Doctrine and Covenants 27-28: "All Things Must be Done in Order"

 This week's Come Follow Me Study covers Doctrine and Covenants 27-28.

As a recap:

• Doctrine and Covenants 27 - Revelation given in August 1830 - The sacrament, the Armor of God
• Doctrine and Covenants 28 - Revelation given September 1830 - The living prophet is God's mouthpiece for the Church

Doctrine and Covenants 27:15-18 covers the "Armor of God."

15 Wherefore, ^alift up your hearts and ^brejoice, and ^cgird up your loins, and take upon you my whole ^darmor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to ^estand.

16 Stand, therefore, having your loins ^agirt about with ^btruth, having on the ^cbreastplate of ^drighteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the ^egospel of ^fpeace, which I have sent mine ^gangels to commit unto you;

17 Taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the ^afiery darts of the wicked;

18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my ^aSpirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be ^bcaught up, that where I am ye shall be ^calso. Amen.

It was reinforced to me as I read this how frequently the Lord reminds us to turn to Him and not take our eyes off the path of righteousness. If we can do this, everything else will work itself out, we can "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." The Lord also reminds us in Doctrine and Covenants 28 that Joseph Smith, as the prophet of the church, is the mouthpiece of the church.

It says in Doctrine and Covenants 28:2, 

"... on one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receveith them even as Moses." 

It says in Doctrine and Covenants 28:4-5, 

"And if thou art led at any time by the Comforter to speak or teach, or at all times by the way of commandment unto the church, thou mayest do it. But thou shalt not write by way of commandment, but by wisdom." 

In General Conference in October 2020, our prophet President Russell M. Nelson reminded us, 

"Thus the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul! The wording willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel. We all have our agency. We can choose to be of Israel or not. We can choose to let God prevail in our lives, or not. We can choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our lives, or not." ("Let God Prevail," Russell M. Nelson)

We are asked to listen to the prophet, and guess what the prophet reminds us to do? Turn the Savior, always, and let God prevail in our lives. 

Today, in answer to prayer, I read these reassuring words from Jeffrey R. Holland,

"... faith means trusting God in good times and bad, even if that includes some suffering until we see His arm revealed in our behalf. That can be difficult in our modern world when many have come to believe that the highest good in life is to avoid all suffering, that no one should ever anguish over anything. But that belief will never us to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

Later he adds, 

"And whether that be a short period or a long one is not always ours to say, but by the grace of God, the blessings will come to those who hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ." 

Today's message is short but I hope, reminds you that at the end of it all, we can always look toward Christ, and we can put on the Armor of God to make that path a little easier as those arrows bounce off our armor.

Prophets are Called by God - March Week 1 Lesson

Wow, the sharing time lesson for the first week of March is perfect for a Singing Time Lesson/Activity I prepared almost two years ago - in May 2013, called Prophet Bingo.

You probably shouldn't do this one if you don't coordinate with your Primary leader that is teaching sharing time, otherwise, you'll teach most of her lesson - but if you two coordinate, you can teach sharing time and singing time together, which is actually the ideal way to teach in Primary, anyway. It's just really hard to do when you have songs you have to teach by the end of the year and they have a lesson to teach - this week's lesson is a lot more accommodating toward that ideal!

The lesson talks about giving children clues to match up descriptions for Moses, Lehi, and Joseph Smith, and then ending with a discussion about President Thomas S. Monson.




So, here are the rules:

1. Put up a picture of each of the following four prophets. Make sure they are the same size and backed with the same color cardstock so children can't see which prophet is behind which paper when the paper is flipped over and magneted to the chalkboard.

2. Put four descriptions about the prophet on the board as well, also on the same size papers, flipped over.

3. Each child that earns the privilege to come up has to say one thing they can do to follow the prophet. Be prepared to give examples if they struggle. Since you are doing this with someone in your Primary Presidency that is over sharing time that day, they can be responsible for this part of the activity.

4. Once children make a match between a quote an a prophet, sing that "Follow the Prophet" song. There is a song for all of these prophets, even if they are not in the book.

The Prophets


1. Moses
(vs.5 of the song)
Exodus 3:4-5
"I was called by God as He spoke to me from a burning bush," or "I came down the mountain with the ten commandments written on stone tablets," or "God called me to write the first five books of the Bible," or "God called me to lead His people out of Egypt."

For the image: Moses in the Gospel Art Kit: He's under "Old Testament," on the sixth row, or just do a search for his name.




2. Lehi
(you can find one of the made-up versions for Lehi here)
1 Nephi 1:5-6

Hint: "I dreamed about the tree of life, and that those who held to the rod were able to reach the tree and partake of the fruit."


For the image: Search for "Lehi" in the Gospel Art Kit. There are several images like this one:



3. Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith - History 1:16-17
I found a version of this song and put in a flip chart a few years ago. It's from the Friend magazine. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the year of the Friend magazine because I had a link directly to the site ... and now it looks like the link is broken, but you can find the words in my flipchart until I can update with which Friend issue has the lines of the song.

Hint: "I went to the forest to pray to my Father in Heaven about which church was true."

