“October 24–30. Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47: ‘A New Spirit Will I Put within You,’” Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Old Testament 2022 (2021)
“October 24–30. Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47,” Come, Follow Me—For Primary: 2022
Come, Follow Me, by Scott Sumner
October 24–30
Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47
“A New Spirit Will I Put within You”
You won’t have time to teach every principle in Ezekiel. Seek spiritual guidance about what to focus on, and encourage the children to continue learning at home.
Record Your Impressions
Invite Sharing
Let a few children take turns drawing pictures of something they learned from the scriptures recently. The other children can guess what each child is drawing.
Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children
Prophets are like watchmen who warn us of danger.
Ezekiel was like a watchman, warning the Israelites of dangers they could not see. Help the children see how our prophets today are like watchmen.
Possible Activities
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Read to the children what the Lord told Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:17. Invite them to do actions that go with the words, like pointing to their eyes, ears, and mouth when you read the words “watchman,” “hear,” and “mouth.”
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Lead the children on a hike around the room. Warn them about pretend dangers on the trail, like rivers to jump over, branches to duck under, or animals to avoid. Let other children take turns being the leader. Talk about how our prophet warns us of dangers we cannot see.
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Show a picture of the current prophet while you sing together a song about prophets, such as the last verse of “Follow the Prophet” (Children’s Songbook, 110–11). Tell the children how the prophet is like a watchman for you.
The scriptures teach me about Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel compared the house of Israel to two sticks that become one. These sticks also symbolize the Bible and Book of Mormon, which unitedly testify of Christ.
Possible Activities
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Give some children copies of the Book of Mormon; give others copies of the Bible. Summarize Ezekiel 37:15–19 by explaining that the Lord told Ezekiel to write on two sticks representing the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Read verse 17, and invite each child to find someone who has a book of scripture different from theirs and “join them” together so that they “become one in [their hands].” Talk about how both the Bible and the Book of Mormon help us strengthen our faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
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Using pictures from the Gospel Art Book or from past years’ Come, Follow Me books, help the children share stories about Jesus from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Ask them to share why they are thankful to have these two books of scripture.
Ezekiel saw in vision a river flow from the temple and heal the Dead Sea.
Great blessings come from the temple.
Ezekiel’s vision of a healing river that flowed out of a temple can help the children learn that temples bring blessings into our lives.
Possible Activities
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Show the children a glass of water. How does water bless us? Tell the children about Ezekiel’s vision of water flowing out of the temple (see Ezekiel 47:1–12). Show the picture in this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families (see also the video “And the River Will Grow,” ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Tell the children about blessings you receive that, like the river in Ezekiel’s vision, flow from the temple.
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Invite the children to draw a picture of themselves going to the temple. Sing together a song that describes temple blessings, such as “Families Can Be Together Forever” (Children’s Songbook, 188). What does this song teach about how temples bless us?
Teach the Doctrine: Older Children
Jesus Christ can help me change my heart.
Ezekiel used phrases like “new heart” and “new spirit” to teach about the kind of change the Savior brings into our lives.
Possible Activities
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Ask the children to search Ezekiel 2:3–4; 3:7 for words that described the Israelites. Then invite them to read Ezekiel 36:26–27 to learn how the Savior offered to help them change. What words could describe the “new heart” and “new spirit” He gives us? (see, for example, Mosiah 3:19; 5:2).
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Ask the children to think of things “stiffhearted” or “hardhearted” people (Ezekiel 2:4; 3:7) might do. For example, how might they react to counsel from a parent or the prophet? What might they do when they see someone in need? How do we act differently when the Savior has softened our hearts?
The Bible and the Book of Mormon help “gather” us to Jesus Christ.
Ezekiel’s “stick of Judah” (the Bible) and “stick of Joseph” (the Book of Mormon) work together to gather Israel to the Savior (see Ezekiel 37:19).
Possible Activities
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Hold up a copy of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and ask the children why they feel it’s good to have both of these books. Read to them Ezekiel 37:19, and explain that “the stick of Joseph” refers to the Book of Mormon, which was written by the descendants of Joseph of Egypt, and “the stick of Judah” refers to the Bible, which was written mostly by the Jews. Then read together verses 21–23 and 2 Nephi 3:12, and list blessings that come from having both of these books.
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Put a picture of Jesus in the middle of the room, and invite the children to move their chairs to different places along the walls of the room. Then ask them to use the Topical Guide to find scriptures in the Bible and Book of Mormon that teach about Jesus Christ (if needed, show them how to do this). After each child shares a scripture, invite all the children to move their chairs closer to the picture of Jesus. Continue until everyone has been “gathered” back to Him.
Temple blessings can heal our hearts and families.
The water flowing from the temple in Ezekiel’s vision brought life to everything it touched. Similarly, the blessings that flow from the temple can heal us spiritually and bring us eternal life.
Possible Activities
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List on the board some key words and phrases related to Ezekiel 47:1–12, such as temple, river, desert, Dead Sea, multitude of fish, and fruitful tree. Invite each child to pick one of these things to draw. Then read the verses together, and invite the children to share their drawings when their elements are mentioned. What blessings came from the river in this vision? (see verses 8–9, 12). Help the children see how these blessings are like the blessings Heavenly Father and the Savior offer those who keep temple covenants.
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Show the video “And the River Will Grow” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Or read together what Elder Dale G. Renlund taught about Ezekiel’s vision in “Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing” (Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 47–48). Tell the children how family history work and the temple have brought you the Savior’s healing. Invite the children to share their feelings about the temple.
Encourage Learning at Home
Invite the children to share with their families one thing they learned today and one thing they’d like to learn more about.
Improving Our Teaching
Support learning at home. “One of your goals as a teacher should be to encourage those you teach to have their own experiences in the scriptures—both individually and with their families” (Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 36).