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LESSON #1 THE FOUR JOSEPH’S (2 NEPHI 3)
OBJECT
The object I would display for this particular lesson would be a Baby Names book. Do you know what I’m referring to there? For parents that are stumped about what to name their children, there are books that are filled with all the possible names they could choose and what each of those names mean. So I have one that I’ve have had for years. If you don’t have one, you might be able to check one out from the library or you could purchase one. I’ll provide a link to one on Amazon if you’re interested.
ICEBREAKER
Then for an icebreaker, I like to ask my class if they know what their names mean. And typically there are a few that do but many that don’t. And so you look up a few and let them know the meaning of their names. And that’s usually a fun activity. Then, you can transition to the scriptures by telling your class that there is a particular name that 2 Nephi chapter 3 is going to focus on. And apparently it’s a pretty popular name because there are four different individuals in this one chapter that share that same name. Can you find the name and the four different people that share it?
And the shared name is Joseph. There are four different Joseph’s in this chapter. Can you identify them all?
First you’ve got Joseph, Lehi’s son, in verse 1—the individual who he is speaking to. You’ve got Joseph of Egypt in verse 4 who Lehi tells us had a vision of the Latter days and a seer that God would raise up, you can see that prophesy in vs. 11 and we learn in vs. 15 that that future seer would be called after the same name. That would be Joseph Smith Jr. And also in vs. 15 it says that HIS name (Joseph Smith Jr.’s) would be after the name of his father. So our final Joseph is Joseph Smith Sr. Now what I want you to do is imagine being Joseph Smith while he’s translating this. I mean, He’s translating this ancient record that he pulled out of the ground and all of a sudden he’s reading about himself, by name. It’s talking about HIM in this ancient book. Wouldn’t that be astonishing? It’s like that old movie “The Never-Ending Story”, where the boy finds out that he is in the book that he’s reading, that he’s a part of the story”. Just mind blowing.
SEARCH ACTIVITY-RELAY RACE
For a search activity, you could have your students do a relay race. It’s a very dynamic activity and can help your students study and understand the story better. And this would be an activity particularly effective with youth. So you divide your class up into teams of four or so and tape as many copies of the following sheet up at the front of the room for the number of teams you have. And you’ll cut the sheet at the dotted lines so that students can tear off each strip from left to right as they go through the race. Each strip has a question on it. When you say go, a member of each team will run up to their paper and tear off the first strip (because it’s only attached by that small line at the top) and bring it back to their group. Their job is to write an answer to that question on the strip, using the scriptures, and then bring it to you as the teacher. You’ll check their answer to assure that it’s correct. If it’s not, you send them back to their team to try again. If their answer is correct, then that team can move on to the next strip, and so on until they have completed each one. The team that accomplishes that first, wins. Now it’s likely that there may be more than one team that needs an answer corrected at the same time. So what you have them do is form a line in the order of when they got to you and wait their turn for their strip to be corrected. It’s kind of a fun way to review and understand a section of scripture better.
So here are the questions and I’ll tell you the answers as go through each one. All of the answers can be found in 2 Nephi 3.
QUESTION #1: Joseph of Egypt prophesied that God would raise up one of THESE in the latter days that would help to bring Lehi’s posterity out of darkness. (2 Nephi 3:5-7)
ANSWER: A seer. A “choice seer” actually like it says in verse 6.
QUESTION #2: Who was this choice seer that would be called in the latter-days to bless Lehi’s seed? (2 Nephi 3:15)
ANSWER: Joseph Smith. Verse 15 is the biggest clue, because Joseph is saying that his name would be the same as his, and he would also have the same name as his father. As we mentioned before, that refers to Joseph Smith Senior.
QUESTION #3: This chapter teaches us some important things about the role of Joseph Smith Jr. in God’s plans for the latter days. 2 Nephi 3:7-11 tells us that Joseph would do an important “work”, of “great worth” for Lehi’s seed that would bring them to a knowledge of the covenants God made had made with them. What is that great work? (2 Nephi 3:11)
ANSWER: This one is a little more challenging because it doesn’t tell us right out what that work would be called, but just a little bit of thought should produce the answer. Verse 11 tells us that Joseph Smith would be given power to bring forth God’s word to Lehi’s seed, a knowledge of the covenants he made to them. What “word” would that be? The Book of Mormon.
