Lesson 27

GOD’S TREASURE FOR US – ETERNAL LIFE

Objective:  God’s plan for us is to live our lives in such a manner we can receive his greatest treasure – eternal life

Visual aid:  Treasure box

Lesson ideas:

* Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt… Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6: 19-21)

* Keep commandments, honor parents. (Exodus 20: 1-17)

* We should strive to add value while we are here:  “Ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith shall it be salted….It is thenceforth good for nothing.” (Matthew 5:13)

* Freedom to choose the things we do. Heavenly Father wants us to have choices. (Moses 6: 33) or (Joshua 24: 15)  He would like us to make chooses that bring happiness.

1. (2 Nephi 2:27) “Free to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.”

2. (1 Nephi 11: 21-23) Tree means love of God the most joyous to the soul.

* Guidelines to live by:  Just like sewing a dress, when we follow a pattern the dress turns out better.  Also with cooking, directions help make the recipe turn out. So by following God’s directions we have an excellent opportunity of returning to his presence.  Scriptures are our spiritual guide.

* Proper authority: Being baptized under proper authority is one of the steps of obtaining eternal life.

* Repentance is a key step:  In sewing when we make a mistake the stitches need to be unpicked.  That is true with repentance, when we make a mistake we need to fix it and sometimes that means going to a bishop to ask for forgiveness.

* Preexistence:  We lived before we came here and we knew we needed to prove ourselves worthy to go back to our Heavenly Father, that’s why we are here.

* Sometimes we ask ourselves:  Why am I here?  Where did I come from and where am I going? This is the time to review those questions.

* Bring up children in light and truth. (D&C 93: 40)

* By seeking first the Kingdom of God other things will be added unto you (Matthew 6: 33)

* “Finally, the testimony that is given of Jesus Christ—his divinity, his majesty, his perfection, his love, and his redeeming power—makes this book of great value to the human family and of more worth than the riches of the whole earth” (D&C Explanatory Introduction paragraph 8).

* And if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:7).

* Maps:  We use maps to help us get from one place to another.  They can help us navigate.  We need to study the maps to make sure we understand the directions and then follow it.  We have been given a map to navigate earth life, to help us make the right choices, the right paths which lead us back to our Heavenly Father and Jesus. We have the scriptures, the living prophets and The Holy Ghost to testify that the direction we are going is correct.

* The thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto the people that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my father (D&C 15: 6).

* Just like the widow gave her all (Mark 12:41-44), if we give our all, it is also enough.

Scriptures:

Bible

Matthew 6:19-21 lay not up for.….treasures

Matthew 6:33 seek first the Kingdom of God

John 3:16 God so loved the world

Joshua 24:15 Choose you this day whom

LDS Scriptures

3 Nephi 13:19 lay not up for yourselves 

Helaman 5:8 treasure in heaven …eternal

1 Nephi 2:4 Lehi leaves his precious things   

D&C 93:40 bring up your children in light

Activities:

* Treasure Hunt:  Have the end of the treasure hunt be a room in your home decorated with white to look like heaven or have the last thing be a picture of your family showing how wonderful it will be to all be together with Heavenly Father.

1. With masking tape you can make a road going from one part of the house to another and stops along the way, till you reach your goal of an eternal family

2. Instead of written clues, you can cut out pictures from newspaper ads of things like stove, couch, TV, etc. and use those as your clues for children that don’t read yet.

3. Actually make a treasure map to follow.

* Putting God First:  Bring out a canning jar and place several walnut sized rocks in it first, this represents God. Then add several pebbles, sand and then water.  By seeking the kingdom of heaven first, all the other things we need will fall into place but often when we don’t do it first the other things won’t fit into the jar.

* Make something with salt and something without salt as an object lesson of being the salt of the earth.  Which one tastes the best?

* Play a light game.  Could find things with a flash light or get glow sticks that make a circle and throw bean bags into them.

* Make as many words as you can from Eternal Life.

* Strive to be where we are supposed to be.  (School, work, church) Game might be to find the song book, brief case, back pack or school books.)

* Play Mother May I (remember to be obedient):  Have one person be the mother on one side of the room and the rest of the children on the opposite side of the room.  The mother tells a child something like; you can take a giant step or two baby steps.  The child has to say, “Mother, May I” and the mother says, “Yes you may.” The child then takes the steps he was told he could take.  If the child forgets to say, “Mother May I” that child has to go back to the beginning.  The child who gets to the mother first wins and is allowed to be the mother next. 

Songs:

Hymns

# 275 Men Are That They Might Have Joy

# 236 Lord, Accept into Thy Kingdom

# 240 Know This, That Every Soul Is Free

# 45 Lead Me into Life Eternal

Children’s Songbook

# 4 I Lived in Heaven

# 5 I Know My Father Lives

# 177 Teach Me to Walk in the Light

# 188 Families Can Be Together Forever

Treat:

The treasure hunt can have some treats in it at the end.