crashing waves on rocks

August 17–23

Helaman 1–6

“The Rock of Our Redeemer”

Do you really know your class? Try getting to know one class member better each week. As you do, you can better keep their needs in mind while you prepare to teach.

Record Your Impressions

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Invite Sharing

Consider inviting class members to come to class prepared to share an object that they might use to teach about a principle they learned in these chapters. What are other ways we can teach these principles to others?

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Teach the Doctrine

Helaman 1–6

Pride separates us from the Spirit and strength of the Lord.

• This week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families describes a “pride cycle” that plagued the Nephites. Perhaps someone in the class could diagram this cycle on the board. Class members could then find verses in Helaman 1–6 that they feel illustrate the different parts of the cycle and write them beside the related parts on the diagram. (If class members need help, you could suggest that they look in Helaman 3:24–36; 4:11–26.) How are we sometimes like the Nephites? How can we avoid their tendency toward pride? You could also share portions of “Chapter 18: Beware of Pride” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 229–40).

  the pride cycle

  The “pride cycle.”

• You might invite class members to read Helaman 4:13 and 24–26 and find a hymn that teaches about our dependence on God, such as “I Need Thee Every Hour” (Hymns, no. 98). Why does pride separate us from God? How can we recognize our dependence upon God? Class members could share how they have been strengthened by the Lord’s Spirit and power because they were humble.

• The Church members described in Helaman 3:33–34 were persecuting fellow members of the Church. Because of their pride, they oppressed the poor and committed all kinds of other sins (see Helaman 4:11–13). Consider reading together Helaman 3:33–34 and 4:11–13 and asking class members to discuss ways we can show greater kindness and respect toward others, including our fellow Church members who may be different from us. You could also invite class members to think of someone they know who may be suffering because of others’ unkind actions and ponder how they can help strengthen and encourage that person.

Helaman 3:33–35

Sanctification comes from yielding our hearts to God.

• Helaman 3:33–35 could be very comforting to those in your class who may be experiencing “persecutions … [or] much affliction” (verse 34). Perhaps you could invite class members to search these verses to find advice they might give to someone who is being persecuted. Or maybe class members could share how they found “joy and consolation” in times of affliction by doing the things described in verse 35.

• Consider inviting the class to study Helaman 3:33–35 and the statements and references about becoming sanctified in “Additional Resources.” What do these verses and statements teach about sanctification? How do fasting and prayer bring the blessings described in Helaman 3:35? How do we yield our hearts to God? (see Helaman 3:35). How does this help us become sanctified? You could also prepare and distribute slips of paper with one of the statements or references from “Additional Resources” printed on them and invite class members to randomly pick one to study. Then they could share with each other what they learned about sanctification.

Helaman 5:12

If we make Jesus Christ our foundation, we cannot fall.

• Satan sends forth “his mighty winds” into all of our lives. Many people in your class have already experienced this, and more storms are likely in the future. What can you do to help your class members prepare for these storms by building their lives on Jesus Christ?

  You might begin a discussion by showing pictures of temples or other buildings and comparing our lives to a building. What choices does a builder have to make? What choices do we make that affect how our lives are built? Then you could read together Helaman 5:12 and discuss what it means to build our lives on Jesus Christ. How does having Him as our foundation influence other choices we make as we build our lives?

  Class members could share how having the Savior as their foundation has helped them withstand the storms of life. Give class members time to ponder the kind of life they are building and how they can ensure that they are firmly founded on Christ. The story about the Salt Lake Temple in “Additional Resources” can help in your discussion.

Helaman 5:14–50

Our faith is strengthened by “the greatness of the evidences [we have] received.”

• One of the blessings of gathering in Sunday School is the opportunity to strengthen one another’s faith—just as the Lamanites did in Helaman 5:50. Perhaps you could read Helaman 5:50 together and ask the class to identify “the things which [the Lamanites] had heard and seen” in verses 20–49. Class members could then share with each other some of the spiritual experiences that have convinced them that the gospel is true—even if they haven’t seen angels or pillars of fire. What convincing evidence have they seen of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ?

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Encourage Learning at Home

Helaman 7–12 describes how Nephi earned the trust of the Lord and was given great power. You could suggest to your class that by reading these chapters, they can learn how to receive more of God’s trust in their lives.

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Additional Resources

Becoming sanctified through Jesus Christ.

• Sanctification is “the process of becoming free from sin, pure, clean, and holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Sanctification,” scriptures.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

• “Once we have truly repented, Christ will take away the burden of guilt for our sins. We can know for ourselves that we have been forgiven and made clean. The Holy Ghost will verify this to us; He is the Sanctifier. No other testimony of forgiveness can be greater” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Point of Safe Return,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2007, 101).

• “To be sanctified through the blood of Christ is to become clean, pure, and holy. If justification removes the punishment for past sin, then sanctification removes the stain or effects of sin” (D. Todd Christofferson, “Justification and Sanctification,” Ensign, June 2001, 22).

• “When the will, passions, and feelings of a person are perfectly submissive to God and his requirements, that person is sanctified” (Brigham Young, “Discourse,” Deseret News, Sept. 7, 1854, 1).

• We are sanctified by the power of the Holy Ghost because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 13:12; Alma 13:10–12; 3 Nephi 27:19–20; Moroni 10:32–33; Doctrine and Covenants 76:40–42).

• Even after we have been sanctified, it is still possible to fall from divine grace (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:30–34).

A sure foundation.

During the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, large cracks were found in the foundation stones. Even though it had taken almost nine years to get that far in the construction, President Brigham Young directed that the cracked foundation stones be removed and replaced with stones of a better quality. It took another five years to remove the defective foundation stones and rebuild up to the ground level. “I want to see that temple built,” President Young said, “in a manner that it will endure through the millennium” (“Remarks,” Deseret News, Oct. 14, 1863, 97).

Improving Our Teaching

Bear testimony of Jesus Christ. Aminadab might not have felt like the most qualified person to teach the Lamanites to repent and have faith in Christ (see Helaman 5:35–41). But he shared what he knew, and his testimony had a profound influence. What do you learn from this example?