NT Come Follow Me 38

NT Come Follow Me Lesson 38

Introduction:

“Be Ye Reconciled to God”

2 Corinthians 2:4 Leaders and parents have to say exact things sometimes that come across as hard to those who need to repent. It’s not easy for them to do that. We should be willing to accept counsel and correction when it is inspired by Christlike love.

Lord, I Believe

“Be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with” (Elder Holland).

 

Personal Study: My trials can be a blessing.

How have your own trials been blessing to you and to your family?

2 Corinthians 1:3–7 Our trials help us to see the Lord, who then comforts us. Through the testimony of love and added faith that we gain, we are then in a position to comfort others who have trials.

Our very afflictions and consolation work together for our good and salvation.

How have you trials and the consolation your received worked together for your good and salvation?

  4:6–10, 17–18 With our hope and trust in Jesus Christ and His atonement for our salvation, we can bear with all affliction with comfort, faith, and hope, knowing that these things are temporary, and that glory is awaiting us.

7:4–7 The comfort the Lord sends us is often found in our prayers and service to one another.

2 Corinthians 1:4 “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

2 Corinthians 4:6, 8 “6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.”

Mosiah 24:13–17 Lift up your head and be of good cheer. The Lord knows the covenants you have made, and He sees your sacrifices.

Tested, Proved, and Polished

Adversity

“Trials, disappointments, sadness, sickness, and heartache are a difficult part of life, but with the help of the Lord they can lead to spiritual growth, refinement, and progress.

“Each person’s success and happiness, both now and in the eternities, depend largely on his or her responses to the difficulties of life.

“Adversity comes from different sources. Trials may come as a consequence of a person’s own pride and disobedience. These trials can be avoided through righteous living. Other trials are simply a natural part of life and may come at times when people are living righteously. For example, people may experience trials in times of sickness or uncertainty or at the deaths of loved ones. Adversity may sometimes come because of others’ poor choices and hurtful words and actions. Suffering may also come through a loving Heavenly Father as a tutoring experience.”

Alma 36:3 “Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.”

Personal Study: Forgiveness is a blessing I can both give and receive.

2 Corinthians 2:5–11 As members of the church, we should forgive one another. Paul offered forgiveness for the church as a leader in Christ’ church (“in the person of Christ”). We don’t want to lose those who falter; we want to offer sustenance and encourage as they strive to walk the road of discipleship. We need to be friends.

verse 8 How do we confirm our love towards one another?

Not forgiving each other is a greater sin, and it invites Satan. Contention and derision is never from the Lord.

Doctrine and Covenants 64:9–11 Leave judgment to God and forgive everyone their trespasses against you.

People make mistakes; forgive people. You are not acknowledging that the offense is acceptable, but that you can forgive the person for doing it.

Personal Study: Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I can be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

We need to put off the natural man and become saints.

Vs 18 Jesus is our Mediator with the Father; and through Him we can be reconciled to God.

Vs 20 How are you being an ambassador for Jesus Christ? Be an “ambassador for Christ” in “the ministry of reconciliation.”

The Ministry of Reconciliation

2 Nephi 10:23–25 Cheerfully chose God; reconcile yourself to Him; remember that you are saved by His grace.

Personal Study: Godly sorrow leads to repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:10 How is Godly Sorrow a good thing?

2 Corinthians 7:8–11 Godly sorrow helps us to submit to the Lord’s will and gain a forgiveness of our sins.

Alma 36:16–21 Like Alma, when we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can again have a clear conscience and find favor with God.

Mormon 2:11–15 Being sorry about being caught or experiencing repercussions for our actions doesn’t have the power to help us change and become clean. It is only through Faith in Jesus Christ that we can properly address our mistakes and ask for forgiveness through His grace.

Family Study: How are You Recommending the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

2 Corinthians 3:1–3:

1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Take turns writing a letter about how the other person has been a good disciple of Jesus Christ.

Why is it important to understand that our lives are “epistle[s] of Christ”?

People judge us by what they see. By their fruits ye shall know them.

Family Study: Walk By Faith

2 Corinthians 5:6–7 In this life, we have a veil of forgetfulness; but, the Spirit teaches us what is true; and we must walk by faith.

Family Study: We Can Become New Creatures through Jesus Christ our Lord

2 Corinthians 5:17 There is a struggle for a caterpillar to become a butterfly. But it does it. We need to allow ourselves to bridle our passions and to be encircled in the love of the Lord, submitting all to Him; and we also can become beautiful new creatures, His sons and daughters. 

How is the Gospel of Jesus Christ changing you?

