That Ye May Have Fellowship with Us and with God

1. Read 1 John 1:1–4.
2. He wants us to recognize and find the way toward fellowship. To seek the connection between us and God and understand that connection.
• 1 John 1:8–10 Admit that we sin and ask for repentance
• 1 John 2:3–6 Follow the commandments and walk in the light
• 1 John 2:9–11; 3:11–19 Love everyone and want them to want in the light with them
• 1 John 2:15–17 Love and strive for the kingdom of god and leave the world away
• 1 John 2:20–21, 27 Seek for truth
• 1 John 3:4–6 Don’t sin
3. Choose one of the ways to greater joy and fellowship with God as you described it above and write a paragraph explaining how you can better implement those principles in your life.
• Love and strive for the kingdom of god and leave the world away
• Our eternal destiny is to inherit the kingdom of God, but we must be faithful to him or else his inheritance disappears. Our inheritance is earned through our hard work and pushing away the world and everything that keeps us away.

Living Our Religion

Read James 1:19; 3:1–13; 4:11 and the institute student manual commentary for James 3:8, “The Importance of Taming the Tongue” (p. 410). Using these resources, make two lists:

	Things We Say That Are Offensive to God	Things We Say That Are Pleasing to God
James 1:19	Wrath	Listening
		Slow to speak
James 3:1-13	Bossy
	If one is offensive
	boast
	An evili tongue	Good conversation
James 4:11	Harsh words
	Judging
ISMC James 3:8	Use the same tongue we prayer with to hurt	Self-control
	Hurt the ones we love

Referring to the following chart, read James 4:1–4 and identify four symptoms of people who are friends of the world. Read James 4:7–12 and write a prescription that would help people overcome the “world.” Write your responses in the appropriate column:

Symptoms of Being in the World (James 4:1-4)	Prescription for Being out of the World (James 4:7-12
Lust	Follow God’s will
Wars	Repent
Desire to kill	Pure
Commit adultery	Accept the heavy and see it as good
	Humble
	Sees people equally

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

In Hebrews 11 Paul recounted the faith of many ancient men and women. Read Hebrews 11 and fill in the chart below listing eight other people and how each person demonstrated his or her faith and what blessings the Lord gave each of them.

Name	Verse	How They Demonstrated Faith	Blessings They Received
Abel	4	Offered a “more excellent sacrifice”	A witness from God that he was righteous
Noah	7	Being warned he constructed an ark	He became an heir of righteousness
Abraham	8	Went looking for a place without knowing where to go	He found the place and received it as his inheritance
Sara	11	She believed that the Lord would deliver his promise	She conceived and gave birth.
Abraham	17	Offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice	His seed went forth through Isaac
Isaac	20	Blessed Jacob and Esau of things to come	They were blessed
Jacob	21	Blessed both sons of Joseph while dying	They were blessed
Moses	24-27	Suffered affliction and forsake Egypt	saved in infancy, Escaped Egypt, Passed through Red Sea
Rehab	31	Received spies upon Lord's direction	Perished not

Give at least three examples of other individuals found in scriptures or whom you know who could be included in this chapter.

Example	Faith	Blessing
Nephi	That God would deliver the plates that Laban had	They received them
Enos	Prayed unto God for strength	Found what needed and got through the wilderness
Moroni	Believed that God would protect the plates he hid	Joseph Smith brought them forth and translated them

Read Hebrews 12:1–2 and write what Paul encouraged the Saints to do to show their faith.

Set aside sins and natural tendencies to do evil once you do so gain patience and move forward to God’s will.

Read the institute student manual Points to Ponder sections “Developing Faith Is Active Belief, Which Is More than Just Belief” (p. 400); “Fully Developed Faith Is Power” (pp. 400–401). Describe in writing how faith is different than belief.

Belief is just a passive knowledge of a concept. Faith is 100% knowledge that compels one to act. Faith is a principle of continuous action. Faith is gradually lifted when we act. When we act we receive revelation of the truthfulness of that which we do.

Christ is Greater

Greater Than Angels:

Angels are servants whereas he is the Son.

Greater Than Moses:

Moses was a faithful servant, he is a faithful Son and redeemer.

