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OBJECT
For an object bring in some silverware, a plate, and a cup and set it at the front of the class.
ICEBREAKER
And for an icebreaker ask your students to share with their neighbor their answer to the following question: What is your favorite food? If you could have any food right now appear in front of you. What would you want it to be? OR What is your favorite restaurant to eat at and your favorite dish at that restaurant?
Is it steak? Pizza? Mexican food? Ice Cream? Sushi? Bacon?
My favorite food? I love Brazilian BBQ, the kind where they walk in every 5 minutes with a different cut of meat to try along with a big buffet of rice and beans and salads and cheese bread and all the good stuff that I loved on my mission and then wash it all down with a glass of Guarana, my favorite Brazilian soda. Oh, it’s the best.
So, I know I’m hungry now, but have I got you hungry yet?
An additional idea, if you really want to make an impression on your students, bring some food in that has a really good smell. One time I brought in one of those little George Foreman grills, and put some bacon on it, and as my students entered the room I had it cooking and sizzling and leaving that delicious bacon smell in the air. That is certain to get them feeling hungry, which is what you want.
And, if you have a hungry stomach, what the best way to remedy that? You open your mouth and Feed it.
Today we’re going to study a story about a hungry young man (which shouldn’t surprise us, most young men are hungry) whose name is Enos, Jacob’s son. But it’s not his stomach that’s hungry, it’s his what, according to Enos 1:4. His soul hungered. Now perhaps he started out that day with a hungry stomach and that's why he goes out to hunt wild beasts in the forest, but it turns out that when he actually gets out there, it's not his stomach that begins to gnaw at his insides and cry out for nourishment, but his soul.
And if you have a hungry soul, what’s the best way to remedy that? You open your mouth and Pray. That’s one way to feed a soul. With prayer.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
And to help make this lesson a little more personally relevant to you today, I want you to ponder what your soul is most hungry for right now? If you could choose just one prayer that you could have answered right now, today, what would it be? What would you pray for? The book of Enos is essentially the story of a man who desired an answer from his Heavenly Father, and what he was willing to do to obtain it. Enos prayed for forgiveness, his people, his enemies, and the preservation of the scriptures. And with your request in mind, study the book of Enos looking for what he did that led to his answers, and perhaps, just maybe, that will help you to find yours.
And for this lesson, I’d like to focus on two aspects of prayer. One, the “How’s” of prayer. And two “The Promises of Prayer” or the blessings of fervent prayer. The book of Enos can help us to understand both of these principles.
HOW TO PRAY-ARDENT
So our first question to examine the HOW. How did Enos pray? You probably already know that Enos’s prayer is answered. But what did he do that helped him to receive that answer. There are a few things I’d try to help my students to see.
PRAYER SYNONYMS
Whenever we see pictures of the story of Enos depicted in art, he’s typically on his knees because this is a story (at least in part) about prayer, right. And yet, how many times does the actual word prayer or prayed appear in the book? It might surprise you to discover that it only shows up 3 times in the whole book. Now it does have the word prey with an e in verse 20, the Lamanites fed on "beasts of prey” but that doesn’t count. So a quick challenge, can you find the three times? If I were teaching youth, I might throw out a small treat to whoever could find one first. So we have it in verse 4, verse 11, and verse 12, and that’s it! You would think that pray would show up more often in there, wouldn’t you? Well, in a way, it actually does, as an idea, show up a whole lot more in the story. It’s just that Enos uses much better words to describe that communication between earth and heaven. So what I’d like you to do is read the first 18 verses of Enos and just pull out and mark every word or phrase that Enos uses instead of the word prayer. What are they? As a teacher, I would make this list of verses up on the board and just fill in the answers as they search. If the verse appears more than once on the list, that means that there are that many different synonyms for prayer in that verse. But what are they?