Once again, search in the Gospel Art Kit for images like this one:



4. President Thomas S. Monson
(you can find up one of the made-up version for President Monson here)

Hint: "I am the prophet today."

Search in the Gospel Art Kit for images like this one:



Conclude - Per instructions from the manual, "Point out that Moses was called by God, Lehi was called by God, and Joseph Smith was called by God. Tell the children that all prophets are called by God."

End: Talk about how they can follow the prophet

Song Review -- Prophet Bingo

**Update 5/16/13 - This was a great activity. The kids were engaged and it was an easy activity. Junior and Senior both barely won "Bingo" as a class by the end of our time. (I *might* have gone through the cards towards the end of Junior primary and tried to put a few of the potential Bingo pieces toward the top to up their chance of "Bingo."  I "might" have had the cards fanned out for them to select but in a way that a few were sticking out a tiny bit further than the others. :p Senior Primary just lucked out.)

Prophets Bingo is the perfect song review game to support this month's theme, "Prophets Teach Us to Live the Restored Gospel."

Also, you can teach this as a singing time activity, or you can easily coordinate with whomever is teaching for the day and combine the singing time lesson and sharing time lesson, which the church encourages anyway.


Set up: Put pictures of prophets on the board in a random order, in a grid pattern, 4 x 4, making 16 pictures total. Make a matching deck of cards by printing up a smaller version of the prophets picture.

How to play: The class takes turn drawing cards from a deck, and looking for the corresponding picture on the board. Which they will then highlight. I am going to put these on a chalkboard so they can actually just use chalk and draw a circle around the piece. Each time a child draws a prophet from the deck, they will also find a song associated with that card. We will then sing whatever song is attached to that card. To combine with the teacher, or even if you have enough time, place a quote from the prophet on the back of the card as well, or briefly share one fact or one ask question about the prophet that is selected from the deck. Or, you could even have the quotes or stories listed on a separate board and have the teacher talk about them with the children, as they are selected. In Senior Primary, consider having the children look up scriptures for each Bingo piece.

Object of the game: To form a consecutive line of prophets. This is not a competition between sides of the class - the entire class as a group is encouraged to work together to form a consecutive line (a Bingo!) before class ends. I don't think you'd have time to form a Bingo if you tried to make the classes compete but I think it's more fun when they work in unison anyway.

Where to get prophet images:

Sorry, I didn't make these into a doc this time but it's really easy to just go to the LDS.org image library, and download the images to your computer to print. 


You can find images of ancient prophets by looking at the books for each category:
http://www.lds.org/media-library/images/categories/gospel-art

You can find images of latter-day prophets in the same area but here's a specific link:
http://www.lds.org/media-library/images/gospel-art/latter-day-prophets?lang=eng

Just download everything into one folder, then print it all out, regular size (one image per sheet). Then, hit print again, but this time, choose to put more pics on a page ("wallet," circled below), to get the smaller size for your corresponding set of cards. Your printer might have a slightly different dialog box but it will be the same general idea:

Quotes for prophets: These are the prophets that I will be highlighting (there are more than 16 here so I am still narrowing down), with some corresponding quotes/facts. I may or may not add more details, as I find time to do additional research. Also, I'll see what the teacher wants to do for the facts portion.

