What does Joseph Smiths example teach me about learning the gospel?
This lesson is from April and the main theme for the month was The Apostasy and the Restoration.
I love teaching the youth in Sunday School, and I love making handouts that help me better grasp the lesson-and hopefully they get to grasp it better too! I am such a visual person so these things help me SO much.
I started the lesson with a few questions.
-How do you learn the gospel?
-What do you know about Joseph Smith?
-How did he learn the gospel?
This helped give them an idea to what we were going to talk about for the rest of the lesson. I wanted them to keep in mind the title for this lesson-throughout the lesson.
Elder Jairo Mazzagardi, "If you who hear me have any questions in your heart, do not give up! I invite you to follow the example of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he read in James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally." He cares about His children. He answers our prayers."
We watched the video suggested in the outline HERE.
Then read the hymn Joseph Smith's First Prayer.
We also talked about Joesph Smiths attitude. He was open to finding the truth and ready to receive inspiration. We likened that to other principles and attributes that help us learn the gospel such as humility, pondering, likening the scriptures to ourselves, asking inspired questions, etc.
Elder Christensen said, " Similar to Nephi, the Prophet Joseph Smith was also "exceedingly young" when his " mind was called up to serious reflection" about spiritual truths. For Joseph, it was a time of "great uneasiness," being surrounded by conflicting and confusing messages about religion. He wanted to know which church was right. Inspired by these words in the Bible, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God," he acted for himself to find an answer. On a beautiful morning in the spring of 1820, he entered a grove of trees and neat in prayer. Because of his faith and because God had a special work for him to do, Joseph received a glorious vision of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and learned for himself what he was to do. Do you see in Joseph's experience a patter you could apply in gaining or strengthening your own testimony? Joseph allowed the scriptures to penetrate his heart. He pondered them deeply and applied them to his own situation. He then acted on what he had learned. The result was the glorious First Vision--and everything that came after it. This Church quite literally was founded on the principle that anyone--including a 14-year-old farm boy--can "ask of God" and receive an answer to his prayer."
We then discussed what questions they have about the gospel and how they can follow the example of Joseph Smith and learn about the gospel and figure out those answers.
How sweet are these tags?! I'm all for sweet treats and cinnamon rolls are at the top of my list. It was SO easy to grab a carton of these mini cinnamon rolls at Costco, but I found similar at Walmart too. I've been taking the relaxed method as of late and I'll just bring the container to church and I don't even worry about individually packaging them for each student. It's so nice as saves so much time!
You can find the free 'Ask of God' printable tags HERE!
