Receiving the word of God is a principle of action!
The Lord loves every one of us perfectly and He invites all to come unto Him. But, He will never force His way into our hearts.
We must make room for Him. We must be willing to experiment on the word. We must be willing to nurture the seed with diligence and great care. It is up to us to prepare our hearts to receive the word.
Jesus gave us the parable of the sower to help us better understand this principle. In this lesson bundle, you will have the opportunity to explore the symbolism in this parable and to discuss the things we can do to make our hearts into good soil - ready and prepared to receive the word of God!
LESSON BUNDLE DOWNLOADS:
➤ L E S S O N
Open the lesson with a song and a prayer.
🎶 K A R A O K E V I D E O : "Search, Ponder, and Pray"
➤ P R E P A R A T I O N:
You will need a sheet of aluminum foil, a sheet of parchment or wax paper, and a paper towel. Cut a palm-sized heart shape out of each of these materials before the lesson. You will also need a small bowl of water and a spoon.
➤ I N T R O D U C T I O N
Place the three hearts side by side. Explain that the water represents the love and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Say “Let’s see if these hearts will let Jesus Christ inside!” Invite a volunteer to use the spoon to place a small amount of water on each of the hearts. Allow the children to take some time to see which hearts absorb the water and which hearts resist the water.
After the activity, invite the children to return to their seats and discuss the following questions:
1) Did we use different water for each heart? Or was the water always the same? (The water was always the same.)
2) What made the difference? Why did the water go in one of the hearts, but not the other hearts? (The foil and wax hearts had something in them that blocked the water, but the napkin didn’t block the water.)
3) Does Jesus love us all the same? (He loves us all the same!)
4) What are some things we can do to let Jesus into our hearts instead of resisting Him? (We can listen, we can pay attention, we can be humble, we can trust Him, etc.)
Explain: Today we are going to talk about receiving the word of God. If we have a soft heart, we can feel Jesus Christ’s love and we can understand what He is teaching us. If we open our hearts to Jesus, we can learn from Him and become more like Him! But Jesus will never force us to open our hearts. Each one of us must choose to open our hearts and let Him inside!
🎥 V I D E O : "The Parable of the Sower | Animated Scripture Lesson for Kids"
Say: “Now we are going to watch a video about the parable of the sower. The seeds that the sower is throwing into the field are like the Word of God. Let’s see if the seeds land in the good ground, or if they land somewhere else where they can’t grow!”
Discuss the following questions after watching the video:
1) What are the seeds a symbol of? (The seeds are like the Word of God.)
2) What is the ground a symbol of? (The ground represents our hearts.)
3) What happened when the seeds landed by the edge of the road? (The seeds were run over and they were eaten by the birds.)
4) What happened when the seeds landed in the rocks? (The roots didn’t go down far enough and when the sun was hot the plants dried up.)
5) What happened when the seeds landed in the thorns? (There were too many thorns and there wasn’t any room for the seeds to grow.)
6) What happened when the seeds landed in the good soil? (The seeds grew deep roots and the plants were healthy and strong and they bore fruit!)
➤ S C R I P T U R E
Read the scripture verses below and discuss the questions that follow.
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
1) Why couldn’t the seed grow in the thorny ground? (There wasn’t enough room and the good plants were “choked out” by all the thorns.)
2) What are some things that could become thorns in our hearts? (Caring too much for the things of the world and trusting money to make us happy.)
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
1) What is the good ground a symbol of? (The good ground is someone that listens to Jesus and understands His words and then tries to do what Jesus taught.)
2) Who gets to choose what our heart will be like? (We all get to decide what kind of heart we want to have. We must choose to open our hearts and let Jesus inside.)
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father…
1) In this verse, was Nephi very old, or very young? (He was exceedingly young!)
2) How did Nephi get a soft heart? (He really wanted to have a soft heart, and he prayed and asked the Lord to give Him a soft heart, and the Lord softened His heart!)
3) What are some things we can do to soften our hearts and make our hearts into good soil that will receive Jesus Christ? (We pray and ask for a soft heart like Nephi did. We can also listen, we can pay attention, we can be humble, and we can trust the Lord.)
➤ C O L O R I N G P A G E
Pass out the coloring page, one to each child. Invite the children to color the scene from the video. Use this time to talk about the things we can do to make our hearts into good soil that will receive Jesus Christ!
➤ T E S T I M O N Y
Bear testimony of the truths found in the scriptures.
How can I download Latter Day Kids videos to watch offline?
This is one of the questions we are asked most frequently, and the easiest way is with the Living Scriptures Streaming app! Just open the app, find the videos you want to save, and click the download button (right beneath the video description)!
New to Living Scriptures Streaming?
Try it out for two whole months without spending a dime! We’ve partnered with Living Scriptures Streaming to get you an exclusive 60 day free trial available only to Latter Day Kids viewers!
We love Living Scriptures and we use it frequently. We hope you’ll join us there!