Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 2 The Apostasy and The Need For the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Church

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 2 THE APOSTASY AND THE NEED FOR THE RESTORATION OF JESUS CHRIST’S CHURCH

CLASSROOM PREP

• Write on the board “A PASTA C”
• Have them guess what the lesson is about (a pasta c = apostasy)

LESSON

What if we were arrested just for going to church?

What if it was against the law to have scriptures?
What if there were no prophets?
After Jesus Christ died, that’s what life was like for people who believed in him.

This time was called the Great Apostasy

“Great” doesn’t mean good this time- it means big/important

Have you ever thought about what happened after the Bible?

What happened next? After Jesus was born, died, and was resurrected?

Jesus wasn’t on earth anymore.

Apostles taught about Him, though. They wrote letters. People joined the church.

But people who were wicked wanted the commandments to be changed, didn’t want anyone to follow them. Many stopped believing. Apostles were killed. No one was left to lead the church.

The priesthood keys were taken from the earth. No more prophets.

Without the apostles, the members were left alone to protect standards etc.

The church of Jesus Christ was not on earth anymore.

Peter and Paul had said this would happen.

100s of years went by, there were leaders and many church.

No one had apostles of God or the priesthood of God.

Prophets had said after many years, the Church of Jesus Christ would return again.

What happened to the scriptures?

They were changed or lost, bad translations, people changing things how they wanted. We needed someone to restore the scriptures too.

The Lord knew this would happen - 2 Thessalonians 2:3 - so he prepared a way for the gospel to be restored.

Apostasy means to turn away from the truth.

Go over some of the scriptures in the lesson as well.

The first version

After the Restoration

USE CUPS TO ILLUSTRATE THE APOSTASY

6 apostles then and now = 12 (2 per cup)

5 important principles of the gospel the Savior taught = (sacrament, revelation, priesthood, repentance, atonement)
4 ordinances essential to return to Heavenly Father = (baptism, gift of Holy Ghost, endowment, temple marriage)
3 three-fold mission of the church = (redeem the dead, proclaim the gospel, endure to the end)

1 savior

Set up the cups as we talk....
Talk about apostasy

Talk about apostles
Killed off one by one and not replaced

Pull one bottom cup out slowly, only a few will fall from upper layers

Not all collapsed = gospel changed slowly throughout time until all apostles were killed

More and more upper cups fall as apostle base layer pulled out

Talk about Joseph Smith and how important his role was in the Restoration

Talk about how our church is organized

Put new apostle layer down

Build up 5 principles
Build up 4 ordinances
Build up 3-fold mission

Christ at the top

Same organization as in Christ’s church

HAVE THEM EACH TRY TO MAKE THE TOWER
OR
BRING CONNECT 4
- have them each recreate the pyramid with the chips of the game while saying each element as they put each chip in, either by memory or by looking at the cups
- then they collapse out all the chips just as the church collapsed after the apostles were killed

HAND OUT SMALL MACARONI AND CHEESE SINGLE SERVE CONTAINER TO TAKE HOME (IT'LL BE FAST SUNDAY FOR US THIS DAY) --> (macaroni = the "C" shape)

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 1 Joseph Smith and the First Vision

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 1 JOSEPH SMITH AND THE FIRST VISION

CLASSROOM PREP

• Joseph Smith’s First Vision is important because _________

OPENING ACTIVITY

1/beach ball getting to know you game (see below)

• toss to someone and they have to say _____

LESSON

1/cut apple

Hmm...I feel like an apple! (start cutting it)

Uh-oh, changed my mind! I don’t want this to be eaten right now.

How can I get it back to its original condition? (show another apple)

I can’t.

To restore means to make whole again.

Only Jesus Christ can do that and he used Joseph Smith to restore the gospel of

Jesus Christ

2/ lesson below

SNACK AND VIDEO (6:27-13:10) (7 minutes or so)

- show church video: Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration

• give snack of green apple slices and pretzel sticks
• make your own Sacred Grove tree!

LESSON SPECIFICALLY

This year we’re going to learn about the Doctrine and Covenants.

• What is that?

• Collection of revelations
• Most of them given to the prophet joseph smith by jesus christ
• Let’s find the pearl of great price section called joseph smith history

Verse 1 - i’m writing my history so people know the truth

Verse 2 - it’s 1838, 8 years after the organization of the church

Verse 3 - i was born in 1805 december 23rd in vermont

• We moved to new york when i was 10

Verse 4 - our family is ______ (draw family tree on the board)

Verse 5 - a lot of excitement about religion, people would come and preach all over

Verse 6 people were happy to join whatever church, but then they would go to another church and people would be mad at each other, and compete for converts, all good feelings lost, arguments, etc.

Verse 7 - he was 14 at this time, 4 people joined the presbyterians

Verse 8 - how did he feel? Serious reflection, uneasiness, deep feelings, stayed away from the fighting, maybe interested in methodists, but couldn’t decide who was right or wrong

Verse 10 - what is to be done? Who is right, who is wrong? How shall i know?

Verse 11 - was reading in james

Let’s find where the book of James is in the New Testament

What does it mean to lack wisdom?

Verse 12 - very powerful scripture

Verse 13  - ask of god

how did the scriptures help him decide what to do?

What principle taught in james 1:5 helped Joseph have confidence he could find answers to his questions? IF WE ASK GOD IN FAITH, HE WILL ANSWER OUR PRAYERS.

Have the scriptures helped you make decisions?

What are some ways you might lack wisdom and need to ask of God?

