Lesson 29: Paying Tithing with the Right Attitude

Its been crazy around my house the last few weeks since I have been trying to get ready for my upcoming wedding that is in two weeks. So busy that I forgot that I was teaching this week (as in tomorrow!). I guess that is what I get when I don't pay attention and don't teach every week. Sigh...but don't fret I am getting ready for this lesson and it will be great!

 

Reading over this lesson and diving into other sites all over this wonderful (and at times frustrating) world wide web for ideas on how to go about teaching this lesson, I hit a brick wall. Nothing stood out! I guess maybe that is a sign from the heavens saying I should have prepared better or what my class needs at this time is only what I can teach them, not someone else. OR maybe it is a combination of the two?

Anyway, no matter how you look at this situation I must endure it and do the best that I possibly can. That being said every time I hear a talk or a lesson about tithing, the story of the Widows Mite from Mark pops into my head. I just love the story and the way it is told is just spectacular. Among my never ending search, I found this lovely site, part of LDS.ORG titled THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST Bible Videos.

Just watching that clip just gives me chills! The best part of these video clips is that you can download them from the website and store them on a hard/thumb drive or if you are talented enough you can burn them to a DVD and take with you to your class!

Moving on with the lesson plan. I am going to start our class off with reading the story that is found at the beginning of the lesson by Elder Joe Christensen of the Seventy. If you don't have a copy of the lesson, you can find it HERE.

What is tithing? What blessings come from it? How is tithing used? And what should our attitude be about paying tithing?

Quiz: Idea found on Sugardoodle where if you scroll down to lesson 29 you will find the original link!

True or False:

1. If you give one-tenth of your income to the poor and tell the bishop what you have done, that counts as tithing. (False.)

Read the Quote from President Spencer W. Kimball: "Inquiries are received at the office of the First Presidency from time to time from officers and members of the Church asking for information as to what is considered a proper tithe. We have uniformly replied that the simplest statement we know of is the statement of the Lord himself, namely that the members of the Church should pay 'one-tenth of all their interest annually' which is understood to mean income."

2. Tithe payers receive spiritual blessings. (True.)

3. If your family does not have enough means to meet their everyday needs (food, clothing, shelter), you do not have to pay tithing. (False.)

Play video clip of President Gordon B. Hinckely DONT HAVE THIS, YOU CAN USE THE VIDEO THAT IS SUGGESTED IN THE BACK OF THE LESSON UNDER ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES ABOUT PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW

4. The Church uses tithing funds to print lesson manuals and build meetinghouses and temples. (True.)

5. The Church does not use tithing to help support the missionary program. (False.)

Read quote from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve: "The Lord has directed by revelation that the expenditure of his tithes will be directed by his servants, the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric. Those funds are spent to build and maintain temples and houses of worship, to conduct our world wide missionary work, to translate and publish scriptures, to provide resources to redeem the dead, to fund religious education, and to support other Church purposes selected by the designated servants of the Lord."

6. Righteous people in Old and New Testament times paid tithing. (True.)

7. You don’t have to pay tithing to qualify for a temple recommend. (False.)

8. During tithing settlement you review your personal tithing records for the year with your bishop, branch president, or mission president. (True.)

9. Tithing helps you prepare to live the higher law of consecration. (True.)

Read Malachi 3:8-10 and discuss what it means to "rob God" and to "prove me now herewith" and open the Windows of heaven?"

10. One of the most important aspects of paying tithing is the intent of your heart as you pay it. (True.)

Show the video clip of the widows mite then have a class member read the statement by President David O. McKay: "Tithing makes its greatest appeal to the sincere mind because of its spiritual significance. It is an unfailing source of spiritual power. True and constant obedience to this law will give as much spiritual development as will obedience to any other principle of the gospel."

The Lord has promised to give us spiritual and material blessings when we pay a full tithe. how has the Lord blessed you or someone you know for paying tithing faithfully?

We shouldn't just pay our tithing to recieve blessings. We should pay tithing with the right attitude-willingly, cheerfully, and with faith.  Read Moroni 7:6-8, what does it mean to offer a gift "with real intent"? What does it mean to offer a gift grudgingly?

When we pay tithing, we are we giving a give to God? Why or why not? Read D8C 104-14-15. Everything we have belongs to God. When we pay our tithing, we are merely giving back one-tenth of what God has already given us.

Close and bear testimony.

Handout to go with lesson

Click HERE to download pdf-4 to sheet or right click and save image as to use as a photo.

Lesson 27: Not of the World

*So I know it has been a while since I have updated this blog. I have been team teaching with another lady and we have been switching every other week so it has been hard for me to keep up when I haven't had to prepare a lesson. So I am going to spend some time getting caught up on lessons so be looking forward to that.*

Moving on to lesson 27. I have a confession to make. Whenever I teach I always go to Sugardoodle and look for ideas on how to go about teaching my lesson. I use that as a starting point and then go from there. One idea that they had on the site for this lesson was a video that I really liked and I think I will show it (if I can get a download to work) and if not I will have the class act it out.