QUESTION #4: Not only would Joseph have power to bring forth Gods word to the seed of Lehi, but he would also convince them of God’s word “which shall have already gone forth among them.” What book is that referring to? (2 Nephi 3:11-12)
ANSWER: The Bible. And verse 12 gives us more detail on these two works that would be sent forth in the latter days. You have the writing of the fruit of Lehi’s loins, The Book of Mormon, and the writing of the fruit of the loins of Judah, The Bible.
And verse 12, I feel, is one of the most critical verses in this entire chapter, and maybe a good place to come back to after the relay race for some deeper examination. So we have a couple of questions focused on that verse.
QUESTION #5: The Bible and the Book of Mormon “shall _______ together”. (2 Nephi 3:12)
ANSWER: They shall grow together. Ooh, I love that. As Latter-day Saints we need to remember that. These books are meant to be used together. We should be just as familiar and comfortable and well versed in the Bible as we are the Book of Mormon. Not just one or the other. The power of each is magnified when united, when they “grow together”. Literally that prophesy has been fulfilled if you’ve ever seen what is sometimes referred to as a scripture quad. That’s an additional quick object lesson. Pull out a scripture quad and say, here, here in my hands, ancient prophesy fulfilled. They’ve grown together. And some good news in that respect, there was a religious survey done by the Pew Research Center a number of years ago as to which religions had the best understanding of the Bible. Guess which church came out on top? Not the Protestant or Evangelical faiths of the “Bible Belt”, not “Jews”, not “Catholics”. It was members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that answered the most questions correctly about the Old and New Testaments. I’ll include a link to that study in the lesson plan this week and in the video description below if you’re interested.
And personally, as someone who has studied and taught both the Book of Mormon and the Bible for years, and have a deep love for both, they do work together beautifully. It never ceases to amaze me as to how well they complement, support, and harmonize each other. They are meant to be used together. How? That leads us to . . .
QUESTION #6: What 5 things do the Book of Mormon and the Bible, together, accomplish? (2 Nephi 3:12)
ANSWER: 1. Confounding of false doctrines, 2. Laying down of contentions, 3. Establishing peace, 4. Bringing them (Lehi’s seed) to a knowledge of their fathers, and 5. A knowledge of the Lord’s covenants.
QUESTION #7: Give me one example of how the Book of Mormon and Bible have accomplished one of those things in the latter days?
ANSWER: That’s a much more open-ended kind of question. Here are some examples. Together, they confound false doctrines like infant baptism, the denial of a literal resurrection, the worship of Mary, an overemphasis of either faith or works in salvation, and many others. Together, they lay down contentions on such things as the role of Christ in the Godhood, the true nature of the Atonement, the Fall of Adam and Eve (we saw that last week), the Plan of Salvation, and the importance of continuing revelation. They establish peace. One way they do that is that just the idea of the Book of Mormon is a culturally unifying thing. It shows that Christ visited more than just Biblical peoples, but the ancient inhabitants of the Americas, as well as others. The doctrines of the gospel are for all. And who can doubt but that these books have given Lehi’s seed a knowledge of their fathers and the Lord’s covenants as the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has been sent forth to all the world amongst native American peoples, and throughout Central and South America where many descendants of Lehi are found.
QUESTION #8: 2 Nephi 3:13-14 tells us that the Lord will bless that seer, Joseph Smith. Can you find the two specific blessings mentioned in those verses?
ANSWER: Out of weakness he shall be made strong. And they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded.
QUESTION #9: What verse in the remaining half of 2 Nephi 3 (verses 15-25) lists many things that Joseph Smith Jr. would accomplish in his life?
ANSWER: That verse is verse 24, which says:
24 And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren.
Now there’s a tribute worthy of Joseph Smith Jr. That might rank right up there with the tribute we find in Doctrine and Covenants 135. Joseph was mighty in word and deed. He did much good. He was an instrument in the hands of God. He had exceeding faith. He worked mighty wonders. And he brought to pass much restoration unto both the house of Israel and Lehi’s seed.
