The restoration of the gospel brought light to darkness and confusion to understanding. All that had been lost for centuries was now being restored through Joseph Smith. This week's lesson compares the restoration of the gospel to a boy restoring a bicycle. A boy takes the broken bicycle and restores it back to it's former glory. As your family discusses the restoration this week, we hope this metaphor will be helpful for your families!
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➤ L E S S O N
Open the lesson with a song and a prayer.
🎶 O P E N I N G S O N G : "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ"
➤ P R E P A R A T I O N
You will need a small bowl, one cup of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, a towel, and several old pennies (darkened and faded).
➤ I N T R O D U C T I O N
Place the bowl on the towel. Pour the vinegar into the bowl, and add the salt. Stir until the salt dissolves in the liquid. Pass around the pennies so that the children can inspect them closely and see how dark and old-looking they are. Now ask them the following questions:
1) Did these pennies always look this way? (No.)
2) How did they look when they were new? (They were clean and shiny.)
Now, say: “We are going to see if we can restore these pennies. If we can restore them, they will look like they did before, when they were new.”
Invite the children to place the pennies in the bowl (inside the vinegar and salt solution.) Let the pennies soak for about 60 seconds and allow the children to watch. After 60 seconds, take the pennies out of the vinegar and dry them off on the towel. Allow the children to inspect the pennies and see if any of them were “restored.”
Now explain the following:
When Jesus Christ lived on the earth, He formed His church and He gave His apostles priesthood authority. But later, the church started to change, and God took the priesthood authority away from the church. The church wasn’t the same any more, and Christ’s church wasn’t on the earth for many years. It needed to be restored.
🎥 V I D E O : "The Old Bicycle | A Story About the Restoration"
Say: “Now we are going to watch a video about an old bicycle. Let’s watch and see if anyone will restore the bicycle.”
Discuss the following questions after watching the video:
1) Did someone restore the bicycle? (Yes! The boy restored the bicycle!)
2) What does it mean to restore something? (It means to bring something back the way it was
before.)
3) What happened after Jesus Christ formed His church on the earth? (It changed, and the
priesthood authority was taken away.)
4) Who restored Jesus Christ’s Church? (God called Joseph Smith to restore Jesus Christ’s church.)
➤ S C R I P T U R E
Read the following scriptures and discuss the questions that follow.
1 The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh...
1) What is being restored in this verse? (The Church of Christ.)
2) What year was the Church of Christ restored? (1830.)
8 For I am about to restore many things to the earth, pertaining to the priesthood, saith the Lord of Hosts.
1) Who is speaking in this verse? (The Lord.)
2) What did the Lord say He was about to do? (Restore many things to the earth pertaining to the
priesthood.)
45 For I have conferred upon you the keys and power of the priesthood, wherein I restore all things, and make known unto you all things in due time.
1) Who is the Lord speaking to in this verse? (To Joseph Smith.)
2) What is being restored in this verse? (The keys and power of the priesthood, and all things in due
time.)
➤ A C T I V I T Y
Invite the children to “restore” the bicycle by following the instructions and drawing the necessary repairs! Use this time to talk about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith.
➤ T E S T I M O N Y
Bear testimony of the truths found in the scriptures.
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'Come, Follow Me' is a resource offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is designed to be used in the home to support personal and family scripture study to build faith in Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation and in the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Come, Follow Me is self-contained and adequate, when used properly. Products and materials designed to supplement this resource, though they may be helpful in some instances, are not necessary for a successful home study program.