Jeremiah 16 — "I Will Bring Them Again"

Teacher notes

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

SUPPLIES: a picture of Moses and the Red Sea, and board space for the concerns list — that list is the hinge of the second half and it needs real room, not a corner. OPEN WITH THE MIRACLE QUESTION and keep it short, or it will take twelve minutes: what are some of God's greatest miracles or manifestations of power? They will reach for the Old Testament, which is the point — the class has spent a whole semester in it. If nobody says the Red Sea, put the picture up. It was the standard reference for divine power for centuries, and the class can check that: Hebrews 11:29, 1 Nephi 4:2, Helaman 8:11, three different writers across a thousand years all reaching for the same event. THEN THE TURN, AND IT IS THE WHOLE LESSON: Jeremiah 16:14–15 says the day comes when it shall NO MORE be said 'the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt' — but rather that He brought them from the land of the north and from all the lands whither He had driven them. The gathering replaces the Red Sea as the headline. Let them sit with that before you explain it. PRESIDENT NELSON, 'Overcome the World and Find Rest,' Liahona, Nov. 2022, 95 — 'In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior's power that the world has ever seen.' Pair it with the verses rather than reading it first. DEFINE THE GATHERING, because they will picture handcarts: President Nelson taught it means 'offering the gospel of Jesus Christ to God's children on both sides of the veil' (Russell M. Nelson and Wendy W. Nelson, 'Hope of Israel,' worldwide youth devotional, June 3, 2018). Say plainly that today is about this side of the veil. SCATTERING FIRST, THEN GATHERING — 16:13 is the scattering and it is a consequence, and 16:17 is the reason, 'neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.' Do not skip past it to the nice part; the gathering only means something because there was a scattering. Worth telling them that the Lord scattered righteous people too, and that Lehi was one of them, led away to preserve his family (2 Nephi 10:20–21). The class met Lehi on Monday as Jeremiah's contemporary; this is the second half of that. FISHERS AND HUNTERS, 16:16 — the best discussion in the lesson and it will go well in pairs. A fisher waits, casts, and is patient in one spot; a hunter goes out, tracks, and covers ground. Both are sent, and the Lord names both. Ask which one they are. Most of this class will say fisher, and that is an honest answer rather than a cowardly one — let it stand. THE CONCERNS LIST IS THE PART THAT MATTERS. Ask what concerns Latter-day Saint teenagers have about sharing the gospel and gathering Israel, and have a student write every answer on the board. Do not edit them, do not answer them yet, and do not let it become three polite answers — push until there are six or eight and the awkward ones are up there. I would not know what to say. They will think I am weird. They already said no. It will make it strange at lunch. THEN HAND THEM THE SCRIPTURES AND LET THE SCRIPTURES ANSWER THE BOARD. Four study options, one per student in a small group, then they teach each other: A is Jeremiah 1:6–9, B is Doctrine and Covenants 123:12, 16–17, C is Moses 6:32–34, D is find your own. THIS WEEK ANSWERS ITSELF AND YOU SHOULD SAY SO OUT LOUD. Option A is Monday's lesson — the Lord's reply to 'I cannot speak, for I am a child' — and option C is the verse the class heard in the cultural hall on 10-05, 'open thy mouth, and it shall be filled.' Every excuse on that board has already been answered in front of them in the last three weeks. That realisation is the lesson's best moment; set it up and then let a student be the one to say it. ELDER RASBAND, 'How Great Will Be Your Joy,' Liahona, Nov. 2023, 52 — the gathering is the ultimate recognition that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Short, and it reframes the whole thing as being about one person rather than a programme. VIDEO IF THE CLOCK ALLOWS: 'Simple Ways to Love, Share, and Invite for Youth' (2:50). It is practical and it is the difference between inspired and equipped. Cut it first if you are behind. SHARE ONE OF YOUR OWN — the manual asks for it and it is the right ask. One real experience, including one that went nowhere, is worth more than the video. THEME LINK, PANEL THREE: he walks back down the hill telling everybody. Isaiah 12:4, 1 Nephi 8:12, Alma 36:24. This is the panel the whole autumn has been walking toward, and the order of this week is the argument — Monday He knew you and called you, Wednesday you came back to the fountain yourself, Thursday you go get somebody else. Nobody publishes water they have not tasted; that is why panel three comes after panel two and not before it. TIMING: miracles opener and the turn ten minutes, scattering and fishers/hunters eight, concerns list and study options ten, plan into journals at 7:05. The plan must be written in class, not assigned — President Nelson's invitation is to tell Heavenly Father you want to help and ask Him to put you to work, and that is a prayer, not homework.