QUESTION #10: Give me one example of how Joseph Smith fulfilled one of those descriptions from the verse in the previous question. And there’s no end to the things they could share. It’s astonishing just how much Joseph was able to accomplish in the short 38 years he was alive. Many, many things could be mentioned. I like John Taylor’s summation. He said:
3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood;
TRUTH
Joseph Smith was foreordained to be a CHOICE SEER from ancient times to help bring about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days.
VIDEO
A great video that you might consider sharing at this point is entitled: A Choice Seer Will I Raise Up: Faith to Overcome. And as they watch, encourage your students to consider their testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith.
TAKING IT TO HEART
What do you love about the prophet Joseph Smith?
THE TAKEAWAY
As I teacher I would want to be sure I took the time to bear my personal witness of Joseph as THE prophet of the restoration. And I’d like to take that opportunity now. I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. I believe he was an honest man who saw what he said he saw. That he was inspired and called of God to restore the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth in the latter days. From all I’ve studied about him, from all I’ve read about his character and life, from all I’ve felt from the truths he translated or revealed, I believe his calling was divine. I read an interesting book a number of years ago entitled “Rough Stone Rolling”, which I feel was a very measured and fair account of Joseph’s life. It doesn’t paint Joseph as the deceitful, evil, conman that many enemies of the Church wish to portray him as, and yet, it also doesn’t deify him or place him on the pedestal of perfection that others may wish to present his character. He was a flawed individual, no doubt, as we all are. Yet, I came away from that experience just marveling, and thinking, “Wow! Look at what great things God was able to accomplish with such an imperfect and human individual.” His words and his deeds speak for themselves. I love the prophet. I love Brother Joseph, and I can’t wait to meet him and thank him for how deeply he has impacted my life.
LESSON #2 THE PSALM OF NEPHI (2 NEPHI 4)
2 Nephi chapter 4 is just a beautiful chapter, and I would say, the centerpiece of this week’s lessons. There are some places in the scriptures where you really get to see into the soul of the author. Throughout much of 1st and 2nd Nephi we get to see a lot of Nephi’s courage, and his obedience and his faith from the outside. But here, he opens the windows of his soul and lets us peer inside. And in doing this, in his vulnerability, we get to see some of his inner struggles. Which makes him more relatable, in my mind. Maybe we can even see some of ourselves in him.
ICEBREAKER-HANDOUT
For an icebreaker, though, I’ve used this activity before to help my students get a sense of how Nephi is feeling. It’s a fill in the blank, coded phrase activity. If you’re teaching adults, though, as an alternative, you might just have them read the following verses and ask them to describe in their own words how they think Nephi is feeling. Or put the phrases up on the board and ask them to fill in the blanks.
But let me go over the answers from the handout with you.
O wretched man that I am
My heart sorroweth
My soul grieveth because of mine iniquities
I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me
My heart groaneth because of my sins
Why should my heart weep
And my soul linger in the valley of sorrow
My strength slacken
That the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace
And afflict my soul
Awake my soul! No longer droop in sin
And by looking at that list, how would you describe how Nephi is feeling? Any number of words could do.
Sad
Guilty
Discouraged
Dismayed
Mournful
Maybe even depressed?
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
Can you relate? Have you ever felt like Nephi before? So discouraged that you find your soul lingering in the valley of sorrow. And you know, there’s nothing wrong with visiting the valley of sorrow, it’s probably good for us to spend some time in that valley during our lives, but we don’t want to linger there. Remember chapter 2, “men are that they might have joy.” But sometimes, you know, it’s just difficult to get yourself out of it. Nephi wants to be the best that he can be. Which is wonderful. He’s set the bar of expectation for himself quite high. I would encourage that, but there is another side to that coin. It can be rather discouraging sometimes when we don’t rise to our expectations, or we feel we’ve fallen short of what we feel we ought to be able to do.
