In John’s account of the exchange between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, the Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, we read the following: Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thouContinue Reading

Mosiah 21 illustrates the human tendency to repeat the same mistake again and again. In verses 4-12 we read that the people of Limhi were surrounded by the Lamanites and that they had to pay tribute to them, with “heavy burdens upon their backs” (Mosiah 21:3). The author tells usContinue Reading

I have used some of the following stories to emphasize the importance of letting our light shine.  The savior taught, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid… Let your light so shine before men, that they may see yourContinue Reading

I recently taught the war chapters (Alma 43-63) in Gospel Doctrine in my ward, and as I prepared, I thought how these chapters parallel our day.  We live in a time when it is difficult to discern between truth and error.  There are forces at work attempting to eradicate aContinue Reading

Jonah didn’t want the people of Nineveh to be forgiven.  He was well aware of the forgiving grace of the Lord and didn’t want the Assyrians to receive it.  He would rather die than see them have this opportunity.  We see this in Jonah 1:12 as well as all ofContinue Reading

The book of Esther deals with many issues that apply in the lives of young people.  Young people today are constantly facing times when they need to stand for something.  Like Esther, they deal with being a covenant person in a very Persian world.  Sometimes they are facing situations likeContinue Reading

Just about everyone at some point in their lives has played “King of the mountain”.  As young children we would go to the local hill, and the person on top was the king.  Everyone else would strive to take that person down off the top, thus becoming the new king.Continue Reading

1 Kings 11-14 tell the story of the division of the Kingdom of Israel.  We spent a few minutes setting up the circumstances surrounding the division of the kingdom as outlined in 1 Kings 11-12.  After establishing the narrative where Jeroboam decides to set up false worship in the northernContinue Reading

In class we examined the creation account from the perspective of the youth.  Young people may not be creating worlds, but they certainly can use the Lord as an example of how to accomplish wonderful things in their personal lives.  I asked the students this question, “What is the LordContinue Reading

A valuable lesson: The commandments inspire young Joseph Smith.  When was the last time a youth said that the commandments were inspiring? Have you ever heard the youth say what a blessing the commandments were? 5 After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had received aContinue Reading