:2 wrestle
:4 cried
:4 mighty prayer
:4 supplication
:4 raise my voice high
:9 feel a desire
:9 pour out my whole soul
:10 struggling in the spirit
:11 many long strugglings
:12 labored with all diligence
:15 cried unto him continually
:16 cry
Aren’t those fantastic words and phrases? Maybe we should start using these more often to describe our communication with God. Sometimes we use certain gospel words so often that they begin to lose their meaning. Prayer is one of those words I believe. And sometimes I believe our prayers begin to lose their meaning as well. I know that I fall into that trap at times. I wonder if my prayers get very far. And I have no doubt that our Father in Heaven listens to our prayers, and that we are indeed blessed for the effort that we make. But we could get so much more out of the experience in my opinion. And what verb do we use most often in to describe what we do with our prayers? We ______ our prayers. Say. We say our prayers. And perhaps that’s the problem. We just say them. We kind of have our favorite repeated phrases that we use. We kneel down, or fold our arms, and SAY them. But what if we started using some of Enos’s verbs instead? What if we instead said something like, "I need to go pour out my whole soul to God," or "I need to go wrestle with the Lord over an issue in my life.” Do you think that might change the nature of our prayers? I think it would.
DISCUSSION QUESTION
What do you think those particular words and phrases suggest about receiving answers to prayer?
Wrestle, many long strugglings, pour out, labor. What that suggests to me is that receiving answers to prayer requires effort. Sincere, earnest, thoughtful prayer. 2 Nephi 32:9 instructed us to pray always AND NOT FAINT. To not give up too easily. To be diligent and engaged in our efforts to connect with deity. We can’t expect God to always come rescue us at our beck and call. Receiving an answer to prayer is not like ordering room service, your answer promptly delivered on a silver platter. It’s not a text message where you simply type in your request, and the Lord answers a few seconds later with a smiley face emoji at the end. It’s a process. It’s a labor. It’s a challenge. And it’s meant to be.
Why I hear you ask? Why does God often make us work . . . hard for our answers? Good question. What do you think? In my mind, effort creates value. Things that we obtain too easily are often valued less. God wants us to value the answer and we will appreciate them more if we work for it. My testimony of the Book of Mormon came at the end of years of sincere seeking and praying. If I had received an answer the first time I requested it, I don’t believe that experience would mean as much to me. Also, our effort is a reflection of our longing. It may be the Lord’s means for testing our sincerity and desire. When somebody gives up on something to easily, it sends the message that we really didn’t care that much about it. Therefore, How should we pray? We should pray ardently—or fervently.
ALONE
Another insight that I think is important to mention, especially in our day and age, would be to point out the conditions Enos was in that made it possible for him to receive answers to his prayers. Look in verse 3. Behold I went to hunt beasts in the forests. Therefore, what were the circumstances? What is the setting? He was alone and away from the world. In a place where he could focus, meditate, and open his heart and mind to the voice of the Lord. Do you think Enos would have had the same experience if he’d brought his cell phone and Air Pods? Probably not. Most of us could probably use a little more silence in our lives. Silence seems to be a rare commodity these days. There is so much noise in our world today. We can’t even walk anywhere without having something to look at, play, or listen to. Between classes at school, students are constantly looking at their little screens, playing games, or drowning out the world around them with their earphones. Now I’m not a Luddite, I use these things too, and they are convenient and helpful. But are we making time for silence, meditation, contemplation. The New Testament tells us that Jesus often made time to be alone in nature and to commune with His father. Not that it’s required to go into nature to receive answers to prayer, but for me, I find it helps. In his book The Screwtape letters, C.S. Lewis gives voice to the devils who tempt us and in one part a senior devil says to his trainee, "It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” May I suggest that if you wish to receive answers to your prayers, that you make time in your life for silence. Turn off the television, the cell phone, and the radio, and somewhere in that sweet melody of silence, you might hear the voice of the Lord whispering your answer.