And what is Nephi’s sin? What temptation is it that has, as he puts it, “so easily beset him.” You find it in verses 27 and 29. He asks, “Why am I angry because of mine enemy?” He’s feeling guilty about his anger. Now I bet you can all guess who he’s probably angry with. I think we can be fairly certain that it’s Laman and Lemuel. And that anger takes away his peace. I think he recognizes that it’s hard to feel the Spirit when you’re angry. Even though I bet we could all agree that Nephi is a bit justified in feeling angry. I mean they’ve tried to kill him on multiple occasions. But he doesn’t want to feel that way. He wants to be able to control more than just his actions. He wants to be able to control his feelings.
On top of that, what event has also just taken place in Nephi’s life that may have added to his discouragement and sorrow? Look at verses 12-13. Lehi dies. And sadly, not many days after his death, Laman and Lemuel are up to their old tricks again. So maybe that’s part of the source of Nephi’s anger. He’s trying to mourn and deal with the death of his father and now he’s got to deal with Laman and Lemuel, not many days later. This has got to be an extremely traumatic and emotionally exhausting time for Nephi.
So this leads me to our coded phrase here. What is this chapter going to teach us?
How to Defeat Discouragement. Nephi is going to show us the way out of the valley of sorrow, the exit, the offramp. He’s going to teach us how to be more emotionally or spiritually resilient.
OBJECT LESSON
For an object to this lesson I would bring some kind of stress reliever ball. Do you know what I mean by that? I have a link to some that you could purchase on Amazon. You probably have one lying around somewhere in your home. I would pull out my stress ball and ask if anyone knows what it is. Then say, have you ever felt like life did this to you? And then you squeeze the ball really hard. Hopefully we can be like this stress ball, though, because what happens as the pressure eases? It returns to its original shape. We don’t want our stresses and discouragements to bend us out of shape forever, or worse, destroy us. You could also bring out a balloon. What happens when you put excessive stress on it? It pops. Nothing left to do but pick up the pieces. We want to be like stress balls, which acknowledges the fact that we will face stressful and discouraging times in our lives. Nephi was like the stress ball. He acknowledges the fact that he’s feelings squeezed, but he finds a way to release the pressure, and by the end of the chapter, you do get the sense that he’s feeling better. But how does he arrive there?
Stress Relief Ball: https://amzn.to/3umcYAu
SEARCH ACTIVITY
Read verses 19-35 and see what you can find. And that is a rather large block of verses to take in all at once. I understand, but it really is the best way to experience and understand how Nephi deals with the pressures of his problems. A possible teaching suggestion here. You might consider playing those verses for your students to listen to so that it allows them a chance to really focus on what is being said and ponder the question. It’s easy to get the recording too. Just go to the Church website and navigate to 2 Nephi 4 and in the upper right-hand corner there are three dots. Click there and select download. This will download the recording and allow you to select whether you want it read in a male voice or female voice, choose your preference. For those of you that get the PowerPoint slides, this recording will already be embedded in the presentation and set to play starting at verse 19. Then all you have to do is play it and encourage your class to listen carefully and take note of what Nephi does to defeat his discouragement.
I’m not going to read that entire section here, but allow me to share some of the things that I see.
In vs. 19
I know in whom I have trusted
Then 20,
My God hath been my support.
And here in vs. 34 he says, “O Lord I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever.”
One way to overcome discouragement is to trust in God. Place it in his hands. Know that, in the end, God is able to make all things right and that He will support you in your trials. Trust his timing. Trust his wisdom. Trust his answers. And trust in his love for you regardless of what befalls you.
Then I like to lump these next verses together.
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.
22 He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me.
23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the night-time.
24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me.
25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.
What’s he doing here? He’s counting his blessings. He’s expressing gratitude for all that God has done for him. This can help us too. We can recognize what we do have, and all that God has done for us in the past. By focusing on the positive, we can often lift ourselves out of the negative. Another way of looking at those verses is to realize that Nephi is reflecting on past spiritual experiences that he’s had all throughout his journey to the promised land and how God had helped him through each one. We can be helped in this way as well. I don’t think that most of us have multiple many huge miraculous or super powerful spiritual experiences all the time, but we do have those kinds of things from time to time. Usually, most of our experiences with the spirit are going to be small and simple things , day to day inspiration and prompting and help and comfort. But we do have those larger deeper more emotional kinds of things happen from time to time. Reflect on those times when the discouragement comes. The times of great light may provide us with sufficient wattage left over to light our way during the dark ones.
