The Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Chapter 6: The Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

i have a gift for you today, some assembly required

paper -

the first piece is a piece of white paper. i know, it's an expensive and impressive gift.

what can you do with it?????????

you can fold it and cut it and crumple it up but that isn't what it was invented for. that isn't its purpose. paper is for writing on. it is for recording information.

this paper actually represents something you already have, or rather what you are. this piece of paper represents your spirit. it is clean and white and waiting for information to be written on it. it is waiting for experience.

pencil -

what can you do with the pencil alone????????

you can throw it and poke your neighbor with it, make some kind of craft with it, but that isn't its purpose either.

a pencil is for writing or drawing. it is for recording information.

the pencil represents your body. the body is sturdy and makes a mark on anything it touches. the body moves through mortality having experiences and recording this experience on your spirit. that is why we are here.

just as a pencil and paper are meant to be together, so are a spirit and body. neither can fulfill their true purpose without the other.

2 Nephi 2:23

And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

#1

“In the glorious dawn of Easter morning, when the thoughts of the Christian world are turned to the resurrection of Jesus for a few fleeting moments, let us express appreciation to our Heavenly Father for the great plan of salvation that has been provided for us.”

this is the plan of salvation. our spirits came to earth to receive bodies. in life we experience joy and sorrow. we learn new talents and commit sin. our spirit papers are waiting for experience.

i'm going to give you a moment to write down at least one of each of these that are important in your life right now.

at least one joy, one sorrow or worry, one talent you are using or developing, and one sin you are struggling with. these are yours, we are not sharing them so it should be things that are personal and meaningful to you.

----------time---------

keep these things in mind today and apply the lesson to those things.

pres hunter loved the holy land. he was often there. as he shares his thoughts when visiting special places there, we will travel with him and hopefully gain a deeper understanding and testimony on our journey.

my next gift to you.

blood / sacrament

#2

I have stood in the garden of Gethsemane on many occasions. I’ve contemplated in my mind the suffering, the agony of the Savior—that agony that was experienced when our Heavenly Father permitted him, in a way our minds cannot even comprehend, to take upon himself the pain and sins of all mankind. My soul was filled with sorrow as I’ve thought of his great sacrifice for mankind.

Matt 26:27 - 28

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Mosiah 3:7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

----------time----------

the next piece of your gift-----------cross / nails------

#3

I’ve stood beneath Golgotha, the place of the skull, and contemplated the humiliation of the crucifixion which led to our Savior’s mortal death, but which brought to pass his and all mankind’s immortality. And again my soul has been subdued.

John 10:17-18

17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 19:28 and 30
28 ¶After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

i did a lot of studying trying to find one or two scriptures to represent the crucifixion. 2 stuck out to me.

over and over, it says, "that the scripture might be fulfilled". these things were not done to Him outside of His control. He allowed it. not only did he allow it, He made sure every mortal and spiritual obligation was fulfilled. He made sure His death prepared the way for us, down to the tiniest detail. He was filling list of the demands of justice, that we might have mercy.

#4

Think of it! When his body was taken from the cross and hastily placed in a borrowed tomb, he, the sinless Son of God, had already taken upon him not only the sins and temptations of every human soul who will repent, but all of our sickness and grief and pain of every kind. He suffered these afflictions as we suffer them, according to the flesh. He suffered them all. He did this to perfect his mercy and his ability to lift us above every earthly trial.

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-----------------tomb-------------gift---------------

#5

And I’ve stood in front of the garden tomb and imagined that glorious day of resurrection when the Savior emerged from the tomb alive, resurrected, immortal. In that contemplation my heart has swelled with joy.

#6

Without the Resurrection, the gospel of Jesus Christ becomes a litany of wise sayings and seemingly unexplainable miracles—but sayings and miracles with no ultimate triumph. No, the ultimate triumph is in the ultimate miracle: for the first time in the history of mankind, one who was dead raised himself into living immortality. He was the Son of God, the Son of our immortal Father in Heaven, and his triumph over physical and spiritual death is the good news every Christian tongue should speak.

although the tomb is empty, all of the things Christ did are contained in it.

just as Christ left behind His mortality when He emerged immortal from the tomb, we leave all of our sorrows, sins and pains of this world behind as we partake of the sacrament and His atonement.

