1 Corinthians 14-16
"God is Not the Author of Confusion, but of Peace"
Materials: makeup pencil, washcloth, picture of the temple, picture of temple baptismal font
Opening Song: "Baptism" (Children's Songbook, )
Opening Prayer:
Scripture: 1 Peter 4: 6 For for this cause was the gospelpreached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Attention Activity:
With a makeup pencil, draw a frowny face on the cheek of a family member and set a wet washcloth in from of them. Tell them, "If you're able to clean off the frowny face with the washcloth, you'll get a piece of candy. But you can not touch the washcloth." Does this task seem impossible? How can you possibly use the washcloth to clean your face if you can't touch it? Draw a smiley face on you. Then, ask another family member to pick up the washcloth and help you clean it off. Did the mark come off? Did I touch the washcloth?
This is like the work we do for others in the temple. When you do something for someone else because they are unable to do it for themselves, it is called doing it "by proxy."
Lesson:
Heavenly Father loves all His children. "God is no respecter of persons." He wants us all to return to Him in heaven. But there are many people who didn't learn about the gospel when they were alive or they weren't baptized with the proper authority. Millions of people have lived on the earth have not received the ordinances necessary to enter the celestial kingdom. How do you think they will be able to enter the celestial kingdom if they weren't baptized while alive?
Show a picture of the temple. In the temple, we perform ordinances by proxy on behalf of our ancestors that lived before us. Show a picture of a temple baptismal font like the one in the CFM manual. The year you turn twelve, if you are worthy, you can be interviewed by the bishop to receive a special limited use temple recommend allowing you to participate in baptisms for the dead.
If there is a teenager in your family who has participated, ask him to share his experience on what it was like inside the temple.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:29. Here, we learn that the members of the ancient Church participated in baptisms for the dead just like we do today. This is an important distinction. When the Church was restored, baptisms for the dead were restored. Now everyone who has ever lived will be able to be baptized if they choose to accept the ordinance.
Show the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzCSrMJhWeQ
*If you have children who you think are ready and able to participate in family history work (11+), you can also show this video of Elder Bendar's challenge to the youth.
How are we doing as a family in preparing the names of our ancestors for the temple? If neccesary, show your family members how to use apps like Family Search and Take a Name. Sometimes it is hard to find names that are ready to take to the temple, but you can still help do family history work through indexing. Indexing is when you read pictures of historical documents and input the information into a computer program. For more information on indexing click this link.
Share your testimony on baptisms for the dead and temple ordinances. Encourage your family to set a goal for family history work.
Activity: Family Tree
Have each family member fill out their family tree.
Closing Song: "When Jesus Christ was Baptized" (Children's Songbook, )
Closing Prayer:
Refreshment:
Grandma's Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe Here
