Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Doctrine and Covenants Lessons
- The Restoration Proclamation
- Doctrine and Covenants 1
- Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65
- Doctrine and Covenants 3–5
- Doctrine and Covenants 6–9
- Doctrine and Covenants 10–11
- Doctrine and Covenants 12–17; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 18
- Doctrine and Covenants 19
- Doctrine and Covenants 20–22
- Doctrine and Covenants 23–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 27–28
- Doctrine and Covenants 29
- Doctrine and Covenants 30–36
- Doctrine and Covenants 37–40
- Doctrine and Covenants 41–44
- Doctrine and Covenants 45
- Doctrine and Covenants 46–48
- Doctrine and Covenants 49–50
- Doctrine and Covenants 51–57
- Doctrine and Covenants 58–59
- Doctrine and Covenants 60–63
- Doctrine and Covenants 64–66
- Doctrine and Covenants 67–70
- Doctrine and Covenants 71–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 76
- Doctrine and Covenants 77–80
- Doctrine and Covenants 81–83
- Doctrine and Covenants 84
- Doctrine and Covenants 85–87
- Doctrine and Covenants 88
- Doctrine and Covenants 89–92
- Doctrine and Covenants 93
- Doctrine and Covenants 94–97
- Doctrine and Covenants 98–101
- Doctrine and Covenants 102–105
- Doctrine and Covenants 106–108
- Doctrine and Covenants 109–110
- Doctrine and Covenants 111–114
- Doctrine and Covenants 115–120
- Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
- Doctrine and Covenants 124
- Doctrine and Covenants 125–128
- Doctrine and Covenants 129–132
- Doctrine and Covenants 133–134
- Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
- Doctrine and Covenants 137–138
- The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- The Living Christ
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Scripture Study Skills
- For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices
- Building Self-Reliance
- Physical and Emotional Health
- Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Succeeding in School
- Missionary Preparation
- Temple Preparation
- Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Lesson 67—Assess Your Learning 4: Doctrine and Covenants 41–50

“Lesson 67—Assess Your Learning 4: Doctrine and Covenants 41–50,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)

“Assess Your Learning 4,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Lesson 67: Doctrine and Covenants 49–50

Assess Your Learning 4

Giving students time to assess spiritual growth can help them draw closer to the Savior and strive to become more like Him. They can also see progress they have made and where they can improve. This lesson can help students remember and evaluate how their experiences studying the Doctrine and Covenants so far have helped them grow spiritually.

Possible Learning Activities

Evaluate your spiritual landmarks

The following can prepare students to compare physical landmarks to evidence they may find of their spiritual growth. They could complete this activity individually or as a class by drawing a map on the board.

Select a local destination and draw a map from your current location to that destination. Include landmarks that would help someone know they are on the correct route.

Which landmarks did you include? Why?
What role do landmarks play in helping you find a destination?

If you drew a map on the board, you might replace the original destination with the phrase “Becoming like Jesus Christ.” As students respond to the next question, you could replace some of the landmarks with students’ answers.

Think of a way to help students transition into thinking about their own lives. You might say something like the following in your own words.
If our destination is to become more like Jesus Christ, what might be some of the spiritual landmarks that can help you know you are on track?

Being able to clearly see our progress requires pondering and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Take some time to identify some of the progress you have made by looking for spiritual landmarks in your life. In other words, look for evidence that you are becoming more like Jesus Christ as you have been studying the Doctrine and Covenants in recent weeks.

You may want to give students time to ponder and reflect on their own. After sufficient time, invite them to share what they discovered.

Alternatively, you could use the following activities to help students reflect on their spiritual progress in recent weeks. The assessment activities in this lesson follow up on previous seminary lessons. If these lessons were adapted or not taught, the assessment activities will also need to be adapted to reflect the experiences that your students had.

With each activity, you may want to emphasize to students that assessing their learning in these ways can be like noting landmarks on a journey that confirm they are heading in the right direction. Be sensitive to students who may not feel they are progressing or have not yet seen a positive change in their lives, and think of ways to encourage them in their efforts.

Feel an increased desire to live a consecrated life

This activity can help students reflect on their desire to live a consecrated life like the Savior did. This activity draws upon what students may have learned about living a consecrated life in Doctrine and Covenants 42:29–42. Some of the following questions can help students review their understanding of the law of consecration.

What do you remember about the law of consecration?
Which verses from Doctrine and Covenants 42 can help us understand this law better?
What are some examples of what young people can do to live the law of consecration today?