--------------blood and nail in tomb----------

#7

Christ’s resurrection ushers in the blessing of immortality and the possibility of eternal life. His empty tomb proclaims to all the world, “He is not here, but is risen.” (Luke 24:6.) These words contain all the hope, assurance, and belief necessary to sustain us in our challenging and sometimes grief-filled lives.

we will someday also rise from the tomb. we will leave our mortal life behind to be immortal and live with Him forever.

------------spirit and pencil in tomb------------------

----------passalong card----------------https://www.mormon.org/easter

my last gift to you, is an invitation. i invite you to search the scriptures and read about Christ's Atonement. search for the many details and effort Christ went to to pay for us fully.

i encourage you to share this gift with others.

#8

It is the responsibility and joy of all men and women everywhere to “seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have [testified]” (Ether 12:41) and to have the spiritual witness of his divinity. It is the right and blessing of all who humbly seek, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness of the Father and his resurrected Son.

it is my testimony that no matter how dark the hour, day, weeks may seem, Jesus Christ has taken the path before us. He has carried it all before He has asked us to. He carries the majority of the load if we will but allow Him to.

**************how to****************

if anyone wants to make their own set, i just copied and pasted the sacrament prayers from doc and cov 20 .   77 is the bread and 79 is the water.  i changed the wine to water to make it what it is today.   (less miraculous in this case than it was biblically)      i used craft pins, not a sewing pin for the nail in the prayer for the bread and drop of red paint watered down for the red spot to represent the blood.   

the tomb is a coloring page from the church i edited it so i had a top to put on the envelope flap.   

you can see in the picture that the top of the tomb would be gone with the stone in place, the envelope closed without that extra piece.   i got two on a page by printing them as 5x7 size . . .  .( i think).   i had to play with the size a bit so it would fit my envelopes.   envelopes with a triangle flap work better so you have room for the top of the tomb and the stone to overlap.   

we used wood, bricks and stones to color on.  i made 50 for my lesson so the different under textures let us mix it up a bit.  

if possible, leave time at the end for testimonies, be sure to bare your testimony.  

i hope you enjoy this lesson and can feel the Spirit of the Lord in it.   

helaman 1 continued

helaman 1

15 - 21 Coriantumr is a really big and really smart dude. the king of the lamanites figures he can send Coriantumr in and he will totally wipe the floor with the nephites.

 he starts to because of all the chaos that has been taking place with the 3 brothers arguing over who will be chief judge. everyone is taken by surprise. Coriantumr marches right into the heart of the land and into zarahemla itself, finds the last of the 3 ring circus of brothers that caused this mess in the first place and kills him. (now, the pahoran family has lost 4)

23-29 Coriantumr figures he has the nephites on the run so he just keeps plowing the road. the leader of the nephites sees this and decides he better nip this thing in the bud. lehi and his army are sent to head off the lamanites and succeed in keeping them from doing further damage. whew! that was close! 

30-34 Moronihah, the nephite leader, comes in with his army behind coriantumr and together with lehi and his army, they totally kick lamanite booty. that was no easy task and it was pretty close.

i am all for plunging into things to try them out. some things are a totally fabulous and some are fabulous fails. at least i learn what not to do. somethings, are better left untouched though. we hear about addictions of all kinds spreading like wild fire. why is it best to stay clear? well, you'll end up in the middle of enemy territory and end up hurtin'. 

so . . . what if you are already in? you have plunged in, and now, you are knee to neck or more deep. the nice thing about the Atonement is there is always a way back out. it might not be fun and it will require a lot of work, but God is willing to pull you out. we have all gone into some kind of sin and needed back out. none of us will get through life without that situation happening often. it may not be addiction, but some kind of addictive sinful behavior. (some are not something you can actually stay away from. swearing, lying, unkind or unclean words come out of your own mouth! those are hard habits to break as well) so, just think of the big smart dude that still ended up dead and remember that you can still turn back, there is a way out, no matter how deep you get.

missionary games

We have the missionaries over most every week.   last week, the kids decided they needed to come over for a game night for family home evening.   hmmm . . . games to play with the missionaries.

