Parable of the Sower/ Parable of the Soil

This was the soils we reviewed, the wayside, the stoney, the thorny, and the good.

We are responsible for our own learning

After going through this incredible summer of gospel learning I am so super excited to dive into this new curriculum.  COME FOLLOW ME for Individuals and Families  Especially with the opening question. What seek ye? How incredible that the Lord reaches out and asks. And then helps us know that he will answer our individual questions. And so in preparation for the learning we are going to be experiencing I asked my family last week in FHE to ponder and get ready to ask God what they want to know, and be prepared because I know He will answer! They all wrote their answers in their journals. We had a family council where we wrote down all the things that we seek as individuals and then we talked as a family. 

“What seek ye?” Jesus asked His disciples (John 1:38). You might ask yourself the same question—for what you find in the New Testament this year will greatly depend on what you seek. “Seek, and ye shall find” is the Savior’s promise (Matthew 7:7). So ask the questions that come to your mind as you study, and then seek diligently for answers. In the New Testament you will read about the powerful spiritual experiences of disciples of Jesus Christ. As a faithful disciple of the Savior, you can have your own powerful spiritual experiences as you accept the Savior’s invitation, found throughout this sacred volume, “Come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).

So what are my questions? 

I want to learn to be consistent. How can I change?
I want to have daily promptings from the Holy Ghost so that I can help my family return to Father!
What can I do to come closer to the Holy Ghost?

What were the families Questions? What did they Seek?

Man these were really humbling things that they wanted.
They hope for a stable home that we don't have to rent and worry about where are we going next.
They wanted another Dog (A big one says Liam)
They hope for more LOVE in our family. Tarin said that would mean we spend more time together doing things that are not electronic.
They want more Happiness. Conor said he would think more about how we could have it.
They want to be proactive in spiritual and temporal things, fhe family prayer scripture study and being on schedule. So tonight I put a schedule together for the family.

I'm hoping we can look back on this year and see that as we serve God and try to study and live the gospel we can knock and it will be opened to us :)

FHE DEC 31

Family Home Evening DEC 31 2018

I am so excited for the new curriculum! I copied and pasted over the lesson ideas!

Ideas for Family Scripture Study and Family Home Evening

As you read the scriptures with your family, the Spirit can help you know what principles to emphasize and discuss in order to meet the needs of your family. Here are some suggestions:

Matthew 13:1–23

One great way to help your family prepare to learn from the New Testament this year is to review the parable of the sower. Your family might enjoy looking at different kinds of ground near your home to visualize the types of ground described in the parable. What can we do to cultivate “good ground” in our home? (Matthew 13:8).

Galatians 5:22–23; Philippians 4:8

“We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform” (“Letter from the First Presidency,” Liahona, Dec. 1999, 1).

The beginning of the new year is a good time to hold a family council about making your home more gospel centered. What ideas come to mind as you read the blessings and counsel in Galatians 5:22–23 and Philippians 4:8? Maybe you could make posters to put around the home to remind yourselves of your goals.

I read the scriptures and now I am thinking how am I gonna teach this to my 15,15,14,11,11 year old troops?

This guy know and loves them! I will talk with Him about it and get back to you!

Ok! I found this awesome talk by Elder Oaks! I clipped out my favorite lines about each type of soil!!

ELDER OAKS April 2015

What do we do with the Savior’s teachings as we live our lives?

The Savior’s examples could cause us to think of this parable as the parable of the soils. The suitability of the soil depends upon the heart of each one of us who is exposed to the gospel seed. In susceptibility to spiritual teachings, some hearts are hardened and unprepared, some hearts are stony from disuse, and some hearts are set upon the things of the world.

BY THE WAY SIDE Those who do not commit to be followers of Christ.

 Thus the seeds that “fell by the way side” (Mark 4:4) have not reached mortal soil where they might possibly grow. They are like teachings that fall upon a heart hardened or unprepared. 

STONY GROUND, Those who have no Root in themselves. 

What causes hearers to “have no root in themselves”? This is the circumstance of new members who are merely converted to the missionaries or to the many attractive characteristics of the Church or to the many great fruits of Church membership. But even those raised in the Church—long-term members—can slip into a condition where they have no root in themselves. 

Young people, if that teaching seems too general, here is a specific example. If the emblems of the sacrament are being passed and you are texting or whispering or playing video games or doing anything else to deny yourself essential spiritual food, you are severing your spiritual roots and moving yourself toward stony ground. You are making yourself vulnerable to withering away when you encounter tribulation like isolation, depression, intimidation, or ridicule. And that applies to adults also.

THORNS The Cares of this World and the Deceitfulness of Riches

When Jesus told a faithful follower that he could inherit eternal life if he would only give all that he had to the poor (see Mark 10:17–24), He was not identifying an evil in the possession of riches but an evil in that follower’s attitude toward them. As we are all aware, Jesus praised the good Samaritan, who used the same coinage to serve his fellowman that Judas used to betray his Savior. The root of all evil is not money but the love of money

We surrender to the “pleasures of this life” (1) when we are addicted, which impairs God’s precious gift of agency; (2) when we are beguiled by trivial distractions, which draw us away from things of eternal importance; and (3) when we have an entitlement mentality, which impairs the personal growth necessary to qualify us for our eternal destiny.

We are overcome by the “cares … of this life” when we are paralyzed by fear of the future, which hinders our going forward in faith, trusting in God and His promises.

GOOD GROUND brought forth fruit

Jesus explained that “the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). We have the seed of the gospel word. It is up to each of us to set the priorities and to do the things that make our soil good and our harvest plentiful. We must seek to be firmly rooted and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ (see Colossians 2:6–7). We achieve this conversion by praying, by scripture reading, by serving, and by regularly partaking of the sacrament to always have His Spirit to be with us. We must also seek that mighty change of heart (see Alma 5:12–14) that replaces evil desires and selfish concerns with the love of God and the desire to serve Him and His children.

This could easily be two lessons here! I think I will add in the part about the fruit of the Spirit below! (see below when I get to the next part!)