Another brief thought. I’ve found that at times, some of the greatest spiritual experiences we can have don’t always have to happen when we're in church, or listening to General Conference, or during a gospel class, or even studying the scriptures. But those moments of insight and inspiration can come later when we are alone, or going about our day, or spending time in nature. These are times when our soul has an opportunity to reflect and ponder on those things that we’ve heard. Then, the Spirit can take that opportunity to sink those truths and insights deep into our hearts.
ALOUD
Next, what do these words and phrases suggest about how Enos prayed? “I cried unto him in mighty prayer” and “I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. What’s Enos doing? He’s praying aloud. This can really make a difference at times. Of course we know that we can always say a prayer in our hearts and minds, we can pray in a crowd or surrounded by others, and God will hear those prayers, but there is a special power that comes from finding a place where we can pray aloud. Perhaps it’s because it seems more like a real conversation. If you’re finding it hard to connect with God or you really wish to demonstrate the depth of your desire on a deeper level, try finding a place where you can pray aloud. Elder Holland in this most recent General Conference instructed us to pray vocally when it’s possible.
A LOT
Another thought. One of the more well know aspects of the Enos story is found in vs. 4 where we find that Enos prayed all day long and into the night, and I know of individuals who have gone out and tried to replicate this by staying on their knees for hours and hours. I’m not so sure that that is the intended message of the story. That, “If you want an answer to your prayers, just pray for hours and hours until the answer comes.” The more important principle I get from that detail of the story is that answers to prayer often take time. Some prayers can be answered immediately, but most require days, weeks, months, or even years before the answer comes. Don’t give up on your prayer if you feel like you still haven’t gotten an answer. Your answer just might require some long strugglings, some more wrestling, and some pouring out. How did Enos pray? He prayed A LOT!
It reminds me of the parable of the importuning friend in Luke 11 where the neighbor comes and knocks and knocks until the master of the house finally answers. And Jesus says the friend doesn’t get up to help him because he is his friend, but because of his importunity. What does importunity mean? Persistence. We, like Enos, need to be persistent in our prayers.
Joseph Smith said, “weary the Lord until he blesses you”. So if you don’t feel like you’ve received an answer to prayer, bruise your knuckles on heaven’s door until you feel you’ve received one.
A quick caution here. Persistence in prayer is not an encouragement to keep praying until God gives you exactly what you want. It’s an encouragement to keep praying until he gives you an answer. Remember Joseph Smith asking God if he could give the 116 pages to Martin Harris. He got his answer and then kept pushing for a different one, and we all know how that ended up. The Lord’s answer may be no, that will not bless you OR the answer may be, you’re asking the wrong question OR the answer may be “wait, you are not quite ready for the answer” OR sometimes the answer is even, “It doesn’t matter what you do on this occasion. Decide for yourself, and I will support you in that decision”. Prayer is not so much about aligning God’s will to ours, but our will to his. Hopefully, as we pray, we do it with an open mind. Keep praying until you receive your answer, but be willing to accept the one you receive.
I guess a neat way we could sum up the answer to the question of HOW Enos prayed is to say that he prayed Ardently, Alone, Aloud, and A lot. If we follow this pattern, I believe we’ll receive the same kind of results Enos did.
THE PROMISES OF PRAYER
And now, what are those results? We’ve taken a look at some of the “How’s” of prayer, but let’s take a look at what the Lord did for Enos because of his efforts. I’d entitle this portion of the lesson “The Promises of Prayer”. You could do this as a quick activity, and I’ll provide this as a handout if you’re interested.
But read the following verses and look for the words that go in the blanks. Then use the numbered squares to discover one of my favorite quotes on prayer from William Shakespeare.
And the answers are
1:5 Thy sins are FORGIVEN
1:5 Thou shalt be BLESSED
1:6 My GUILT was swept away
1:8 Thy faith hath made thee WHOLE
1:11 My FAITH began to be unshaken
1:12 I will grant unto thee according to thy DESIRES
1:15 Ye shall RECEIVE it
1:16 He COVENANTED with me
1:17 My soul did REST
And the quote:
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to Heaven go.
