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.

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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.

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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.   

you are what you eat

we have all heard that we are what we eat.   members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints have a guideline for their eating practices called the word of wisdom .   this activity is great for eating habits or anything else you might "eat".   anything you take into your body or mind has its effect.   it doesn't just apply to food.   it can be movies, activities, music, etc.

here's the basic run down of it -

use two basic people outlines like this one or make your own.   you can use just heads too.   draw a happy face on one and a sad face on the other.   cut out foods, (or words/examples of whatever you are talking about) that are good for you or bad for you.   glue them on to cover the body.   the body with the good food, has a happy face and the body with the bad food has a sad face.  i even saw one with x's on the eyes, i guess that one ate poison and died.   yikes!

this is really aimed at little kids but if you have an age range you are dealing with, you can have the older kids write words or just help out or even hand it over for them to teach.   teaching is a great way to learn.

that's a nice thing to say!

one of the past fhes we did with the missionaries was to talk about speaking kindly. the challenge was to say something nice to each person in the family everyday for a week. to kick that challenge off, we played a game. it can be any game where there are multiple win/lose situations.

* for instance, go fish. players ask for cards and either get what they asked for or don't - win/lose.

each time someone "wins" a card or whatever, they have to compliment the "loser"

* in go fish, if the person gets the card, they compliment the person who gave them the card. if they don't get the card, the person they asked compliments them.

we played jungle jam but it would work with a lot of games. war, slap jack, rock paper scissors, go fish etc would work. you could tweak it for pictionary in a larger group and draw good things and everyone has to guess who it is about. you could use scattergories, draw names of the people playing and write a compliment or list good qualities about the person using only words that start with the letter rolled, guess who it's about and see who comes up with the best compliments.

**no left handed compliments like, "i really appreciate your help when you do the chores" may sound nice unless there is a background situation where that is a hint hint, do the chores. that isn't nice. compliments are not tools to shame or guilt someone into better behavior.

     

you get it. it's a nice way to start the week or just pick everyone's mood up any day. it's a nice addition to any game anytime.

moroni 10

moroni 10 . . .the end
moroni seems to finally be grasping his role as prophet. the way he writes is changed a bit, more mature and assured.

moroni 10:4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

so much hangs on this promise. we hand people over to this promise when we give them a book of mormon to read.

then, in 9-17, moroni gives us an example of the gifts from God, our talents and how different we all are. we are all supposed to be different.
17 And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.

i love this verse-
31 And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

get up! get moving! do missionary work! it is your duty, get moving!

moroni 9

moroni 9: 5 For so exceedingly do they anger that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually.

i read this as my husband came in telling me that someone stopped to take a picture of his truck parked half on the sidewalk so he could take it to the police.   there were several other cars parked on the sidewalk, that didn't bother the guy, just the 4 door truck.   this just really brought home to me how much we as a culture are so vengeful, spiteful and nasty sometimes.

 6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

yep, the world is harsh, nasty, wrong, and angry.   that is no excuse for us to be that way or stop trying to change it.  

moroni 8

moroni 8
this chapter does more than put straight the practice of baptism for children.
 8 Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me.

Christ came for the sinner, that's me!   i am not whole, Christ came to heal me.
 25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;

 26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.


the other side of this that is really useful to me as a parent, is that God sees little children as without law, or not understanding the law, i have to remember this as i look at my roll as a parent.  my little guy is still learning.  it is my job to teach him.   he is going to make mistakes as he learns, so do i.   if i take this same view of my kids as God does.   it makes a difference in how i deal with them.   the difference is  this-
"you know better!   why would you do that?!" vs. "do you remember that we talked about this?   do you see how this wasn't a good thing?   what might be a better choice/way of doing things?"

this doesn't end with my kids as they turn 8.   yes, they are then held accountable before the Lord, but only for the things they have been taught.   it is my job to continue teaching them.   it changes my reactions when i remember this.

moroni 7

moroni 7
moroni is still not sure what to write. he decides to write something from his father. evidentially, there were followers in mormon's time even though he was forbade form preaching to the general public, he did have a group he was able to speak to that were faithful. and still are at moroni's time since he says that the lamanites are killing anyone who will not deny Christ. this little difference of words is important as we look at their day compared toours. often blanket statements are made in the scriptures that imply "all people" are wicked, "none" are left that follow Christ etc. the same type of language is used for prophecies in our day. even when exact numbers are used, it is often this blanket statement being made, (does Christ really mean we should only forgive to 7 x 70? no.) as we are looking at last days prophecies and symbols, keep these blanket statements in mind. in relation to 7,125,000,000 people in the world, 15,082,028 is a pretty small number. let's put it in perspective. that means that mormons are 0.21% of the population. two tenths of a percent. you would need 5 dollars to get 1 cent at that rate. 

5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.

mormon then talks about how our actions relate to our hearts and how that is counted in eternal terms.   i feel like this chapter is really relevant in everyday life.   this comes to mind when i do something for someone but i am not happy about doing it.   

 14 Wherefore, take heed, my beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil.
this verse is really relevant to the world today.   there is so much pressure to accept political correctness as good when in relation to eternal correctness, it just isn't.

 18 And now, my brethren, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, which light is the light of Christ, see that ye do not judge wrongfully; for with that same judgment which ye judge ye shall also be judged.

this one also a daily user too.   the way i look at others is how i will be looked at by God in the last judgement.   kinda makes me want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

 29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. . .  37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men

look for the miracles in your life, everyday.   look for the ministering of angels in your life, everyday.

 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

i love this really open description of charity.  it is so much more than giving material things.   it is compassion, understanding, kindness . . .a way of thinking , not just a way of giving