1/you’re sad because you and your friend have been fighting lately,  you don’t

know how to make things better

2/you feel lonely and scared

3/your mom or dad are sick and seem sad, you want to help them feel happy

Verse 14 - retired to the woods….1820

Verse 15 - wanted to be alone - why do you think?

what happened when he began to pray? Where did this darkness come from? How was joseph delivered from the darkness that surrounded him? What did he learn about satan and his power from this experience? What did he learn about heavenly father’s power? (greater than satan’s)

Why should we remember that Heavenly Father's power is greater than Satan’s?

Verse 17 - who appeared to him?

What did joseph learn about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ from this vision?

What was the first word God spoke to Joseph Smith? (Joseph) and why is this important to

know? Heavenly Father knows us by name.

Verse 18/19 - why were neither of these churches the right one?

They had good things, but none had the complete truth of the gospel

Joseph Smith was chosen before he was born to restore the gospel

2 Nephi 3:14-15 / Joseph of Egypt prophesied that one of his descendants would restore the gospel and his name would be Joseph and he’d be named after his Father.

BEACH BALL GAME

Who is your favorite scripture story character?

If you could have any animal for a pet what would it be?

What is your favorite breakfast?

What is your favorite movie or tv show?

If you could eat one food for a whole month, what would it be?

What is your favorite book?

What is your favorite subject in school?

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?

What do you want to do when you grow up?

If you had 1 million dollars, what would you buy?

What is the best thing about being a kid?

If you were president for a day, what would you do?

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 4 Lesson 42: Moroni and His Writings

LESSON 42: MORONI AND HIS WRITINGS

CLASSROOM PREP

• GIVE THANKS SIGN

OPENING ACTIVITY

• Thanksgiving crossword

LESSON

Mormon 8:2-6

Moroni 1, 7, 8

1/discussion

2/figure out how long he was alone

3/matching game about charity

4/matching game about moroni and charity too

THANKFUL CARD FOR THE BISHOP

→ Thanksgiving cards for him, then deliver after

THANKSGIVING PIE FEAST with mini pies for each kid

NOW DELIVER PIE AND CARDS TO THE BISHOP AND TAKE A PHOTO

LESSON

First let’s figure out how long Moroni was alone for:
- find the year of the final Nephite battle on the bottom of the page in Mormon 6
- subtract that date from the year listed on the bottom of the last page of Moroni 10 (421-385=36 years)

Mormon 8:2-6 Mormon gave part of the sacred records to Moroni to protect from the Lamanites and have him complete the account

My father was killed, sad tale of my people being destroyed, 400 years AD

Moroni 1

Planned to do the abridging of Jared but I haven’t died yet so I’m writing more

I’m hiding from the Lamanites

They hate all the Nephites that won’t deny Christ

I’m writing more so future Lamanites will benefit

Moroni 7 - he’s speaking to us / Moroni lived through many difficulties to complete the gold plates so they could be preserved for future generations as scripture.
5/the word of God says ye shall know people by what they do, if what they do and what they produce is good then they are good
6/if your evil, you can’t do good...offer gifts and pray with real intent
8/if you serve unwillingly then it’s almost as if you didn’t serve
9/if you don’t pray with real intent then it’s as if you didn’t pray at all
11/a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water
12/all things which are good cometh of God
15/you need to judge good from evil
- how?
19/search in the light of christ that ye may know good from evil

40/hope and faith - you need hope to have faith
41/what do you hope for? Hope for eternal life and in christ
42/have hope to have faith / cannot be one without the other
44/have real sincere faith and hope and be meek and lowly, and have charity...pure love of christ

When have you witnessed examples of charity?

MATCH MORONI DESCRIPTIONS WITH EXPLANATIONS

• Suffereth long: Is patient
• Kind: Not cruel or mean, loving
• Envieth not: Is not jealous
• Not puffed up: Humble, not proud
• Seeketh not her own: Is unselfish
• Not easily provoked: Slow to anger, quick to forgive
• Thinketh no evil: Is trusting, looks for the good
• Rejoiceth in truth: Is honest
• Beareth all things: Is obedient
• Believeth all things: Is faithful
• Hopeth all things: Is optimistic, trusting
• Endureth all things: Is patient, persistent

MORONI’S LIFE MATCHING GAME

• Suffereth long:
  Moroni lived alone for over thirty-six years patiently keeping the records. (Mormon 8:5.)
• Kind:
  Moroni prayed for us, and he loved his brethren. (Ether 12:36, 38.)
• Envieth not:
  Moroni saw our day and counseled us to not be envious or proud. (Mormon 8:35–37.)
• Not puffed up:
  Moroni was humble because of his weakness in writing. (Ether 12:23–25.)
• Seeketh not her own
  Moroni unselfishly worked and prayed for us that we would have a knowledge of Jesus Christ. (Mormon 9:36; Ether 12:41.)
• Not easily provoked
  Moroni forgave his enemies and worked hard to write things that he hoped would be of worth to them. (Moroni 1:4.)
• Thinketh no evil
  Moroni exhorted us to hold to good and touch not evil. (Moroni 10:30.)
• Rejoiceth in truth
  Moroni was honest. (Moroni 10:27.)
• Beareth all things
  Because Moroni would not deny Jesus Christ, he had to wander alone for his safety. (Moroni 1:2–3.)
• Believeth all things
  Moroni encouraged us to believe in Jesus Christ. (Mormon 9:21.) So great was Moroni’s faith that he was able to see Christ face to face. (Ether 12:39.)
• Hopeth all things
  Moroni understood the importance of hope. (Ether 12:32.)
• Endureth all things
  Moroni was faithful to the end. (Moroni 10:34.)