Some of the verses students might mention include verses 29–38. If students don’t mention any of these, it might be good to have them read the verses and share what they discover. During the lesson about the law of consecration, students may have written “His hands” or traced one of their hands in their journal. They may have evaluated their desire to be like the Lord’s hands in their interactions with others. If students did this, you might invite them to find this entry in their study journal and see how they responded. The following questions can help students evaluate how their feelings about the law of consecration may have changed. Students could respond in their journal.
How do you feel about consecrating your time, talents, and other things the Lord has blessed you with to build up His kingdom, including helping those who are needy?
How do your feelings compare with when you studied the law of consecration a few weeks ago? What do you think has impacted your feelings?

After students have had time to reflect, you could commend them for honestly evaluating their feelings. You might invite students to share what they learned or discovered from this activity. Consider helping students reflect on how living a consecrated life could impact them 1, 5, or 10 years from now. You could also share ways you have been blessed in your effort to live a consecrated life and how it has helped you become more like Christ.

Encourage students to seek revelation on how they can be more willing to do all they can to help those who are needy and build the kingdom of God on the earth today.

Obedience to the commandments of God

To help students assess their recent efforts to obey God’s commandments, invite them to review the Doctrine and Covenants, looking for commandments they have recently learned about. You might encourage them to list some of the commandments revealed in Doctrine and Covenants 42:18–52 on the board.

How could our obedience to commandments be compared to spiritual landmarks on our journey to become more like Jesus Christ?

If students set a goal in a previous lesson to better keep the commandments, the following journal prompt can help them reflect on their goal.

Reflect on a commandment you recently felt inspired by the Holy Ghost to focus on.

How would you describe your efforts to keep this commandment?
How has the Savior blessed you in your efforts?
Is there a way you feel you could do better? What will you do?
Is there another commandment that you feel inspired by the Holy Ghost to focus on? What will you do?

Explain the roles of the Holy Ghost

This exercise can help students explain what they have learned about the Holy Ghost in their study of the Doctrine and Covenants. You could write “Roles of the Holy Ghost” on the board. Ask students to list various roles of the Holy Ghost, with a supporting scripture if possible. Discuss why these are important roles for the Holy Ghost to perform.

Below are some of the roles of the Holy Ghost. Students could read the associated verses and then come up with a situation where understanding a specific role of the Holy Ghost could help someone. Then invite students to use the scriptures to explain the role of the Holy Ghost to help the person in the situation.

Facilitates preaching and receiving the gospel (Doctrine and Covenants 42:5–6, 13–14; 50:13–14, 17–22)
Bears record of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (Doctrine and Covenants 42:17)
Guides us and helps us prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Doctrine and Covenants 45:56–57)
Gives spiritual gifts (Doctrine and Covenants 46:11)
Purifies us from sin (Doctrine and Covenants 50:29)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Assess making and keeping covenants

This activity draws upon what students may have learned about making and keeping covenants in Doctrine and Covenants 40, 42, 45, and 49. Consider providing the following statement from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf or showing the video “Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Youth” from time code 00:35 to 2:36. Students could reflect on the following questions as they study this statement from Elder Uchtdorf.

What have you tried to do to increase your connection to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
How do you think striving to keep your covenants has helped you feel closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

14:11

My dear young friends, if the Savior were here right now, what would He say to you?

I believe He would start by expressing His deep love for you. He might say it with words, but it would also flow so strongly—just from His presence—that it would be unmistakable, reaching deep into your heart, filling your whole soul! …

Jesus might point out that your covenants with Him—made when you were baptized and renewed each time you partake of the sacrament—give you a special connection with Him. The kind of connection the scriptures describe as being yoked together so that, with His help, you can carry any burden. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Youth,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 9–10)

Invite students to ponder how they feel about the covenants they have made. You could provide some or all of the following statements and invite students to assess their connection to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Invite students to record how they feel in their journals as true/false statements or on a scale from 1 to 10.

I find opportunities to pray to my Heavenly Father.
I am willing to take upon myself the name of Jesus Christ.
I try to always remember the Savior.
I am earnestly striving to keep God’s commandments.
I feel the Spirit’s comforting and guiding influence in my life.
When I sin, I do not give up. I repent and keep trying.

At the end of this activity, you could praise students for honestly evaluating their feelings. You might invite students to share statements that stood out to them. Consider helping students understand the special connection to Jesus Christ we receive as we make and keep covenants.