February 1, 2009

I used the following guide to introduce How Firm a Foundation today. It worked out well and everyone seemed interested. Jr. Primary was shortened by sharing time to 10 minutes but it worked out great because I don't think the little ones could take any more. I got through the entire first verse with them but got through half of the second verse with Sr.

Here was my outline:

This is a new Hymn from our Hymn Book
Me: How firm a foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
Who unto the Savior...
for refuge have fled?

What is a foundation?
Block example (see example)

Me: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Who are the Saints of the Lord?
Us! Followers of Christ
All: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.

Me: Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
What does this mean?

All: Is laid for you faith in His excellent word.
Show scriptures
A foundation is laid from His word, or the scriptures, His church,
so we can have faith in time of need.

Me: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
All: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.

Me: What more can he say than to you he has said
All: What more can he say than to you he has said

All: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
What more can he say than to you he has said

Me: Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
What is refuge?
What does it mean to have fled?
Why would we flee unto the Savior for refuge?
Me: Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

All: Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

All: How firm a foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
Who unto the Savior...
for refuge have fled?

Me: Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

What a beautiful verse!
Lets talk about this one.
Me: Fear not, I am with thee:
Oh, be not dismayed.
What does dismayed mean?
Have you ever been so afraid that you didn't know what to do?

Me: Fear not, I am with thee:
Oh, be not dismayed.
All: Fear not, I am with thee:
Oh, be not dismayed.

Me: For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
What is aid?

Me: For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
All: For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

All: Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

Me: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand.
If you couldn't stand up, do you think it would be wonderful if someone helped you up?
Here, I talked about quicksand and how if you were stuck that you would need someone to help you out, that you couldn't get out by yourself.

Me: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand.
All: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand.

Me: Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.
What does omnipotent mean?
Unlimited power
What is a righteous omnipotent hand?

Me: Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.
All: Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

All: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

All: Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

All: How firm a foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
Who unto the Savior...
for refuge have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

I found some wood blocks from wal-mart in the children's section and covered them with pictures. Then I used two blocks as a foundation (with baptism, prayer, scriptures, tithing, temple marriage, etc.) and topped them one at a time with things that we are going to have to deal with in life (like friends, school, families, finances, and choices like who to marry, whether or not to go on a mission, etc.). Then I took away something like prayer from the foundation and they all got excited when the blocks all fall. I really think that they got the idea.

I had planned on getting through the whole lesson but I'll have to continue it for next week.