Lesson 17

REPENTANCE

Objective: Through the atonement of Christ, we can be forgiven of our sins if we do our part and repent.

Lesson ideas:

* The 4^th Article of Faith says:  We believe the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

* When mistakes happen we need to correct them.  Sometimes it can be as simple as saying “I’m sorry”, sometimes it means replacing something and sometimes we need to go to the bishop.  We need to also go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Partaking of the sacrament is part of the repentance process to receive forgiveness of our sins.

* Repentance is a mighty change of heart.  Desiring to do good continually.  (Mosiah 5:2)

* Examples of people that went through a might change of heart or repentance.

       1. The people of Ammon who were Lamanites were converted and buried their weapons of war. (Alma 24:6-19)

       2. Alma the younger made wrong choices and he went through a repentance process.  (Mosiah 27:28)

* What should you do?  If you took a candy bar from a store but didn’t pay for it?

            What should you do if your friend took your doll and later returned it?

            What should you do if you found a wallet?

            What should you do if you knocked over your grandparents books?

* Forgiveness is an important part of the plan of repentance.  Tell the story of Joseph of Egypt who forgave his brother. (Gen. 50:17)

Scriptures:

Bible

Gen.50:17 Forgive I pray thee now

Isaiah 1:16 Cease to do evil

Psalms 38:18 I will be sorry for my sin

LDS Scriptures

Alma 5:12 change wrought in his heart

D&C 18:13 Joy in the soul that repenteth!

Alma 24:6-19 wanted to repent so they buried their swords

Activities:

* Make a card that says,  “I’m sorry” to remind us that there are times we need to say, “I’m sorry.”

* Take a jar of water, add a few drop of food coloring to it to represent our sins and then add a few drops of bleach to the jar and see the water turn clear again. Showing that it is possible to repent and become clean again.

* Gather in a circle and have someone say something in the ear of a person like, “Adam has blue eyes and likes to fish. “  The last person says what he thought he heard.  Most of the time it comes out wrong.  We need to be careful of passing on information that may become wrong in the process and hurt feelings.

* With your hands feel an object that is inside a sack like a spoon or hair brush.  Without looking at it what do you feel?  (Sometimes we can guess what people are feeling but without knowing the whole story we don’t really know.)

* Feathers:  Gossip is a bad thing.  If we spread gossip it’s like spreading a bag of feathers over a hill.  We can try and pick up all the feathers by saying “I’m sorry”, but, it is very hard to pick up all of them.  Obtain a small sack of feathers to get the idea of how hard it is once the feathers are out.  It is even harder if it is outside and the wind blows them away.

* Play the magnet game have words like; I’m sorry, please forgive me, I’ll try to do better and I know you didn’t mean to break that.

Magnet Game:

            With pictures or words, put a paper clip on what you want to use.  Obtain a string with a small magnet on the end to fish out the picture or word then talk about it.

Songs:

Hymns

# 180 Father in Heaven, We Do Believe

# 115 Come, Ye Disconsolate

# 97 Lead, Kindly Light

Children’s Songbook

# 99 Help Me, Dear Father

# 182 How Will They Know?

# 98 Repentance