 I really liked the message that the story tells. You can find the talk HERE. It was told by President Gordon B. Hinckley who retold it from a talk given by Elder Robert B. Harbertson in a 1989 General Conference.  Like I said, I really enjoyed the message. When I first saw the title of this lesson I was taken back to a mutual we did in YW's when I was still a leader titled our Dr. Seuss Night which you can find HERE it takes the analogy of Satan pressuring us to the classic story Green Eggs and Ham. Crazy I know but there is a great correlation between the two, trust me. Go check it out! Anyway, since I have some of the young women in my sunday school class, I didn't really want to use the same thing again so that is another reason why I want to use this video. For the hand out I am taking another idea from Sugardoodle (the mormanad from the first of this post shrunk down into a wallet size picture and then attaching a blowpop to it since I have no air heads or balloons to attach and no time to get to the store. On the back of the Mormonad I have typed up the story of the snake as taken from the talk by President Hinckley with an image of a rattle snake on it. Feel free to copy and paste this into a word document and size it up so that it fits on the back of the mormonad handout. 

"An Indian boy climbed a high mountain.

 It was cold up there. At his feet was a snake,

 a rattle snake. The snake was cold and

 pleaded with the young man to pick it up and

 take it down where it was warmer.

The Indian boy listened to the enticings of the

 serpent. He gave in. He gathered it up into

 his arms and cove red it with his shirt. He

 carried it down the mountain to where it

was warm. He gently put it on the grass.

When the snake was warm it raised its head

and struck the boy with its poisonous fangs.

The boy cursed at the snake for striking

 him as an answer to his kindness.

The snake replied,

"YOU KNEW WHAT I WAS

WHEN YOU PICKED ME UP."

Elder Robert B. Harbertson

 

Lesson #11



Wow after looking at this blog I have realized that I have been slacking a little. Actually it is more of fighting an illness and then having more issues with my laptop. So I will post those missing lessons hopefully soon!

Moving on to this weeks lesson...Faith in Jesus Christ. Since General Conference is next week, it makes this Sunday our fast Sunday (is it the same for you too??) so I can't do much in way of food object lessons (which I have found some online that were kinda cool). So this is my idea on how I am going to go about teaching this lesson.

Ask the class to repeat the 4th Article of Faith

Then I am going to have them divide into two teams. I am going to ask for two volunteers from each team to come up. One person is going to be given a picture while the other person is going to be the runner between the person holding the picture and their group.

The person holding the picture is going to give instructions to the "runner" on how to build whatever it is on the picture. They first group to build the object correctly wins. The group can ask questions but they can only ask questions to the runner who will then relay (think of the childhood game telephone) the info back to the person holding the pic.

The object lesson here is that the group has to put their faith into their two team members that they are giving them the right information.

What is faith?

Look up the scripture in Alma 32:21 and discuss 

 Why it is important that we have faith?

Why is it important that we have faith in Jesus Christ?

How can your faith in Jesus Christ help you with your daily problems and difficulties?

Show the video The Mouth of Babes

Outline for Lesson 6

Sorry that this late in posting...I had caught a nice little cold that has just made my life a little more complicated (on top of school and what not) so I am now just getting the outline for the lesson that I taught last Sunday up. I have decided that I am just going to type them up on here instead of in a word document so you can see the whole thing with out downloading (plus it saves me room on my 4shared account).

Lesson 6: Adversity Can Help Us Grow

Show Mormon Message of "My New Life" Click HERE to be taken to the video/link.

Talk about the video

* I want you to think back to the lesson on Adam and Eve 

? What was life like for them while they lived in the garden of Eden? (Perfect/Innocence, did not experience sorrow or death)

? What was life like for them when they were cast out of the garden? (They had to work for things, death, and sorrow)

* We are all like Adam and Eve, we too face trials. We knew that when we chose to come to this earth to receive a body we knew that we were going to have to face adversity. We all experience trials in one way or another.

? Why must we experience adversity?

*Read quote from Elder Richard G. Scott (first one located in Manual)

CHALKBOARD

 * One of those sources we can avoid adversity from is by not breaking the commandments.

?What kinds of adversity can we  choose to avoid? (Anything brought on by our own bad/poor choices)

? What kinds of adversity might come to use regardless of our choices? ( Disease, injuries, financial loss, weather, etc..)

* We can't choose to avoid these kind of trails, but we can determine how we will react to them. One way of doing this is by thinking that these trials can help us grow and become a blessing to us. 

* Read 2 NEPHI 2:1, 22-23

-Remind the class that this is where Jacob experienced trials because of his brothers. His father Lehi explains  why.

? Why must we know misery in order to know joy?

* Read quote #2 from Elder Scott (second one listed in the manual)

* Cross word activity (can be found at the end of the lesson in the manual)

* Go over answers

* Popcorn Handout  and Testimony

Part of Lesson 6

Here is the video that I am going to be using in my lesson. I just love the message and Stephanie is such a strong inspiration on how to handle adversity and rise up from it.

As promised...

HERE is the lesson outline for lesson 4 The Atonement of Jesus Christ. This lesson outline follows the manuals suggestive teaching layout so it is pretty lengthy. However, as always, it is made to be customized to your particular situation or time restraints. This is also the lesson outline that I will be following. 

It is my intention to make sure that I leave enough time to make sure that the film clip of the Mediator is shown in its entirety as it is a lil over 10 minutes long and since it is in parable form I want to be able to discuss the meaning of it. So please, please make sure you make time for that. I think it is a great story and will help the kids understand the atonement and Jesus' role in it a little bit better. 

"The Mediator" Lesson 4

I thought I would share this with you as it was a suggestion for lesson 4 on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I don't own the video and I wasn't exactly thrilled to go by it and I don't know about you, but our library kinda gets a little crazy right after sacrament meeting. So I searched on LDS.org and found that I could download the video! I was like "YAY" so this is why I am sharing. Click HERE to be taken to the church's website to share or to download.