Family Study: Be His Minister

2 Corinthians 6:1–10 To be ministers of God, we need to follow Jesus’s example and be willing to suffer and endure all things in order to invite others to come unto Him. This is not for the faint-hearted. We need to pick up our crosses and follow Him.

Family Study: Be Clean

2 Corinthians 6:14–18 Walk in His paths and avoid being part of anything unclean. Stand in holy places and be not moved.

Vs 17 Touch not the unclean thing.

Help Me, Dear Father

When we are converted to the gospel of Christ, our transformation is so profound that Paul described it as becoming a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/1?lang=eng

God comforts and cares for His Saints—The Saints are sealed and given assurance by the Spirit in their hearts.

Vs 3-4 We gain the ability to comfort others, because God comforts us.

Vs 5-7 When disciples of Jesus are willing to suffer for Him, they also receive consolation from Him and salvation through Him.

Vs 12-14 How do we as laborers for Jesus feel about our fellow-laborers? Have you seen this love among missionaries? Even after many years?

Vs 20-22 Our Heavenly Father always keeps His promises and fulfills His covenants. We know that He is always faithful, and if we are faithful, He seals us His and confirms this truth to our hearts.

Vs 24 We stand together in faith and rejoice in each others spiritual safety.

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/2?lang=eng

Saints should love and forgive one another—They always triumph in Christ.

Vs 6-8 Not any of us should gang up on someone who did wrong, but we should forigve and comfort him and help him find his way back. (The leader or parent may chastise, at times, with sharpness, but should always show forth an increase of love.) As fellow disciples, we are not enemies, but of the same body.

Vs 9-10 The membership of the church should forgive one another, and the leaders will also forgive for the church as directed through the Spirit.

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/3?lang=eng

The gospel surpasses the law of Moses—Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Vs 2 How am I an epistle for Jesus Christ and for His apostles and prophets? Are His teachings and works shown forth in me?

Vs 3 All disciples of Jesus Christ are the wirtten epistles of the apostles. We bear the gospel they preached. We bear the testimony of Jesus in our hearts.

Vs 6 Are you yourself becoming an able minister of the new testament, through the Spirit?

Vs 16 As we turn to the Lord, the veil of darkness will be taken away.

Vs 17 We can liberty through the grace of Jesus Christ which is born to us in the Spirit.

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/4?lang=eng

Gospel light shines on the Saints—Mortal trials are nothing as contrasted with eternal glory.

Vs 5-6 We don't seek to promote ourselves, but Jesus. We seek to bring to light the His gospel to all truth-seekers throughout the world.

Vs 8-9 We know in Whom we trust, and that Jesus is our salvation.

Vs 14-18 How willing are you to make these things known, so that others with you make receive a glorious resurrection. Are you putting your faith in Jesus Christ and your trust in those things that you feel and know inwardly to be true? Things which are not seen are the things which are eternal.

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/5?lang=eng

Saints walk by faith and seek tabernacles of immortal glory—The gospel reconciles man to God—God’s ministers carry the word of reconciliation to the world.

Vs 6-9 It is a privilege to have a body to house our spirits, and it is a privilege to be with God. We will receive a fullness of joy in the resurrection, when we have both.

Right now, we need to labor so that we are accepted of Him.

 

Vs 10 Everyone will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged according to their deeds here.

Vs 17-21 Be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. This is His perfect gift to us, that we may be children of Light and invite others as well.

 

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/6?lang=eng

Now is the day of salvation—God’s ministers must walk uprightly and bear all things—Saints should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

Vs 1-2 Receive His grace now. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day for your salvation!

Vs 3-10 Those who share the gospel need to do so with love, and they must be willing to bear the shame of the world, like Jesus did and does.

Vs 13 Do we love those we teach as we do our own children? Do we care for them? Do we seek to supply them according to their needs and their wants? Do we nourish them. Do we suffer with them?

Vs 14-18 Since we have dedicated our lives to Christ and become temples for the Spirit, we are not to associate with or be in places where the Spirit would not have us be.

We need to be clean to be His Sons and daughters.

 

"Tough not the unclean thing."

 

https://site.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-cor/7?lang=eng

Godly sorrow for sin leads to repentance—The sorrow of the world leads to death.

Vs 1 We have received so many promises with the covenants we've made. So it is up to us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Our Father will help us know what to do and how to behave.

Vs 4 Missionaries have this boldness of Spirit, this increase of love, and this joy in the work of salvation

Vs 10-11 Godly sorrow can bring us justification and renewed determination. It's worth it.