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
And do you ever feel like your prayers are like that? I know I do at times. Just words without thoughts. I wonder how often our prayers don’t even get past the ceiling because there are no thoughts to go with them. Maybe that’s one of the major differences between rote prayer, and wrestling and pouring out your whole soul to God.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
When have you seen one of these blessings come to you through fervent prayer?
Can any of you think of a time when you wrestled with the Lord and received an answer or a blessing like these from God? Have you ever had your guilt swept away, your desires granted, or your soul put at rest?
TRUTH
Praying Ardently, Alone, Aloud, and A lot can lead to Answers
Or we might say, Patience, persistent, persevering, and passionate prayer leads to promises.
VIDEO
A possible video you might consider showing is entitled “I Pray When . . .” which depicts a number of people holding up signs with the way that they completed that sentence. And it’s really touching and can help your class to see the many different situations in which prayer can be a blessing and a help to us. If you liked, you could do that same activity with your students. Ask them to create their own sign and fill in that sentence. When do they pray and how does it help them. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2014-08-0008-i-pray-when-didyouthinktopray?lang=eng)
THE TAKEAWAY
Well, Enos left that morning planning on hunting for something that would feed him physically. Instead, he came back with a fed soul. He left expecting to expend effort and time pursuing wild animals, instead, he pursued forgiveness, blessings, and promises by wrestling and struggling with the Spirit all day long and into the night. By the end of the story, I think it's safe to assume that Enos’s hungry soul was fed. I pray that yours will be also.
LESSON #2 LESSONS IN PARENTING
OBJECT
For an object lesson, if you can get your hands on one, see if you can arrange to get a parenting book to display to your class. There are literally thousands of them out there, and chances are, if you are a parent, there may be one on your bookshelf right now. If not, you could always go to the library and check out a few to use as a visual aid.
ICEBREAKER
And for an icebreaker to this portion of the lesson, I might start by saying something like . . .Parenting is an incredible privilege, but also an incredible responsibility. When we first became parents, my wife and I asked a lot of people for advice, we scoured books and internet articles on the subject, and had a lot of long discussions about how we wanted to approach that responsibility. We discovered that there is a lot of parenting advice out there, and a lot of it is conflicting. Therefore a question: What is the best or worst parenting advice you’ve ever received?
Here are a few examples and I’ll let you decide if it’s good or bad advice:
• Cherish the day you buy your first minivan because that will be the last day it is ever clean.
• After your first child is born, go buy 20 years-worth of poster board. This will save you countless 10:00 PM trips to CVS.
• Tell your kids all the food you want to keep for yourself is spicy. Sorry dear, this Ice Cream Sandwich is spicy
• Don't leave Hungry Hungry Hippos on the floor of a dark room.
• I told my kids the shoes on telephone wires are from kids who lied and got sucked up into space
• If you hide 48 eggs and tell your kids there are 50, you can get a little nap in.
• We pay our child 1$ for every book they read. I’m out 120$ is year and he thinks he’s ripping me off. Best investment ever.
Well, if you are a parent, would you like to know which books we’ve found to have given us the best advice? There are five of them. They are: The Old Testament, the New Testament, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon. In my humble opinion, the scriptures are the greatest parenting manual ever given to mankind.
And right here, in the first three verses of the Book of Enos is some of the best parenting advice I’ve ever received. So far this year, we’ve been able to see Jacob in his role as a brother, a preacher, and a prophet, but now we get to see him as a father. And he sounds like he must have been an amazing father—a great example for us to seek to emulate if we find ourselves in the role of parenthood. What did Jacob do as a parent that blessed Enos in his spiritual development? Let’s see what we can find.
SEARCH ACTIVITY-POWER WORDS
I’ve found in my scripture study, that sometimes individual words, all by themselves, can carry immense power. So I call them power words. Entire sermons can often be taught in just one word and these particular verses are full of them. So here’s an activity for you. Read Enos 1:1-3 and pick out at least two power words that teach you something about righteous parenting and be prepared to explain why you chose them.
