’d know that this is synonymous with a null hypothesis. What a smart way to figure something out! I shared this with a psychology professor at the U of U once – when the subject of null hypotheses came up in his office; but he told me I was trying to convert him. Not overtly, I wasn’t. 🙂
I like the cross-reference of the word “true” found in Mosiah 1:6:
O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.
My question to myself and others is “How can you argue with that?” Those are the words of someone who WROTE the record. Those are words intended to remind and clarify that these records are TRUE. To say they are false is like arguing with someone who says they had and experience, who has the scars or proof to show they had the experience, but to say that “No, that experience didn’t happen…” even though I was not there.
And more than that, if I look at the other cross-references, there are multiple testimonies that the words are true from Nephi, Alma, Ether, Mormon and Moroni. (1 Ne. 13:39; 14:30; Mosiah 1:6; Alma 3:12; Ether 4:11 (6–11); 5:3 (1–4). TG Book of Mormon.)
10 And he that believeth not my words believeth not my disciples; and if it so be that I do not speak, judge ye; for ye shall know that it is I that speaketh, at the last day.
11 But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. For because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good. (Ether 4:10-11)
4 And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established; and the testimony of three, and this work, in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word, of which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record—and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day. (Ether 5:4)
As I looked through the references to “truth” I also found this popular scripture:
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
Interesting scripture to think about after reading this article:
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/01/gingrich-normal-affairs-romney.html
No, I’m not “judging”, I’m just trying to see things as they really are and make an educated decision.
Finally, I found this scripture:
And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things. (Alma 24:30)
Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me. (Alma 5:46)
The second to the last scripture is mostly a warning. The final scripture is how all truth can be discerned – via the Holy Ghost, via fasting and praying.
I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that reading from it, in conjunction with the Bible, will bring me closer to God and help me do His will and not the will of men.
I know that I’m much happier when I take time like I have this morning to study, think, and share my feelings.
I know that by doing this, I will be a better dad, a better husband, and a better person overall.
Hasta manana!
Nate
Recent Comments