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LESSON #1 THE WORTH OF SOULS
TRUTH:
The worth of every soul is infinitely great in the sight of God
FIRE IN THE BONES:
The fire in the bones for this lesson should burn in the application of that truth. As teachers, we have the sacred responsibility of helping our students to see themselves and others as God sees them—of infinite, incomprehensible worth. In a world that constantly tries to assign value based on wealth, status, appearance, or achievement, our job is to lift our students above these false measures. This lesson matters because it has the power to transform lives—to instill confidence and inspire compassion. When people truly understand their worth, they will treat themselves and others with greater love and respect. We’re not just teaching doctrine here; we’re shaping how our students view themselves and the world around them.
OBJECT:
20-dollar bill. At some point in the lesson, I encourage you to use that illustration. You pull it out and ask them how much it is worth. 20$. Then you crumple it up, stomp on it, rub some dirt on it, mark it with a crayon, and then toss it aside. Then you ask again, “How much is it worth now?” Answer: 20$. The point being that our appearance or what happens to us in life does not diminish our value.
ICEBREAKER:
The “Antiques Roadshow” themed icebreaker activity is very effective for introducing this lesson. You show them the following 5 objects and ask them to try and determine which is the most valuable. And for extra credit, can they put them in order from least to most valuable. Typically, people don’t get it right. Which is what you want. The point being, we as mortals are not always very good at assessing value. We often judge solely by the outward appearance, which is not a reliable method. That’s why the Antiques Roadshow is entertaining to watch, because we’re often surprised by the value certain things have that we never would have guessed just by ourselves.
SEARCH ACTIVITY/HANDOUT:
The search activity then sends our students into the scriptures to read passages that help us to understand the value of the human soul. The handout facilitates that study. Give them time to work through the handout on their own, then come back and discuss what they’ve found as a class.
QUOTE:
I have two quotes for you here. One from C.S. Lewis, and one from Elder Uchtdorf. Both are excellent. C.S. Lewis:
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. . . .Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses."
("The Weight of Glory", sermon at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford)"
And Dieter F. Uchtdorf:
“We know from modern revelation that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. We cannot gauge the worth of another soul any more than we can measure the span of the universe. Every person we meet is a VIP [Very Important Person] to our Heavenly Father. …”
(Conference Report, April 2010 “You Are My Hands”)
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
A powerful discussion question that you can ask is, “How would you fill in the blank in the following sentence?”
Because the worth of souls is so great, I should _____________________________.
That should get your students thinking about the application of the truth that the worth of souls is great. How should that truth change the way we think and act?
Hopefully that question can help our students to understand that it should change the way we see and treat other people. ALL other people, regardless of any differences between us.
AND hopefully it helps them to understand that it should change the way they view themselves. To remember their own worth and to treat themselves kindly and with compassion as well.
VIDEO:
If you wished to emphasize the message of the importance of the concept of self-worth or self-compassion, you could show the following Church video entitled: “Self-Compassion: Be Kind to Yourself.” Encourage your students to look for truths and practices that can help them to recognize their self-worth.
TAKE IT TO HEART QUESTION:
When have you felt the adversary try to diminish your sense of worth?
How can the truths we’ve discussed today help you combat those thoughts?
I WILL GO AND DO QUESTION:
What is one action you can take this week to better reflect your belief in the worth of all souls?
Suggestions
Pray to see yourself and others as God does.
Speak kindly to yourself and avoid negative self-talk.
Uplift someone who may feel unnoticed or undervalued.
Forgive somebody
Avoid comparison and celebrate the unique worth of others.
Defend those who are marginalized or mistreated.
Share the gospel with someone
Express love to a family member, friend, or stranger.
TAKEAWAY:
Our takeaway slide, then, serves as a final exclamation point on the great overarching truth of the lesson. Hopefully our students walk away from their time with us with a renewed sense of their own worth, and the worth of everyone that they meet and see.
LESSON #2 HOW GREAT SHALL BE YOUR JOY
Now this next lesson is an additional application of that fundamental truth of the worth of souls. Our truth highlights another way that we could fill in that blank that we discussed earlier.
TRUTH:
Because the worth of souls is so great, I should seek to bring others to Christ by sharing the gospel.
Another point to make here: Missionary Work=Joy.
FIRE IN THE BONES:
The fire in the bones for this truth burns in the promise of the joy that sharing the gospel can and will bring. If you’ve ever experienced that joy, if you have ever played some role in bringing the gospel into somebody else’s life, reflect on those experiences. Then, as a teacher, seek to kindle that same fire in the hearts of your students. We want them to leave our class feeling inspired to go out and “labor all their days in crying repentance unto this people” that their joy may be great.