Here are some of my favorite words in these verses:
Just
Enos knew that his father was a just man. Not a perfect man, but a just man. Something that we can strive to do as parents is to set an example of righteousness for our children. Hopefully they view us as JUST individuals. I believe that typically, but not always, our children become a reflection of our values and actions. Therefore, if we want our children to be honest, then we need to be honest. If we want our children to be faithful to their covenants, we need to be faithful to our covenants. If we want our children to study their scriptures, then they need to see us studying our scriptures. Our example can have a profound effect on who they become. So seek to be JUST.
Taught
We need to teach our children. Both spiritual and secular truths. If we allow only public education and society to teach our children, I’m afraid they will be spiritually unprepared and in many ways, mis-educated. Also, I don’t think that we can’t just rely on Sunday school and Seminary teachers to do it either. Our children need to be taught spiritually by us as well. This is one of the reasons I’m so thrilled by this Come Follow Me program which encourages parents to teach their children the gospel. It’s one of the reasons I started this channel, to help parents teach their children the scriptures, which isn’t always easy, and does require a certain skill set to be done effectively. Remember that now, we are a home-centered, church-supported organization. We, as parents, have a responsibility to teach our children as effectively as we know how.
Nurture and Admonition
These next two words are key. Nurture and admonition. I see these as the two great guiding and balancing principles in raising righteous and thriving children. Starting with nurture, what words or synonyms come to mind when you see the word “nurture”? care, cherish, love, support, look out for, protect, compassion, praise
How about admonition? What words come to your mind there? Discipline, warn, exhort, caution, reprove, reprimand.
Which of these two do children need most? Trick question. Both, right. What happens if I do too much of one, and not enough of the other. What if all I do is nurture, nurture, nurture. Well, they’ll be spoiled, entitled, and unprepared for the real world, because the real world isn’t always a very nurturing place. On the other hand, what if all I do is admonish, admonish, admonish. They might feel unloved, they'll have no self-confidence, and they may eventually rebel against all that heavy handedness. So what’s the best way to raise a child? Balance. Children need a balance between both nurture and admonition. There was a show on television that my wife and I used to watch when we first became parents called the Super Nanny, where a nanny would come in and help parents who were struggling with their children, and without fail, you could see that in almost every case, their problem fell into one of those two categories. There was either too much nurture, not enough admonition, or too much admonition and not enough nurture. And the Super Nanny would just come in and simply try to balance that out a bit. Now what is that exact balance? I’m not sure, if you figure it out, let me know. I’m still in the middle of my parenting journey and I am by no means an expert. But I believe that as long as we are aware of these two principles and open to correction from the spirit or others, then we’ll probably be able to navigate that balance as well as possible.
Often
Righteous parents teach the principles of the gospel frequently to their children. The things of the Spirit are regularly spoken of. The gospel is not just something that is talked about on Sunday and then never again until the next week. Though you might get an eye roll and a “Not this again” from time to time, children will be blessed by hearing gospel principles referred to and spoken of frequently. We can look for opportunities at all times and in many different day-to-day contexts to turn their thoughts towards spiritual things.
Joy
Enos mentions that his father often spoke of the joy of the saints. If wickedness never was happiness, then righteousness always was happiness. Living the gospel should bring us joy. But, do we approach it that way in front of our children? When it’s time for church, scripture study or family prayer, do we have a smile on our face, do we have an air of happiness and anticipation? Do we help our children see that the gospel and the commandments are not the barbed wire fence, but the enfolding arms of Jesus. Do we speak of sacred things with enthusiasm or do we approach them as a chore and an unwelcome obligation. Do we complain about our church duties or ignore the words of the prophets. Our children need to see the joy the gospel brings us. When Joseph Smith restored the doctrine of work for the dead in D&C 128, he ended that section with an exultant hymn detailing all the wonderful events of the Restoration. And he began that hymn with a question. He asked ,“Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of __________? What word do you think goes in that blank? The answer. Gladness. A voice of gladness is what we hear in the restored gospel. Not a voice of obligation, or dreariness, or apathy. Our children will be much more likely to want to stick with the path of the restored gospel if they can see how much of a blessing we consider it to be.