here's what we came up with -

SCRIPTURE SCAVENGER HUNT
I came up with a couple versions of this game. You can make this fit any scriptures you are studying or subject you are talking about.
you could always use scriptures you're working with or the
 Articles of Faith,
The Family: A Proclamation to the World,
The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,
 http://seminary.lds.org/mastery/?lang=eng
you can use 4 teams with each using the scripture mastery set from the 4 sets of works, old test., new test., book of mormon, doc. & cov.   everyone can use the same set, mix it up however suits your purposes.   use time limit or til each team is done or just go all together.   we aren't competitive, so we don't keep score anyway.   it would be a fun thing to take on a nature walk or on a car ride  as well.   basic scavenger hunt  except you get to be creative with it.

take this scripture for example : john 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
you could find a sheep or something sheep related. - we got toy sheep taped together into one fold and we got a toy sheep with a farmer (shepard).
you could find something to represent fold, like folded clothing.
something for hearing or voice.
a shepherd or shepherds staff or a stick.
possibly a fence to keep the sheep together
the number 1.
you could get less symbolic and go with america or nephites/lamanites which is what this refers to. . . .
you get it.

it's fun to see what people come up with.   if someone gets too far off, take a vote.

one of the other options is to use the scriptures as clues to where to find things/more clues.
genesis 8: 6  And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. That would lead to the window where another clue would be found.  
Leviticus 25:22 22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store which would lead to your food storage etc.
if you've read book of mormon sleuth, it does this all the way through and has some really obscure references.

I found a quick list for a scavenger hunt if you are too lazy to look some up, (like i am)    http://katscratchme2.blogspot.de/2009/04/scripture-scavenger-hunt.html
I used all but the last one and added john 10:6 from above. We got some really creative answers. It was fun to see what they came up with.


BALLOON BOUNCE
*spiritual thought - surround yourself with those who are uplifting and be uplifting to others*
we always have balloons, they are better for you than candy.    everyone enjoyed batting them back and forth.   there are rules, but no one really plays by them for more than a few minutes.   and when you're playing with a rambunctious 2 year old, just keeping the balloon it the air is great


WHO'S THE ANIMAL?
*spiritual thought - listen closely to recognize who you're following*
To start the game, you need a person that is it. Everyone stands in the circle, except the person who is it, they stand in the middle. Put a blindfold on the person who is it. Have them say "Go" everyone runs around, not making any clue of where they are. When the person who is it says "Stop" all the people stop in the circle again. The person who is it points in a direction, saying an animal. Whoever he/she points to has to make the animal noise that they were told. Trying not to sound like themselves. The person tries to guess the person who made the noise. If he/she guesses right, the person who did the animal is it, if not you just pick someone else to be it. - Maren Jacobs from http://ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_games/family_home_evening_games.htm
this was really fun.   we got a bit off topic and started naming pokemon and other sci-fi creatures which was just more hilarious.   one of the missionaries wasn't familiar with pokemon so he was totally lost but a good sport anyway.


 FLOUR TOWER

*this is a great example of how satan and the world slowly cuts away at your will, truth, righteous choices etc. until your most valuable possession  your eternal progression falls.   through the Atonement, you can repent and rebuild your tower and again claim eternal glory*or show how the church was cut away until it fell and was taken from the earth by God.   he used the same things (priesthood prophets etc = flour) to rebuild the church (tower)*
 use a cup and form your flour like a sand castle.  you'll have to pack it to get it to stay.  .   then put your plate on top of the cup and turn them over so the flour can come out on the plate.   i used an old ice cream cup and put a hole in the bottom so it would release easier.    clear is best so you can see if it is coming out, tapp it a bit with knife.   place a penny on the top and take turns cutting chunks off of the tower with a butter or plastic knife.   you have to cut from top to bottom, no chicken little chunks.   the one who makes the penny fall loses.    we played this a lot.   the new rule we had to make is that the little blonde 2 year old curls gets to finish the tower after the penny falls and if you're holding the knife when he bumps the table making the penny fall, you lose.