OBJECT/ICEBREAKER:
An object that you could use to illustrate the truths of this lesson would be to bring in a sparkler. Now I definitely would not light a sparkler inside my classroom, obviously. This is just an object lesson where you invite them to reflect and imagine that experience, rather than actually demonstrating it. But you could just hold one up and talk about them. Ask them if they’ve ever used one. They’re fun, they’re exciting, they bring joy and light and warmth. But what else can you do with a sparkler? What if you saw someone with their own unlit sparkler? What could you do? You could use yours to light theirs. Your light and fire can spark and start theirs burning. And theirs could spark someone else’s, and so on. Well, that sparkler is like the gospel! Yes, the gospel does bring us light, and warmth, and joy, but that warmth and light and joy is multiplied when we share it. Like Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) I’ll provide a link in the video description below where you could order a set of sparklers if you chose to do this object lesson.
Sparkler Sticks: https://amzn.to/3CModGx
GAME:
Now if you’re not too wild about the sparkler idea, you could introduce this lesson with the following GAME idea for this week. It’s one we’ve done before and it’s called pyramid. And how you do this is you split your students up into pairs and you have one of them face the board or the screen while the other is facing away from the screen. Then you reveal the pyramid with the words on it. The person who can see the board gives clues to their partner to try and get them to say the word in the bottom left hand square. Once they get that word, they move on to the next, and the next and on up to the top of the pyramid. The first pair to get all the words wins. There are a couple of rules though, with giving clues. You can’t do any "starts with", or "rhymes with", or use the word in any part of the clue. So, for example, if the word was dog, you couldn’t say, “It starts with a D”, or “It rhymes with log”. Or say, “they eat dog food”. But what you can do is give them clues like “They like to chase cats, they bark, small ones are called puppies” and so on. After that first round, I usually like to do a second round also so that each person gets a chance to both give clues and make guesses. So here are the words that I might use to introduce this particular lesson in Doctrine and Covenants 18.
Joy
Repentance
Missionary
Power
Calling
Reward
Hope
Baptism
Gifts
Name
Labor
Invite
SEARCH ACTIVITY/HANDOUT:
Our search activity is a study guide handout that invites our students to examine a number of verses from section 18 regarding missionary work. You’ll notice that this handout is different from the one I referred to in the insight video. Four years ago, the Come Follow Me lesson for section 18 was combined with section 19, so I pulled verses for this study from both sections. On this handout I only focus on verses that are found within section 18 itself. And since I didn’t cover all of these questions in the insight video, I’ll cover those with you here now.
Question #1: What is one of the greatest rewards of missionary work (crying repentance) according to Doctrine and Covenants 18:15-16?
Answer: Joy. Great joy.
Question #2: Why do you think missionary work brings such great joy?
Answer: That is, of course, a very open-ended question with much that could be said. It’s joyful because the worth of souls is so great. A soul has been brought to Christ and can therefore experience its true potential. It brings joy because it aligns us with God’s work and glory, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” It’s joyful because joy is a natural consequence of sharing something that is joyful for us. There is an added joy when we share things. For example, there is joy in going to Disneyland, but I would argue that there is an even greater joy when its shared with my children. To see them experience the same joy I experienced when I was their age. It compounds the joy.
Question #3: What 3 qualities should we teach with and how do we teach with them? (Doctrine and Covenants 18:19)
Answer: With faith hope and charity. How do we teach with those things? That is a question I covered in the insight video.
As well as the next question.
Question #4: What shouldn't we do? Why? According to verse 20?
Answer: We shouldn’t contend with other churches. I give some of the possible why’s for that counsel in the insight video as well.
Question #5: Which of the following messages would you say is the best match for verses :21-29?
a. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Therefore, we must treat all with kindness.
b. The Holy Ghost reveals the truth of all things if we demonstrate faith in Christ.
c. Christ suffered for all so that those who repent will not have to suffer.
d. To gain salvation, all must take upon themselves the name of Christ through repentance and baptism. Those that do are then called to invite others to do the same.
e. All of God’s children have been blessed with special spiritual gifts.
Answer: the answer is D. That entire section is focused on the importance of taking upon ourselves the name of Christ. When correcting the study guide you may want to discuss why that is important. What’s the significance of taking a name. Think of marriage. When that commitment is made, a wife takes upon herself the name of her husband. Why? Because it shows a relationship has been forged. You are now a part of the same family. It’s the same when we are baptized. We are now a part of Christ’s family. Or, we get a name when we are born, when we begin a new life. Same with baptism. We are beginning a new life, as a new person, hence, we get a new name. It’s also the name by which we will be called at the last day, as it says in verses :24-25. When it comes to the final roll call of all who are going to be invited into Christ’s kingdom, it’s not going to be a huge list of names. A big book to go through like a graduation ceremony. There will only be one name on that list. Jesus Christ. And we may be really dismayed at that point, thinking, “What, only Jesus made it? He’s the only one invited?” Until we realize, oh, wait a second, that’s my name! I took upon myself the name of Christ, it’s on my spiritual ID. I’m invited in. That is the name by which we will be called at the last day.