Then notice what he’s doing all throughout this chapter. He says "O Lord" over and over again. What’s he doing? Praying for help. If we’re discouraged, we must turn to God in prayer. He can help. Ask and ye shall receive. That’s basically what he says in vs. 35
35 Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.
In vs. 32
May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my heart is broken and my spirit is contrite.
Humility and submissiveness to God’s will and timing can also help us in our quest to defeat our discouragement. The danger is to get angry with God, murmur against him, give up.
Those are just a few of the things that I see here.
And because Nephi turns to these things, he is able to say triumphantly at the end of 2 Nephi 4 in verses 34-35
34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.
35 Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.
Do you get the sense that he’s feeling better there? Yeah, I don’t think he’s in the valley of sorrow anymore by that point.
TRUTH
When I feel discouraged, sorrowful, defeated by my temptations, If I call out to God, put my trust in Him, express gratitude for my blessings, reflect on past spiritual experiences, and offer him a broken heart and a contrite spirit, I will feel better! God will help me to defeat my discouragement.
TAKING IT TO HEART
Has one of these things ever helped you through a time of discouragement? How?
THE TAKEAWAY
We’re all going to face both types of trials that Nephi is experiencing here. Things outside of our control, like the death of Lehi and the actions of his brothers AND discouragement with our failure to control things that we feel like we should be able to. Like getting angry with his brothers or our own self-doubts. The promise here is that God can help you through those times. There will be times when we will visit the valley of sorrow, but if we keep these things in mind, and turn to God, we won’t need to linger there.
LESSON #3 (2 NEPHI 5) FIGHT OR FLIGHT
OBJECT
For an object, get a pair of running shoes and place them at the front.
ICEBREAKER
Then for an icebreaker, I’d show my students the following picture pairs and have them share or discuss with a partner what they would do if they encountered the following situations. Now you may be familiar with the phrase “Fight or Flight”. Have you heard that before? In the animal kingdom, it’s used to describe the two common ways living things react when faced with danger or an enemy. So which of the two would you choose if you were forced to face one of these dangers. Would you fight? Face the situation? The danger? Or would you run? And not everyone’s answers are going to be the same. So here we go.
A hungry lion. Fight or flight?
A chihuahua. Fight or flight?
If somebody that looked like this started running towards you with a menacing look on their face? Fight or flight?
How about this person?
How about rappelling off this cliff? Would you do it? Would you face the challenge, or would you run from it?
Then how about crossing this bridge. Would you face it or run?
And there’s no right or wrong answer with these here. The moral of the story here is that in some situations it makes more sense to fight, and in others, to flight, it just depends on what or who you are facing. It probably wouldn’t make much sense to fight a hungry lion, it would be much smarter to try and run from it. But, a small dog, you may be better off trying to fight it off. You may actually stand a chance there.
Well, here in 2 Nephi 5, we have an interesting situation. We know that Lehi has died in the previous chapter, and Nephi is going to be faced with a dangerous situation. What was it? Let’s read about it in verses 1-4.
1 Behold, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord my God, because of the anger of my brethren.
2 But behold, their anger did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life.
3 Yea, they did murmur against me, saying: Our younger brother thinks to rule over us; and we have had much trial because of him; wherefore, now let us slay him, that we may not be afflicted more because of his words. For behold, we will not have him to be our ruler; for it belongs unto us, who are the elder brethren, to rule over this people.
4 Now I do not write upon these plates all the words which they murmured against me. But it sufficeth me to say, that they did seek to take away my life.