Sunk Deep
And yes I know, I'm cheating a little bit on this one. It’s two words but I don’t care, I’m going to share it anyway. This is every parent’s greatest desire; this is my greatest desire for my children. I want the gospel to sink deep into their hearts. I think this pairs nicely with the word often. I envision a parent regularly sending truth, or faith, or testimony out on to the lake of their children’s soul. Every time they testify or teach, they are sending out another piece of that truth and faith. And for a time, it may not seem like anything is penetrating. It’s just kind of floating there, never getting beneath the surface. But, eventually, after years of teaching, and family nights, and family prayers, and scripture study, and testimonies, enough has been shared cumulatively, that the combined weight of all that we’ve taught, and shown, reaches a critical mass and that truth sinks deep into their hearts and their souls hunger. That’s what I think happened to Enos that day. All of his parents efforts came to fruition in that moment, and his faith was forged. So, if it doesn’t seem like your children have gotten it yet, if it doesn’t seem like they are feeling the power of the Spirit or the scriptures, don’t give up. Keep sending out those truths continually, repeatedly, and who knows, one day, it all may just click, and that faith will finally sink deep into your children’s hearts.
CAUTION
A quick note about teaching any lesson on parenting. Parents are often very hard on themselves. And if they have a child that has strayed or is making poor decisions, it’s very hard for them not to take 100% responsibility for that on themselves. They may feel like failures, and they shouldn’t. They also worry about others judging them, which others shouldn’t. Still, this shouldn’t keep us from teaching parenting principles from the scriptures, but I always make sure in any lesson on parenting to include the principle that no parent is perfect and that even the greatest of parents have had children who have strayed or made poor choices in life. Would we judge Sariah and Lehi to be bad parents because of Laman and Lemuel? No, we know from Nephi that they were goodly parents. Would we judge Adam and Eve to be bad parents because of Cain? No. Mary and Joseph were chosen to raise Jesus, so we know that they were amazing parents, and yet, some of their children did not accept their brother to be the Son of God. So let’s be charitable to other parents as well as ourselves. We do our best. We all mess up. And barring being negligent, abusive, or absent parents, I think the Lord will accept our offering as mothers and fathers for being willing to take on this intimidating yet, incredible responsibility of raising souls with great mercy and understanding.
TRUTH
I’m not going to include a TRUTH slide here this time because the truths are going to be discovered by your class.
TAKING IT TO HEART
But for a taking it to heart question, you might ask, “How could you apply one of the truths that you heard today?” And I understand that not everyone you might be teaching are always going to be parents. But I believe that we can all benefit from an understanding of these principles. I’m fairly confident that we all can look for and have opportunities to influence and bless the lives of children or young people. In church callings, as siblings, as grandparents, as members of an extended family, or just as a member of a community, we can seek to have a positive spiritual impact on the rising generation. So how do these ideas apply to you personally? Seek the spirit and I’m sure it can inspire you with insight and encouragement.
THE TAKEAWAY
So did that help you to see how the scriptures can bless and instruct us as parents? I pray it has. In fact, that’s a powerful and wonderful method for studying the scriptures. I did that once on the advice of another great teacher I know. I read each of the standard works with only that particular focus in mind. What do the scriptures teach me about parenthood? And that was one of the most fruitful and eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had with the scriptures. And I bear personal witness to you that the scriptures are the greatest parenting manual I’ve ever read. They are the source of Powerful Parenting Principles.
JAROM/OMNI/WORDS OF MORMON
All right now, Jarom, Omni, and the Words of Mormon, all very short books and each just one chapter long. As a teacher, if I only had a limited time to teach the materials found in this week’s lesson, I really would focus my attention mainly on Enos, but if you have more time, you could do a little something with these three small books. And to start us out, I just want to give you a bit of a background to each.
