DOWNLOAD Old Testament 2018 Teaching Plans for Gospel Doctrine Lessons 36–40 where Darryl models “Come, Follow Me” lesson plans. In this lesson using a Come, Follow Me format, Darryl shows how to encourage members to strengthen the stakes they live in while preparing for the Second Coming and the Millennium.
Welcome to Gospel Doctrine with Darryl with searchisaiah.org team. Our team has been pleased to share with you Isaiah in a Come, Follow Meformat from the Gospel Doctrine manual.
Be sure that if you want to download this lesson, which is lesson 40: “Enlarge the place of thy tent,” just click on the image to the right.
And when you do, you get a full lesson plan with all four parts of the curriculum. In it, we’ve included everything that’s in the regular lesson manual and added some additional research with current conference talks and church videos. You also get the slide deck like you’ll see today, which will be ready for your use that you can adapt to your needs. So be sure to click the link to get those things!
Introduction to Lesson
“Isaiah was referring to the process by which many Middle Eastern nomads add on to their tents. They rarely built new tents but would simply repair the old tent, one section at a time, using about a year’s worth of goat hair clippings. To expand the tent, they would add another section to it through continued patching of this kind.”1
In today’s lesson, there is a unique scripture as we understand it in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes” Isaiah 54:2
I went to Germany on a mission; the word “stake” is a different kind of stake. It’s more like a tent pole.
When you put a tent up, you have to have all the lines become taut and you put the stakes in the ground and that’s what holds the tent up.
The tension from each of these stakes pulls on the main line keeping the whole tent upright.
Following the theme of “Enlarge the place of thy tent,” there are scriptures here for you to study, conference messages, and videos:
Prepare Yourself Spiritually
Prayerfully study the passages from Isaiah 54–56 and 63–65 that are discussed in the lesson. Consider what these verses add to Isaiah’s message:
Right now, we’re going to look at our last search hack, “Four Keys to Understanding Isaiah”. These keys were offered to us by Nephi, which once again shows how useful the Book of Mormon is. I’m going to play that now as an introduction to our lesson today.
“In 2nd Nephi chapter 25, Nephi gives us his four keys to understanding Isaiah. Let’s look at what these are. Key number one is to learn the manner of prophesying among the Jews. Isaiah is an intellectual and a poet. He wrote in symbols and parables in the manner of the Old Testament with the intent of making the book difficult to understand. Study more ancient texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls and no context were impossible. Key number two is to have the spirit of prophecy. Seek the spirit of prophecy by living worthily. The spirit will reveal to your truths contained in Isaiah. Key number three is to know the regions round about or the geography of Isaiah’s time.
“The four main nations Isaiah speaks of are Assyria, the military superpower to the northeast; Babylon, the cultural commercial center to the east; Israel, the kingdom just north of Judah in apostate condition; and Syria, the kingdom just north of Israel. Key number four is to live in the last days. This is us, we live in the last days. Why does this help us understand Isaiah? For one, we have resources like the Book of Mormon and modern prophets to guide our understandings. But what’s cooler is we will actually notice Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled all around us as we search the book. Use the marking tool in the Gospel Library App to highlight each of these keys in pink, as pink is the standard for our prophet’s teachings.
“As you study, think of study techniques that will help.
“You decide.”
So now that we’ve seen that, remember you’re going to want to play this for your class. It’ll have a profound effect on them. In fact, all the search hacks do. I find them very useful for teaching.
Going back to the theme today—this is a nomad’s tent.
You can kind of see what I was saying about the poles are part of the stakes, besides the tent pegs that go on the ground. If any one of those fail, the tent collapses.
Divide into Discussion Groups
Discussion Topics
Group 1: “Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes” Isaiah 54:2
Group 2: “With great Mercies will I gather thee” Isaiah 54:7
Group 5: Isaiah 61:1–3 is a declaration of the Savior’s calling and ministry. Early in his ministry in Nazareth, the Savior quoted these verses and said to the people, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:14–21). What do these verses teach about the character and mission of Jesus Christ?
One of the discussion group today will talk about strengthening your cords and lengthening your stakes. Another discussion group, (and I’ve got them listed here on the left by scripture), is the great mercies that will gather thee, and the last group will discuss the millennium.
These are our scriptural discussion groups. But I wouldn’t want to be remise this time— I really think that our other discussion topics at the end of the lesson will lead to really good discussions.
And I would pair people up today instead of having large groups, I’d just do them in pairs and if somebody’s done an extended fast, try to give them this other discussion topic and then a description of the Savior’s ministry. This is so touching when Jesus announces His own ministry, and then about Christ’s second coming.
There are six good solid topics as you teach this class, you can divide your classroom.
All right. Brothers and sisters, we’ve divided our class up into pairs today. There are lots of pairs reading the same things, and there’s going to be a lot of hubbub in your classroom. That’s a sign of more than reading, it approaches study.
So, let’s let them go and I’ll come around and check on each of the groups as they continue to pursue their assignments.
Discussion Reports
Let’s give our reports. There are so many but just share your very best thoughts. So, let’s start with group three – Christ’s Second Coming.
Hannah: So, we specifically looked at the scripture in D&C 133:46–48 and it talks about Jesus Christ coming down when He comes for the second coming in a red robe, symbolizes the blood that He shed in the Garden of Gethsemane for us.
Alright, let’s hear from group two about a description of the Savior’s ministry.
Skyler: He talks about His ministry, and basically everything that He says He’ll be doing is very charitable. He’s serving those in need. And that is His mission and calling.
Alright, thanks! Let’s let that first group talk to us about fasting. Brothers and sisters, I don’t know if you know this, both of these people fasted 40 days to see what it was like. Oh my gosh. What insights do you have to share?
Ken: Well, first of all, it’s possible. Troy and I read a complete book called ‘The Complete guide to Fasting’ and we were wondering if we could do a water fast. And we started out thinking maybe seven days, maybe ten days.
Troy: So, I was on Type 2 diabetic medication. I had taken blood pressure. I had a lot of medicine I was taking. In verse 8, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning and thine health shall spring forth speedily.” And that’s what happened. I’m completely off all of my Type 2 diabetic medicine. I’m not taking my blood pressure medicine. And I’ve gone to my doctor at the end of this 40 day fast, and she called me miracle boy, she wanted to make me a poster child.
Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, we’re at the end of our study of Isaiah. I think if you remember at the beginning, I showed you that tiny Whitman’s Sampler, which is only four chocolates. You have got to get into Isaiah. Just think about what you just heard from these three classroom reports and if we had time to have everyone report today, there would have been so many insights.
Isaiah, when pondered is rich with learning for you. And if you will study it diligently, as we’ve talked about during this course, you’re going to gain new insights for your testimony and I bear you that witness.
I appreciate all of your discussions. Let me move now to our conclusion.
In conclusion today, I’d like to remind each of us that as we strengthen the stakes we live in, we’ll build Zion. And we do that by building it with our own efforts and then the riches of eternity will await us. And we can look forward to the second coming of the Savior with peace and joy.
I know those early chapters in Isaiah were a lot of doom and gloom, but these last chapters are all the promise of hope, and they’re beautiful.
And for those of you who are looking to use our five lesson plans, you can click this link to download the lesson plans and the slide decks.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this experience with SearchIsaiah.org, but we remind you that the deep dive you need to make in diligent study of the scriptures is not the Gospel Doctrine study plan, but instead a deep personal read of all 66 chapters. I know when you do, you’ll find your witness of Christ improving. It’s done it for me and I share that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
After filming this class using powerpoint, I made this lovey prezi you can use in Sunday School class: http://prezi.com/xjk6aoefeq-w/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share