Bread of Life, by Chris Young

November 14–20

Amos; Obadiah

“Seek the Lord, and Ye Shall Live”

As you study Amos and Obadiah, be open to impressions about what you should teach to your class members. Record these thoughts, and look for opportunities to share them in your Sunday class.

Record Your Impressions

Invite Sharing

Just as Amos and Obadiah gave warnings to the people in their day, their words also provide warnings to us today. You might invite class members to share teachings from Amos and Obadiah that apply to us.

Teach the Doctrine

Amos 3:7–8; 7:10–15

The Lord reveals truth through His prophets.

• Invite class members to share truths about prophets that they found in their personal or family study of Amos 3 and Amos 7. You could make a list of their responses on the board. What other truths about prophets do we know? (For some ideas, see the Gospel Topics article “Prophets” [topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org].) Encourage several class members to share how they gained their testimonies of the important role prophets play in God’s plan.

• How might we share with a friend why it is important to have a prophet in our day? You could list on the board questions that someone who is not a member of the Church might ask about prophets. How could we answer some of these questions using Amos 3:7–8 and 7:10–15?

• As part of your discussion about prophets, you might share one of the following videos: “We Need Living Prophets” or “Words of the Prophets” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). How have latter-day prophets helped us draw closer to Jesus Christ?

Amos 5; 8:11–12

Apostasy is like a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

• To begin a conversation about the famine Amos described in Amos 8:11–12, you might find it helpful to briefly review the spiritual condition of the people he was preaching to. How had the Israelites turned away from the Lord? (see, for example, Amos 2:6–8; 5:11–12). Why is it helpful to know about their downfall? Class members could then read Amos 8:11–12 and talk about why “famine” and “thirst” are good words to describe the condition of those who turn away from the Lord. Class members could also search Amos 5 for verses that can help us avoid apostasy in our lives (see, for example, verses 4, 11–12, 14–15, 25–26).

• Understanding the spiritual hunger that accompanies apostasy helps us understand the spiritual feast we enjoy because of the Restoration. You might write a few questions about the Apostasy and Restoration on the board, such as Why was there an Apostasy? What impact did the Apostasy have on God’s children? What impact did the Restoration have? Encourage class members to find answers to these and other questions using resources like the following: “The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” in chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel ([2019], 36–39); the Gospel Topics article “Apostasy” (topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org); the video “The Great Apostasy” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org); and the quotation in “Additional Resources.” Invite class members to talk about truths restored in our day that are especially meaningful to them.

We can become saviors on Mount Zion by doing temple and family history work.

Obadiah 1:21

“Saviours shall come up on Mount Zion.”

• Why is the phrase “saviours … on mount Zion” (Obadiah 1:21) a good description for us when we do temple and family history work? How does the work we do for our ancestors in the temple help us feel closer to the Savior Jesus Christ? Class members could share recent experiences they have had doing temple and family history work.

Additional Resources

Lessons from the past.

President M. Russell Ballard taught:

“In the relatively short span of years covered by the New Testament, … the people turned against Christ and His Apostles. The collapse was so great we have come to know it as the Great Apostasy, which led to the centuries of spiritual stagnation and ignorance called the Dark Ages.

“… Our Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and He wants them all to have the blessings of the gospel in their lives. Spiritual light is not lost because God turns His back on His children. Rather, spiritual darkness results when His children turn their collective backs on Him. It is a natural consequence of bad choices made by individuals, communities, countries, and entire civilizations. This has been proven again and again throughout the course of time. One of the great lessons of this historical pattern is that our choices, both individually and collectively, do result in spiritual consequences for ourselves and for our posterity” (“Learning the Lessons of the Past,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2009, 32).

Improving Our Teaching

Help learners recognize the Holy Ghost. “As prompted by the Holy Ghost, ask learners what they are feeling and what they feel prompted to do. Help them associate their spiritual feelings with the influence of the Holy Ghost” (Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 11).