Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is the first principle of the gospel
by Melanie Day

 
 

OBJECT LESSON from Deseret Book Website:
 

- Prepare five word strips: DESIRE, FAITH, PRAYER/SCRIPTURES, NEGATIVES, BELIEF. 

- Bring out a hoe, watering can, and seeds and tell the children that you are getting ready to plant a garden. At appropriate times during the object lesson refer to the hoe, can, and seeds.

Ask if anyone has ever planted a garden. What is the first thing we must do to plant a garden? (Prepare the soil.) What do we do next? (Plant the seed.) What does a seed need to grow? (Sunshine and water.) What happens if the soil is loosened and the seed gets plenty of water and sunshine? (It will start to grow.) Are we done with our garden? What else do we have to do? (Keep it free of weeds.) When all these things are done what will we have? (A good harvest.) Tell the children that gaining a testimony is very much like planting a garden.  First we must prepare. How do we prepare the soil? (Put up wordstrip DESIRE.)  What seed do we need to plant? (Put up wordstrip FAITH.) What is the water and sunshine that helps a testimony grow? (Put up wordstrip PRAYER/SCRIPTURES.) What are the spiritual weeds that must be gotten rid of? (Ask for specific answers, then post NEGATIVES.) What is the harvest? (Put up wordstrip BELIEF.)  -(Beth Lefgren and Jennifer Jackson, Sharing Time, Family Time, Anytime [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992], p.100.)

DISCUSS: Tell the children, "Today we are going to plant a seed of faith. What does it mean to have faith?  (to believe and trust that something is real and true, even though we have not seen it.)  What does it mean to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? (To trust hat he lives and loves us, that he is heavenly Father’s son.)

How can our faith in Jesus Christ Grow?  ( by praying, reading scriptures, bearing our testimony, hearing others bear there testimony, keeping the commandments, receiving a priesthood blessing.)

We are going to practice having faith today.  Faith is often compared to a seed (READ Alma 32:28) Now, if you give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast if our by your unbelief, that ye will resist the spirit of the lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breast: it must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.   

…And in (Matt 17: 20) I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto the mountain remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

ACTIVITY: Today we are going to make a faith necklace (click here).  Explain how to make faith necklaces and then say: "If you have faith that this seed with grow, you will be able to see this seed sprout and grow in a few days.  This is just like your faith in Jesus Christ.  If you do those things that help your faith to grow (keep commandments, prayer…) your faith in Jesus Christ will grow to be very strong.   Faith is just like believing that this seed will grow even though you have not yet seen it grow. 

Do you know it will grow just by looking at the seed? No!  Can you see it growing yet? No!  But you do have faith and hope that it will grow.  That is similar to how we have faith.     

Heavenly Father asks us to “Give place that a seed may be planted in your heart, if it be a true seed or a good seed it will grow” as you practice faith, your faith will grow just like this little seed.   If ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen which are true.  Alma 32:21. 
 

Help the children understand what they can do to build their faith in Jesus Christ. Have them locate Alma 32:36–39, and you read it aloud. Explain that the seed in the scripture is the word of God and that planting it in their hearts will help build their testimonies. To help the children listen, you might assign different groups to count how many times words like see, tree, fruit, and nourished are used. Discuss why it is important to “nourish” their testimonies. Help the children understand what happens to testimony “seeds” that aren’t nourished.

SING:  “The Church of Jesus Christ” (p. 77).

From the words in the song, "The Church of Jesus Christ", have the children list on one half of the chalkboard the things we believe or know: “who I am”; “God’s plan”; “the Savior, Jesus Christ.” Discuss and list other things we might know as part of our testimonies (e.g., the Book of Mormon is true, Heavenly Father answers prayers, we have a prophet today).
 

On the other half of the chalkboard, list the things we can do to develop our testimonies: “follow Him in faith,” “honor His name,” “do what is right,” “follow His light,” “proclaim His truth.” Have the children suggest specific things we can do to follow in faith, honor His name, etc. (pay tithing, keep the Sabbath Day holy, read the scriptures, obey the Word of Wisdom). Explain that the singing of hymns can be a way to express our testimonies, and have them re-sing “The Church of Jesus Christ” as a testimony.

SUMMARY: Bear testimony of the importance of faith in our lives.  Just like the little seed they'll be planting, that their faith in Jesus Christ will grow to be strong.

SOME OPTIONAL IDEAS:

- This is a great opportunity to help the children memorize the fourth article of faith. Write it in phrases on separate slips of paper; give each class a phrase to memorize, with younger classes getting the simpler phrases. Have each teacher help her or his class learn its phrase.  Ask a member of each class to come to the front and present its phrase. While the entire Primary says the fourth article of faith, have the class representatives quickly but reverently put themselves in the correct order. Then have them repeat their phrases in order for the rest of the children. Repeat this process until all the children who wish to have participated and the article is memorized.  Review by singing “The Fourth Article of Faith” (p. 124), with each class standing when its phrase is sung.

- Teach the principles of the fourth article of faith [A of F 1:4] by inviting four members of the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood to give the children short talks (one minute each) on faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Before each talk, have the children sing a song about the principle of that talk—e.g., “Faith” (pp. 96–97), “Repentance” (p. 98), “When I Am Baptized” (p. 103), and “The Holy Ghost” (p. 105).

Faith Necklaces:
 

1) You'll need a snack size Ziploc baggie, cotton ball, yarn, 3 seeds, and this handout (there are two to a page) for each child.
 

2) Wet a cotton ball, then squeeze out excess moisture so it is just damp, not wet. (You can do this before church and put all the cotton balls in a few sandwich baggies).  It might be helpful to have everything needed in a lunch sack to hand to the teachers.  In addition to the items listed in number one, teachers will need tape and a pen or pencil.  
 

3) Have teachers give each child a baggie, one cotton ball and a couple of seeds.  Puff a little air in the baggie, then seal, leaving it just slightly puffed, not completely flat.  Then the teacher (or child, depending on age) will tape yarn onto baggie, one on each side to make necklace. 

4)  To avoid the necklaces being a distraction, you could have the teacher hold them for the rest of Primary and pass them out before leaving.

5)  Let them know that they can watch their mystery seeds sprout over the next week. If you wanted to, challenge the children to come back to Primary the next week with their faith necklaces - to show everyone how their seeds sprouted. 
 

SOURCES:

“Sharing Time: Faith Helps Us Choose the Right,” Friend, Oct. 2002, 33
“Sharing Time: Faith in Jesus Christ,” Friend, Jan. 1999, 14