Jarom
The Book of Jarom was written by Enos’s son who then becomes the next prophet leader of the Nephites. Jarom was obviously a righteous man who, according to verse 2, had the spirit of prophecy and revelation. But he decides not to record his prophecies and revelations because he felt that his fathers had sufficiently covered the plan of salvation in their writings. The book of Jarom is the shortest book in the Book of Mormon and in terms of time, covers about 59 years of Nephite history from about 420 BC to 361 BC.
Omni
The book of Omni though covers a very large swath of time in Nephite history. From 361 BC to 130 BC. So a whopping 231 years of time passes in this very short book and Omni is not the only author of this book. In fact, I almost feel like Omni doesn’t really deserve to have book named after him in the Book of Mormon because he only writes three verses and in those verses reveals that he is a wicked man who did not keep the statues and commandments of the Lord as he ought to have done. It almost seems like he just, at the end of his life, quickly grabs the plates, writes a few things, and then passes them on to his son, because, well, that’s what you’re supposed to do. You really get the sense in the book of Omni that the purpose for record keeping, and plates has kind of been lost. There are five different writers in the Book of Omni, and the next few are almost a bit of a joke as the plates get handed down from one person to the next without much thought or substance in their words. In fact, just take a quick look at verse 9 where a man named Chemish writes his one sole verse in the Book of Mormon. And what profound message does he have to share with us? He says:
9 Now I, Chemish, write what few things I write, in the same book with my brother; for behold, I saw the last which he wrote, that he wrote it with his own hand; and he wrote it in the day that he delivered them unto me. And after this manner we keep the records, for it is according to the commandments of our fathers. And I make an end.
Ah poetry. Right? Great are the words of Chemish. But, if I could change something in the book of Mormon, I would probably change the name of the book of Omni to the book of Amaleki, because he actually does have something of worth to share with us in this book. He catches us up on Nephite history which is going to set the stage for what’s going to happen in Mosiah, and he adds some spiritual insight for us as well.
The Words of Mormon
Then finally, the Words of Mormon are a “flash forward” of sorts. You may have heard of a flash back, but this small book is a flash forward. We jump from 130 BC all the way to 385 AD to the time of Mormon who is at that time compiling and abridging the history of the Nephites into what will become what we know as the Book of Mormon. And I don’t feel the need to go into all the ins and outs of how the Book of Mormon was compiled and small plates and large plates and what was found on each. If you really want a good explanation of how all that fits together, I would recommend you read “A Brief Explanation about the Book of Mormon” in the introductory pages. But it sufficeth me to say here that the Words of Mormon are an explanatory statement made by Mormon to inform us that he had decided to include this record from the small plates of Nephi after abridging a portion of the large plates. He tells us that he’s doing this for a wise purpose but it’s apparent he’s not exactly sure what that purpose is, just that the Spirit is inspiring him to do it.
SEARCH ACTIVITY-STUDENT TEACHERS
With these books, I like to do a brief activity that I call "Big Truths from Small Books” and I like to highlight just one scripture gem hiding in each of these small books. So I do a group activity where I break up my class into groups of three and assign each person in the group one of the following verses
Jarom 1:11
Omni 1:26
Words of Mormon 1:7
Then I ask them to be prepared to teach the other 2 people in their group a truth that their verses teach them, and I give them about 4-5 minutes to prepare what they will say, and then I have them take turns teaching each other. Now depending on the spiritual maturity of your class, you could just leave it at that.
Sometimes though, I like to give them just a little bit of help, so for each verse I have a small slip of paper with a few simple questions to consider and one quote from a general authority that they could use to elaborate on their passage.
And as I lead you through these, I’d like to share just a brief commentary on each.
JAROM 1:11
11 Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was. And after this manner did they teach them.
What does this verse teach you about teaching in the church?
