Sunday, December 1, 2013

December Sharing Time - Jesus Christ Will Come to the Earth Again

Last week we talked about how prophets have taught about Christ's birth, mission, death and resurrection from the beginning (or as a child in my primary said today, for a lot of years). 

This week we get to talk about how they not only prophesied of His life, but that He would return in glory.  Even though this is not part of the "official" lesson, I think it's important to note that prophesies relating to His second coming did not stop with the Bible, Joseph Smith prophesied about his coming (that's in the lesson) and so have prophets and apostles throughout the history of our church (not in the lesson).  How amazing and blessed we are to have prophets today who still teach what is important for us.

I recently read a talk by Elder Delbert L. Stapley where he quotes Luke 21:26-28, this is similar to some of the scriptures that you'll be reading and talking about in primary, but there is one difference I wanted to share with you.  Just because I love it.

Luke is speaking of signs of the second coming when he says, "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."

We learn through many different prophecies that things will be hard.  Our hearts will be filled with fear, but, what does Luke tell us to do?!!  LOOK UP, lift your head, because you will be redeemed.  Christ's second coming is a story of hope and joy.  I can't read that last verse without being filled with excitement and this is something I hope we can share with the children we are privileged to teach.

Today, I have the two sets of scriptures ready for you to print for memory.  Because my memory isn't fantastic and the most important part of this lesson is learning WHAT has been prophesied, I found a picture or two (or three) to go along with each set of scriptures.  As the kids find a match and read the scripture, have them look through the pictures to find which ones help us learn (and remember) what we're being taught.


Next week, we'll talk about how we can prepare to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again, so it might be a good idea to close with a challenge for them to think about how we can get ready for the second coming.  It doesn't matter if we're here to see it, preparing for it prepares us to meet Him whenever it happens.  Then, next week they can choose some of the ideas they've come up with to prepare a little better.

You can download the printables I put together for this lesson from google docs.  I hope you have a wonderful Sharing Time!

Leah

1 comment:

  1. This is great, thank you! I love that you pointed out that the prophecies of the second coming can not only be found in the Bible, but also in the teachings of our latter-day prophets and apostles, including Joseph Smith. It may also be worth mentioning that these prophecies can even be discovered in the Book of Mormon - not just the latter-day revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants. Pretty inspiring!

    ReplyDelete