Prophet	Song	Scripture	Question / Other
Lehi	Nephi’s  Courage, verse 2	1 Nephi 1:1  1 I, Nephi, having been aborn of bgoodly cparents, therefore I wasdtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father;  1Nephi:1:5 "Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people."	Can anyone tell me how the first verse of the Book of Mormon starts? Who is that describing? Lehi and Sariah were a good father and good mother. They were good examples. Lehi prayed always.
Samuel the Lamanite	Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus	Helaman 13:3 But behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart.	Samuel showed faith in the Lord when he stood on the wall and preached, knowing that if not for the Lord’s protection, he could be hurt by the angry crowd.
Moses	If the Savior Stood Beside Me	Exodus 3:15  15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Noah	When I Am Baptized	Genesis 9: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 7:1  1 And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.	The Lord made a promise after Noah and his family left the boat,  that he would never flood the earth again. Noah showed obedience by trusting the Lord and building a boat.
Jonah	I am a Child of God	Jonah 2:1  1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly	Jonah disobeyed the Lord initially when he was scared, but he showed his faith and prayed.
Alma	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)	In the Book of Mormon we read about 2,000 exemplary young men who were exceedingly valiant, courageous, and strong. “Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers. They said, “Our mothers knew it” (Alma 56:48). I would suspect that the mothers of Captain Moroni, Mosiah, Mormon, and other great leaders also knew. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/mothers-who-know?lang=eng	(Mother’s Day –focused quote.)
Nephi	Nephi’s Courage, vs.1	1 Nephi 3:7 … I will go and do the things which the lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment s unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way ofr them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
Joseph Smith, Jr.	An Angel Came to Joseph Smith	http://tinyurl.com/josephquote “Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is in vain; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” ( History of the Church, 4:553–557. )  “We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man. . . . All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not.” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 181.)  Joseph Smith Jr., Served 1830–1844 QUOTES “Surely I have contemplated the things of God.” ( History of the Church 5:554 )  “Great blessings await us at this time, and will soon be poured out upon us, if we are faithful in all things, for we are even entitled to greater spiritual blessings than they [the faithful at the time of Christ] were, because they had Christ in person with them, to instruct them in the great plan of salvation. His personal presence we have not, therefore we have need of greater faith.” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 90.)  “When you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 151.)
Ezra Taft  Benson	I am a Child of God	http://tinyurl.com/taftquote “The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for the many reasons which the Lord has given. In this age of electronic media and mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way.” ( “Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon, ” Ensign, November 1988, 4–5.)  “The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.” ( “The Great Commandment-Love the Lord, ” Ensign, May 1988, 4.)  “I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon.” ( Conference Report, Oct. 1988, 5.)
Brigham Young	My Heavenly Father Loves Me, vs.2	http://tinyurl.com/brighamquote “I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self security. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not. ( Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 135.)  “How shall we know that we obey [God]? There is but one method by which we can know it, and that is by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord witnessing unto our spirit that we are His, that we love Him, and that He loves us. It is by the spirit of revelation we know this. ( Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 224.)
Howard W. Hunter	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)	Quotes: http://tinyurl.com/hunterquote “You should express regularly to your wife and children your reverence and respect for her. Indeed, one of the greatest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” ( “Being a Righteous Husband and Father, ” Ensign, Nov. 1994, 50.)  “Let us be a temple-attending people. Attend the temple as frequently as personal circumstances allow. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the House of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing.” ( “Exceeding Great and Precious Promises, ” Ensign, Nov. 1994, 8.)
Daniel	Follow the Prophet - Daniel	Daniel 6:26-27  26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.  27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.	Daniel refused to worship the king as a god and was always true to God, praying to his true God. In turn he was blessed for his faith and protected from a den of lions.
Adam	My Heavenly Father Loves Me, vs.1	Luke 1:70 - Zacharias prophesizes: "As he aspake by the mouth of his holy bprophets, which have been since the world began." Moses 5: 10-11  10 And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have enjoy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.  11 And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had a seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.
Moroni	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)
Abraham	I am a Child of God
Abinadi	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)
President Hinckley	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)	http://tinyurl.com/hinckleyquote “Under the plan of heaven, the husband and the wife walk side by side as companions, neither one ahead of the other, but a daughter of God and a son of God walking side by side. Let your families be families of love and peace and happiness. Gather your children around you and have your family home evenings, teach your children the ways of the Lord, read to them from the scriptures, and let them come to know the great truths of the eternal gospel as set forth in these words of the Almighty.” ( “Selections from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Mar. 2001, 64.)  “Believe in Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer, the Son of God, who came to earth and walked the dusty roads of Palestine-the Son of God-to teach us the way of truth and light and salvation, and who, in one great and glorious act offered an atonement for each of us. He opened the way of salvation and exaltation for each of us, under which we may go forward in the Church and kingdom of God. Be not faithless, but believe in the great and wonderful and marvelous blessings of the Atonement.” ( “Selections from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Mar. 2001, 64.)
President Monson	Give Said the Little Stream (one of his favorite songs)	Danny and I learned several difficult but important lessons that day—not the least of which was the importance of obedience. … Obedience is a hallmark of prophets; it has provided strength and knowledge to them throughout the ages. It is essential for us to realize that we, as well, are entitled to this source of strength and knowledge. It is readily available to each of us today as we obey God’s commandments. … The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments -- President Monson, “Obedience Brings Blessings,” April 2013 General Conference

Inspiration for this activity: A year ago, a friend of mine (Vikki) cleaned out a bunch of activity books that she used to inspire her for various callings she has had over the years, working with children and youth. I took a couple of these books but never used them. There are just so many fun things to do every Sunday! However, I felt inspired to peruse the books recently and found one I wanted to incorporate into a Singing Time activity this Sunday because it fit so well with this month's Prophets theme.

The activity book is from 1994 and is both out of print and updated, but the general idea is good. It is called the "Articles of Faith Idea and Activity Book Vol.2," by Karen Finch. The book included hand drawings of sixteen prophets, with a matching deck of smaller cards, for Bingo. I elaborated on the idea and updated it with new images of prophets that we have now that were called after 1994, but I thank Karen for the lovely starting point of making a Bingo board with prophets!

"Follow the Prophet" Flip Chart for this month's theme

Since this month's theme is about prophets, I want to spend a little bit of singing time, or either the opening or closing song, on "Follow the Prophet." I love the amazing prophets who have sacrificed so much and been so courageous in honoring our Father in Heaven over the years.

The children know some of the verses of this song already, but not all of them. I made a flip chart of some of the verses that I like, as well as to incorporate some other verses that are not in the songbook, but that I found in the Friend magazine.

Here's an example of two of the pages of my flip chart, using images from the LDS.org Gospel Art Kit.

I wanted to emphasize the last verse of this song this month, especially:

You can download the flipchart here, or send me your email address if you have problems with that link.