Jeremiah 1 — "Before I Formed Thee in the Belly I Knew Thee"

Teacher notes

Supplies, board work and timing. Never printed on the cards.

SUPPLIES: board markers in two colours for the counsel/promises split, and copies of the self-assessment if you want them on paper rather than projected. DOCTRINAL MASTERY: Jeremiah 1:4–5 is a doctrinal mastery passage — have them mark it in whatever distinctive way the class has been using, and say the key phrase out loud twice before they leave: 'Before I formed thee in the belly ... I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.' The manual puts memorization in this lesson and then reviews it later, so start it today rather than saving it. THE SELF-ASSESSMENT IS NOT FILLER — the manual flags that students come back to it in Lesson 148, 'Assess Your Learning 9', so it is a baseline and worth the four minutes. Three statements, 1 to 10, and they record WHY they rated each one. Tell them it gets revisited; that changes how honestly they answer it. THE COACH SETUP IS THE BEST OPENER THE MANUAL HAS and it is built for this class — a coach who has worked with you for years and tailored the challenge specifically for you, versus a new coach who handed the identical challenge to the whole team. Same challenge, completely different confidence. If you coach anything, use it — let them hear it from somebody who actually writes workouts for named kids. That is the whole doctrine of verse 5 in a form they already understand. THE SPLIT ON 1:6–9, 17–19: half the class marks the counsel the Lord gave, half marks the promises He made, then they find a partner who marked the other thing. Do not skip the pairing — the point only lands when a student who was hunting commands hears somebody read back five promises. MONDAY ANSWERS TWO WEEKS AGO. On 10-05 in the cultural hall the class heard Moses 6:32, 'open thy mouth, and it shall be filled,' and on 10-06 Isaiah 51:16, 'I have put my words in thy mouth.' Jeremiah 1:9 is that exact sentence, and it is the Lord's answer to 'I cannot speak.' Say the three together — it is the same promise three times across three weeks, and some of them will notice before you finish. IT ALSO SETS UP THURSDAY: Jeremiah 1:6–9 comes back on 10-22 as study option A for students worried about sharing the gospel. Flag on Monday that they will need these verses again Thursday. THEME LINK, PANEL ONE: he believes the water is up there and climbs. Jeremiah is handed a divine assignment and his honest first reaction is that he is not the man for it — that is what the bottom of the hill actually feels like, and it is not unbelief. Keep it off panel 8; nothing here is a substitute tap. LEHI CONNECTION the students will like: Jeremiah was preaching in Jerusalem at the same time as Lehi, and Lehi's sons knew his name — 1 Nephi 7:14 has Jeremiah in prison. Same city, same decade, two prophets the class has now met. CAREFUL ON SPECULATION: the manual warns about this and it will come up. Students will ask what they personally were foreordained to do, and whether a patriarchal blessing names it. Thank them for the question and do not invent an answer; Elder Pingree's four suggestions are the safe, true, useful reply — focus on others, discover and develop spiritual gifts, make use of adversity, rely on God ('I Have a Work for Thee,' Liahona, Nov. 2017, 33–34). PRESIDENT NELSON, 'Decisions for Eternity,' Liahona, Nov. 2013, 107 — 'You were chosen not for your bodily characteristics but for your spiritual attributes.' Read that line slowly to a room of teenagers; it is doing more work than it looks like. TIMING: the coach opener and the self-assessment will eat fifteen minutes if you let them. Opener four minutes, assessment four, 1:4–5 and Nelson six, the counsel/promises split ten, close with the letter to the future self. If you are behind at 7:00, cut Elder Pingree's four suggestions and go straight to the letter — the journal close is the lesson's landing and must not be rushed.