Now this isn’t the first time Nephi has been in this situation, is it? We’ve seen the exact same threat and language time and time again in 1 Nephi. Beating him with rods, leaving him tied up in the wilderness to die, planning to kill him after the death of Ishmael, tying him up on the ship. I mean, how many times is Nephi going to face the violent intentions of Laman and Lemuel. And in the past, the Lord has fought against them. We had that lesson a few weeks ago that I entitled “rewards and rebukes”. Nephi has done a lot of facing the evil of his older brothers. He’s tried to teach them, correct them, forgive them, help them, face them. So now, what’s a brother to do? There are two sets of verses I want you to read, and then I want you to tell me the TRUTH you think these verses are teaching us. Use your scripture study skills to create a moral of the story. I’ll give you the framework and then you fill in the rest of the statement using what you learn from 2 Nephi 5:5-7 and 5:27.
When I’m faced with evil,
Often, the best thing to do is . . .
If I do, then . . .
Let’s read those verses together.
5 And it came to pass that the Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness, and all those who would go with me.
6 Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words.
7 And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days we did pitch our tents.
And then verse 27
27 And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness.
So how did you phrase the moral of the story?
Here’s how I might have put it.
TRUTH
When I’m faced with evil,
Often, the best thing to do is to flee from it.
If I do, then I can live after the manner of happiness.
Now there’s a reason I used the word often in that truth because, at times, the best and right thing to do is fight it. But it’s not the only option. Nephi and the Lord, really, have tried to face Laman and Lemuel’s obstinance and unrighteousness, time and time again. This time though, the Lord finally throws up his hands and says, “Thy will be done, Laman and Lemuel. I’ve tried everything. It’s time to separate you from righteous influence.” And they are cut off from the presence of the Lord. The best thing for Nephi and his family and those who follow him to do is flee. And sometimes that’s the best thing to do. Sometimes you just have to get away from it.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
Can you think of any situations where fleeing an evil influence would be a good option?
Here are a few ideas of my own.
Sometimes you may need to make the awkward decision to walk away from the date if you feel the other person is pushing you to do something you don’t want to or take you to an environment you don’t want to be it.
If you find yourself in an abusive or destructive relationship, the best thing to do would be to flee.
Maybe, even though it might create some financial challenges for you, you should quit the job.
For teenagers, this next is often a tough choice to make. But, sometimes you need to find a new group of friends. If those you are spending time with are leading you down a bad path, perhaps it would be best to flee from those friends. Find new ones. Which is hard, but better in the long run.
In terms of temptation, sometimes we need to turn off the computer, delete the bad music, throw away the inappropriate clothing, get rid of the alcohol and the drugs.
There’s a story from the Old Testament that I think is a perfect illustration of this principle. Can you think of someone who was put into a compromising, tempting situation who then decided to run or flee? Joseph of Egypt, right? When Potiphar’s wife is attempting to seduce him, I love how the scripture puts it. “ He fled and got him out.” (Genesis 39:12) I suggest we do the same.
Now we’re going to have to be in tune with the Spirit on this one because fleeing isn’t always the right answer. I’m not asking you to run away from all your problems. Sometimes we need to confront evil, sometimes we need to face and correct others, sometimes we need to work through things with people or we need to be forgiving and patient and longsuffering. But remember, that fleeing is a viable and effective option at times. And because Nephi was willing to flee and abandon the evil, it made it possible for him and his family to live “after the manner of happiness” like it tells us in vs. 27.
TAKING IT TO HEART
Has anyone ever seen the blessings of fleeing evil in their own life or the life of someone they know? What happened?
I WILL GO AND DO
Then, for an I WILL GO AND DO question, I would ask: Are there any areas of your life where “fleeing” may be a good idea? What’s your plan?
THE TAKEAWAY
Well, I hope the message was clear. Sometimes, ya just gotta run. (And I’d hold up the running shoes at that point). So keep your spiritual running shoes nearby. You never know when you’re going to need to lace them up and take off!
LESSON #4 A RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS (2 Nephi 5)
Now, another quick activity, if you have time and you want to add another powerful principle to your lesson, you could do the following:
OBJECT
For a quick object lesson, I might bring out a Recipe Book and ask what are you going to need in order to make a dish from this book? Answer: ingredients. And every ingredient plays a crucial role in the final taste, right? Now, think of life as a recipe. Just like in cooking, there's no single ingredient that guarantees happiness. It's a mix of different elements. 2 Nephi 5 presents us with what I would call “A Recipe for Happiness”. Now one of the things that helped Nephi and his people to live after the manner of happiness was fleeing from evil, what we just talked about, but there’s more to it than just that. There were many other “ingredients” that the followers of Nephi, or Nephites as they’ll be called from now on, did that helped them to be happy. Let’s find those ingredients.