SCREAMING TOES-
spiritual thought for this game – when faced with temptation, scream and run away
so much fun!   Everyone gets in a circle. Look down, close your eyes, someone says, “1.2.3” and everyone opens their eyes to look at someone's toes. You look at the face of the owner of those toes and if that person is looking at you, you scream and get out of the circle. Sometimes we get an elder that is shy and doesn't really scream. We tell him he is going to outer darkness because he won't scream in the face of evil and then show him how to scream. They usually will get into it after they hear everyone else screaming like madmen. It's tons of fun! One of our elders made crazy noises while screaming. He unleashed his t-rex scream on my daughter. She laughed so hard that she just sat down to keep from falling over, (so did everyone else).


SIGNS A.K.A. NEPHITE IN THE MIDDLE
*spiritual thought - you could talk about gadianton robbers or recognizing evil, the murders around the judgment seat during pahoran's time is a great story for this game.
(one of the missionaries taught us this game and we have now passed it on to the next set of missionaries.) everyone has a sign.   like a finger mustache, bunny ears, pulling your hair, scratching your chin, something with your hands. It should be something you can do quickly.   one person in the middle closes their eyes and turns three times.   the people around the outside start the game while "it" turns.   That just gives everyone a chance to get going without “it” seeing. the first person makes their own sign and then another person's sign. that person makes their own sign to accept the turn. Then they make the sign of another person.   the person in the center tries to catch the person who has the sign.   so if the person has not accepted the sign yet, the person who sent it is still has it.   another version is if you send "it"out of the room and everyone makes up their sign and the person in the middle tries to guess someones sign.   the person whose sign they guess correctly is it. This gets crazy. You can sit or stand. It's better to stand, I think, so you can all move a little easier and see the other people.


STICK PULL
this is just a favorite game of joseph smith.
usually, two people sit opposite of each other, they grab a stick and try to pull the other person over.  we didn't have stick so they just held hands.   my younger two ganged up on the missionaries but it was lots of fun.


NINJA.
I failed to get spiritual thought for this one. I told the kids they could play it if they come up with something spiritual for it, didn’t but played it anyway because they all like it so much.
i don't get it cuz i'm old.  but the missionaries had played before and all of my kids thought it was great.   the little blonde curls didn't play by the rules, surprise surprise.   bow to each other.   pose like a ninja.   step or attack each move.   so the first steps or makes a new ninja pose that tries to hit the other person's hand.  you can move your hand/arm or step back to avoid the attack.  it's looks like robot ninjas and i love watching them.   its hilarious!


we'll have to do this again when it's warmer and can play outside.   one of the neighbors showed up and played with us.   the missionaries gave a short lesson and we had treats, (of course).   any other fun games?   ldssplash had a lot of other fun games as well.   they tried gospel says but it didn't go very far.    i think the curly toddler had something to do with that.   


Update-
We have now done another round of missionary monday. They did get to play the scavenger hunt outside. I gave them a positive propulsion book and a puzzle object lesson that we worked on and talked about during dinner. All worked out wonderfully again and was extremely fun! This last time we had four missionaries over instead of two. The increase in people was great.

update jan 2014
this time, we used the articles of faith for our scavenger hunt.   i have to keep reminding them that they have a time limit and it is not a race.   the scavenger hunt gives me time to get food started.  i always have to remind them to really think out of the box and get more than one thing for each scripture.   whatever is the same from the other team, doesn't count.  

we learned a new game this time.  
WASH THE DISHES
to play this game, you need a piece of paper and pencil.   decide on an order, we just used how people were sitting around the table.   the first person writes down a number and everyone in turn tries to guess it.    they are told higher or lower as they go.   the first person to guess the number is the washer.   the next person in line writes down a number.   the guessing continues until you find a new washer and the old washer becomes the drier.   this rotation in and out continues with the drier going out or putting away until all the dishes are done.   this was lots of fun but we had to keep everyone guessing.   some of them decided they wouldn't guess very fast to keep their turn from coming up or they would just guess up and down one number at t time.   stinkers.   i had to implement some rules.   the number had to be a whole number between 1 and 100.   no fractions or decimals, no numbers like 827,340,827,350,928,309,470,374 and no negative numbers.   if you have math geeks in the group, you may need to specify more rules.

 http://ldssplash.com/fhe/fhe_games/family_home_evening_games.htm