Greater Than High Priest:

High Priest only have the Aaronic priesthood while Christ has the higher one, the Melchizedek

In Hebrews 1, Paul gives us three great truths about Jesus Christ:

Under the direction of God the Father, he created the world. (verse 2)

Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. (verse 3)

Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God. (verse 6)

Reasons why Christ came to earth to gain a mortal experience

Hebrews 2:7-18

Chirst had to face temptations because to know any goodness one has to be presented to the bitter. He was the one who took our sins to make salvation an option unto us

Hebrews 4:13-16

Christ needs to receive personal experience to understand temporal trails. This way he help us through ours and give us comfort.

Alma 7:11-15

Christ had to take on all of our sicknesses, infirmities, temptations, and pain This way he can fully understand each of us. To make death crumble unto us and him and bring about life.

Doctrine & Covenants 122:8

Christ had to descend below all things in order to truly gain victory over sin and death.

Finding Solutions in the Scriptures to Life’s Challenges

People sometime argue and complain over petty matters in church meetings or throughout the week. Philippians 2;1-8, 14-15

Almost every dispute and situations of contention are a cause of one thing: pride. It is when one person thinks that their opinion is better qualified than the alternative. The remedy for pride is humility. One should not esteem himself/herself above another. Accepting others idea, although one doesn’t fully agree with it, is showing love and respect toward one another.

Many youth feel that their parents’ testimony is sufficient for them. Since they have good parents, they rely on them for all their spiritual strength. Philippians 2:12-15

Each person is a daughter/son of God. For one to grow spiritually they must obtain a personal relationship with him. To do so they must achieve their own testimony and understand that their knowledge and wisdom will gain their own salvation. A person depending on their parent’s testimony does not prove that they have that relationship with their Heavenly Father. It merely demonstrates that the parents do, while the child lack that thereof.

An investigator is considering joining the church, but his family will no longer associate with him if he does Philippians 3:7-16 4:13

Leaving ones family is probably one of the hardest and most delicate things to do. The investigator should ask himself how much the church means to him. The church contains the true gospel of Christ. He is the head of it and he promises whoever enters into it shall be protected and strengthen. If the investigator believes and knows that the church is true, he/she should do anything in their power to become a part of it, even if it means doing one of the hardest things. They must understand that they can “do all things through Christ.”

How is this writing assignment an example of the principle taught in 2 nephi 32:3

These situations above are situations found in our daily lives. Even I have been confronted by them. Many of them will come when lest expected. This is why one should always be prepared and how better to prepare then to ponder the scriptures. When one reads the scriptures, their spirit feasts upon those words. Once you are given a situation like the ones above you is ready to explain because the spirit knows the answers.

Live as Saints Should Live

Paul explains to us that we must seek out salvation and live in a way in which we can receive it. In order to get salvation one needs to be righteous, repent, and to help other’s come towards their salvation.

Paul teaches us several ways that we can prepare for salvation”

Romans 12:1 be holy

Romans 12:2 avoid worldliness

Romans 12:9 do God’s will

Romans 12:13 avoid evil

Romans 12:16 give service

Romans 12:21 be humble

Romans 13:1 do good

Romans 13:3 be obedient

Romans 13:8 choose the right & love others

Romans 13:9 keep the commandments

We should not judge others because those people will be hurt, not only that but we will also be judge for judging.

We need to treat others equally and become united with them. The most important thing to remember is that we are all daughters/sons of God.

Paul referred to the people of Christ as Saints.

Be Free and Live

Baptism is the third step to entering into gospel of Jesus Christ. Before baptism, one must have faith that the gospel is true and furthermore they should repent of their sins. When they repent of their sin, they will become clean from the natural man.

Christ death and resurrection can be considered a symbol to baptism. When we are baptized we are immerged into the water, this is a representation of the death of our pervious life. When we are lifted up from the water, it is a symbol of our new and clean life. Christ died and then was buried, he then was lifted and became whole and perfect.

Baptism requires full immersion into the water because of the mere symbolism of being buried. In addition, Christ was fully immerged, so should we be also? If it were just a sprinkle, we wouldn’t have all of our sins wiped away.

As said before when we are baptized we become new. To keep that “newness” we must stay away from sin, repent, and take the sacrament to renew our covenants. That way we shall be clean forever.

The natural man dies when we are baptized. However, we must do all that is in our power to keep our souls vacant with the spirit and not invite that natural man back.

We know whom we serve based on our acts and deeds. If we serve Satan, we obviously sin and partake of the worldly things. If we serve God, we do good deeds and are righteous. Freedom doesn’t come from the person that has you bound by things of the world. When you choose the right, you are free. We are free from the captivity of sin. We also allow more happiness and are blessed with eternal life.