I believe this is a great verse on what makes an effective gospel teacher. They labor diligently. They are long suffering with those who they teach, which means they are patient, loving, and understanding. They teach gospel truths to the intent for which they were given, not their own intent or personal agenda. And they teach by persuasion, not force, not charisma, not bribery, but persuasion. That’s some pretty good advice here on how to teach with power.
And then another question:
Like the Nephites, we too are waiting for the Messiah (Jesus Christ) to appear. How can we believe and live as though he already was?
I really like this thought. Jesus Christ is a present Savior, not just a future Savior. It is possible for us to live our lives “as though he already was”. Jesus is the living Christ. He’s not just somebody who lived a long time ago, or somebody that we will live with again someday. His power, his atonement, his teachings, his love, can be an integral part of our lives right now. And hopefully that changes us, now, in the present. I like this quote from Dallin H. Oaks.
Quote:
What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow – through our premature death or His unexpected coming – what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear?
If we would do those things then, why not now?
Dallin H. Oaks | Ensign, May 2004, pp. 8-9
OMNI 1:26
26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.
According to this verse, what must we do to be saved?
Come unto Christ, partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption, offer your whole souls as an offering to him, continue in fasting and prayer, and endure to the end.
I’m very intrigued by the phrase: and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him.
How does somebody “offer [their] whole souls as an offering unto him”? I think Elder Neal A. Maxwell said it best.
“The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!
Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father”, Ensign (CR), November 1995, p.22)
The greatest and only real sacrifice we can make is our will—to offer up a broken heart and a contrite spirit to him. How do we do that? Obedience. Unquestioning, unwavering, dedicated, and loyal obedience to his will, fully trusting that his ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts as Isaiah taught us in Isaiah 55:8-9.
Words of Mormon 1:7
7 And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.
Keep in mind that as Mormon is writing this that he didn't understand why he was including the record of the small plates of Nephi in addition to his abridgment of the large plates. All he knows is that the Spirit is prompting him to do so for a wise purpose. Now we know what the “wise purpose” is—to prepare a way for us to receive this record of Nephi in spite of the loss of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript in early church history.
This quote from Elder Brook P. Hales helps us to understand the significance of this.
The scriptures teach us, “For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him,” (Matthew 6:8) and He “knoweth all things, for all things are present before [His] eyes.”(Doctrine and Covenants 38:2)
The prophet Mormon is an example of this. He did not live to see the results of his work. Yet he understood that the Lord was carefully leading him along. When he felt inspired to include the small plates of Nephi with his record, Mormon wrote: “And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.”5 Words of Mormon 1:7 Although Mormon did not know of the future loss of the 116 manuscript pages, the Lord did and prepared a way to overcome that obstacle long before it occurred.
Brook P. Hales (Conference Report, April 2019)
The question I ask you to consider is: Why do you think it is important to follow the “whisperings" of the Spirit even when we don’t understand why?
This is one of the hardest ways for us to be obedient—when the Spirit asks us to take a leap of faith, or a step into the darkness, to demonstrate our trust in our Father in Heaven. There are a lot of ways we can demonstrate that trust. Serving a mission even when you’re not sure how you’re going to fulfill its demands on you. Paying your tithing when you’re not sure how you’ll be able to manage it financially. Accepting a church calling even though you don’t feel qualified. Saying something to somebody you feel prompted to say even though you don’t know why and fear it may be awkward. Obeying a commandment or standard you don’t completely understand or accepting a church doctrine or policy that doesn’t totally make sense to you. There are lots of opportunities to demonstrate this kind of faith. Just remember that there is a being out there who sees the end from the beginning and how lucky we are that he is willing to grant us a hint of that divine perspective through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.
And that will do it for these small books. Like I said, big truths, small books. And that will also conclude our lesson for today. Although, I will be including a couple of additional thoughts on leadership from the second half of the Words of Mormon next week as that goes really well with the first couple of chapters from Mosiah, and we’ll also be revisiting the book of Omni for some historical background to some of the events in Mosiah as well since it gives us some context.
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