Question #6 What are three things that will give us power in declaring the gospel according to verse 32? And how do those things give us power?
Answer: One of those things is the power of the Holy Ghost. The spirit will confirm the truth of our words and carry it unto the hearts of men. We won’t have to do it alone.
A second thing, the calling of God. Whom god calls; god qualifies. Inherent in the calling itself comes the ability to do it.
And the third thing, the gifts of God unto men. God will give us spiritual gifts to enhance our ability to declare his word.
Each of these things can help us to teach with power.
VIDEO:
A video you could show to accompany this lesson is this one entitled: “Good Things to Share”. It portrays a number of people finding joy in something, food, music, an activity, and then sharing that thing with somebody else. Because it’s the most natural thing in the world that we do. When we find joy in something, we want to share it, especially with those we love and care about. The gospel should be one of those things.
QUOTE:
“The gathering is the ultimate recognition that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. It is as simple as that. We are gathering God’s children in these last days that they might have “blessings poured out upon their heads” and the promises of “the riches of eternity.” It follows that to gather Israel we need missionaries . . . I promise that as you serve, you will feel the love of the Lord in your life, you will know Him, He will know you, and “how great shall be your joy.”
Ronald A. Rasband
(Conference Report, October 2023, “How Great Shall Be Your Joy”)
TAKE IT TO HEART QUESTION:
Have you ever experienced the joy of missionary work? Please share.
I WILL GO AND DO QUESTION:
What are some ways you can personally participate in bringing others to Christ, even if you are not a full-time missionary?
TAKEAWAY:
The takeaway slide focuses on that great promise of bringing souls to Christ. How great shall be your joy. With one or many. That labor is a labor of not only love, but a labor of joy.
LESSON #3 I’VE RECEIVED A WITNESS, NOW WHAT?
TRUTH:
After receiving a spiritual witness, we must continue to act in faith
FIRE IN THE BONES:
The fire in the bones can burn from the help we can give our students who feel they already do have a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I think we set that up as the end of all our efforts, when really it is just the beginning. This first portion of the Doctrine and Covenants has taught us a lot about receiving a witness through the power of the Holy Ghost. Sections 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 17 have all added to our understanding of how God grants personal revelation. Well section 18 has more guidance to give us. What do we do now? Section 18 gives us some great words or verbs that describe what we can do AFTER we’ve received a witness.
ICEBREAKER/OBJECT:
For an icebreaker and object for this lesson you could bring in a ladder. Now the ladder is a great symbol for upward progress. That’s the main theme for this lesson. Once we’ve received a witness of the gospel, we continue upward. So I pull out the ladder and say: Receiving a testimony is like stepping onto the first rung of a ladder. It's exciting, but what happens if I just stand here on the bottom rung? Answer: I never make it very high, do I! We stall in our progress. We never reach our true potential. To reach our potential, we have to keep climbing. We have to take the next steps. There’s more to do. Section 18 has some great suggestions for what that could be.
SEARCH ACTIVITY/HANDOUT:
Our search activity is the crossword puzzle I presented in the insight video. It invites your students to study specific verses in section 18 looking for individual action words that teach us what we must do once we’ve received a witness. Another way you could incorporate the ladder into your lesson would be to label the different rungs of the ladder with each of the verb phrases as you correct the handout. I’ll even provide you with a printout of those words that you could use to tape to the ladder rungs in the handouts file this week. So the phrases they’ll see on the ladder by the end of the activity will be Rely, Build, Perform, Testify, and Keep.
VIDEO:
A video that you might consider showing is the following video entitled “Staying Spiritually Fit”. The message of the video being that discipleship requires continual effort and preparation. Just like staying physically fit, if we don’t continue to push ourselves forward, to strive to become better, than our spiritual muscles may begin to atrophy, our faith weaken, and our testimonies stagnate. Encourage your students to look for and think about things presented in the video that match with the words we highlighted from section 18.
QUOTE:
"For truth can never be confirmed enough,
Though doubts did ever sleep."
William Shakespeare
(Pericles)
Or, I also like this concise quote from Elder Andersen:
“Your faith will grow not by chance, but by choice.”
Elder Neil L. Andersen
(Conference Report, October 2015 “Faith is not by Chance, but by Choice”)
TAKE IT TO HEART QUESTION:
What’s the next step in your spiritual growth? Which word do you feel you need to focus on most and why?
I WILL GO AND DO QUESTION:
How will you keep climbing this week?
TAKEAWAY:
Our takeaway slide keys off of our object lesson of climbing the ladder. Hopefully it helps to inspire them to go out and take the next step in their personal discipleship.
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