And now a few ideas on how you might present these.
VIDEO
One, you could show the following video and ask your students to look for evidence of the “ingredients” that made the people of Nephi happy.
SEARCH ACTIVITY-CLASS SEARCH
OR, you could just put the following list of verses on the board and have them search for the recipe for happiness. Just for fun, you may even try to make it look like a recipe card.
SEARCH ACTIVITY-FILL IN THE BLANK
Or you could make it into more of a game by displaying the following slides and challenging them to be the first person to identify not only the word that goes in the blank, but also the verse it’s found in. You might even consider throwing out a small treat to the person who finds it first. Then I would be sure, after each question, to give my students a chance to mark those “ingredient” phrases in their scriptures in a common color under the label “A Recipe for Happiness” AND ask them to explain WHY they think that particular ingredient is important for happiness. What’s the connection?
But here are the slides I would show for this activity. You’ll notice that I don’t do them in chronological order because I think that makes it a little too easy.
And I, Nephi, did build a ________. TEMPLE, 2 Nephi 5:16
And the _______ was with us. LORD 2 Nephi 5:11
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and Joseph, that they should be ________ and _______ over the land of my people. PRIESTS and TEACHERS. 2 Nephi 5:26 This suggests that they established a Church. A Church of Jesus Christ. And that they met together and worshipped together and were taught the principles of the gospel. This community of faith, I believe, was a key element to their happiness.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my people to be _____________, and to ___________ with their hands. INDUSTRIOUS and LABOR. 2 Nephi 5:17
And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes and the ____________________ of the Lord in ____ things. COMMANDMENTS and ALL, 2 Nephi 5:10
And I, Nephi had also brought the _________ which were engraven upon the plates of brass.
RECORDS 2 Nephi 5:12
And it came to pass that they would that I should be their ______. But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no _______; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power. KING is the word for both blanks. 2 Nephi 5:18 The ingredient for happiness that I see here, I would explain, is that they chose a prophet to be their leader.
And it came to pass that we began to ___________ exceedingly. PROSPER 2 Nephi 5:13 Now you have to be careful with this one because we don’t want to preach a gospel of wealth, that financial prosperity is THE number one sign of God’s favor, and that if you struggle financially or you live in a country where poverty is more prevalent that that is a sign of God’s disfavor, or that you can’t live after the manner of happiness if you don’t have great wealth. I learned this firsthand on my mission in Brazil. I knew of many Brazilians and Brazilian families who didn’t have much by way of financial wealth that were far happier than many American people I know who have wealth in abundance. I believe that “prosperity” can be defined in many ways. I think that having enough to provide for yourself and family, sufficient for your needs is a key element in happiness, but there is so much more to it. It can be emotional, social, intellectual, or spiritual prosperity, not just temporal. Some people gain and gain and gain and are still miserable, and work themselves to exhaustion, because it’s never enough. But those who put God first, and have truly developed an eternal perspective will see God prosper them exceedingly and they will experience an “abundant” life.
TAKING IT TO HEART
Would anyone be willing to bear witness of the truthfulness of one of those ingredients? Which one has brought YOU happiness and how?
THE TAKEAWAY
Remember how Lehi taught us that “Men are that they MIGHT have joy”. It’s not a given. Joy is a choice. We’ve got to seek to do the things that will bring us joy. 2 Nephi 5 has just provided us with a good recipe for finding it. Now, no matter what we do, life is still going to present us with challenges, sorrows, tragedies, and pain. But, if we are doing everything that lies in our power to “cook up” a life of joy, I believe we can still experience it, regardless of those less than joyful elements that we may encounter. I don’t think verse 27 suggests that Nephi and his people had no problems. But they were, generally speaking, a happy people, and we can be too, if we follow the recipe.
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