Assess Your Learning 3

Matthew 8–13; Mark 2–5; Luke 7–9; 11; 13

This lesson is intended to help you evaluate the goals you have set and the learning and personal growth you have experienced from your study of the New Testament so far this year.

Possible Learning Activities

Think about your recent growth

Give students an opportunity to reflect on their recent spiritual growth. One way this could be done is to display the following questions and give students time to record their thoughts and answers in their study journals.

One of the purposes of seminary is to help you come unto Jesus Christ and become His disciple. Take a moment to think about your recent spiritual growth. The following questions can guide you. Consider recording your responses to these questions in your study journal.

• What is one change you have recently made in your life that has brought you closer to Jesus Christ?

• What have you learned about the Savior in your recent studies that has been especially meaningful to you?

• In what ways do you feel like you are becoming more like Jesus Christ?

When students have finished reflecting on their spiritual growth, invite them to share some of their insights with the class.

The following activities are designed to help students assess their learning and growth. Use these activities, or consider other activities that would better meet the needs of the students.

Assess your ability to understand the scriptures

This year in seminary you have been taught a variety of skills to help you understand the scriptures better. Some of these skills, like defining difficult words, might have helped you better understand the language used in the scriptures. Other skills, like the four-step pattern for understanding symbols used with parables, may have helped you better understand the messages in the scriptures.

The following survey is just one method of helping students reflect on what they have done to increase their ability to understand the scriptures. Another option is to lead a class discussion about what is working well in their personal scripture study and what challenges they still face. A third option may be to give students an opportunity to demonstrate using a skill that has helped them.

• Using the scale from 0 to 5, how much have the following study skills helped you to better understand the scriptures?

0 = I have not used this skill; 1 = None; 2 = A little; 3 = Somewhat; 4 = Quite a bit; 5 = Completely

• Identifying principles

• Understanding symbols and metaphors (in the Savior’s parables, for example)

• Tagging (in Gospel Library), marking, underlining, and so on

• Recording thoughts and impressions as you study

• Linking (in Gospel Library) or cross-referencing verses

• Studying multiple perspectives (for example, studying the same story from different points of view)

• Visualizing the scriptures

• What other skills would you add to this list that you have tried?

• How has implementing scripture-study skills helped you better come to know Jesus Christ and understand His teachings?

Explain the essential role of prophets and apostles in the Savior’s Church

Not long ago, you learned about the Savior calling His Twelve Apostles as part of establishing His Church (see Matthew 10).

As an alternative to presenting the following scenario, consider showing the one shared by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in “Prophets in the Land Again,” located on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, from time code 0:00 to 2:28. After students watch the video, ask the following questions.

Imagine you have a friend who is learning about the Church and wants to know more about the role of prophets and apostles in the Savior’s Church today. Suppose your friend asks you the following questions. Prepare a response for your friend. It may be helpful to include truths from Matthew 10 as part of your response.

It may be helpful to invite students to work with a partner as they prepare their responses. The partnerships could then be asked to share their responses with a different partnership in a role play.

• Why does the Savior call Apostles?

• Why do we need living Apostles today?

Assess how you are exercising faith in Jesus Christ to repent of your sins

You may have seen this diagram in a previous lesson. Take a moment to ponder where you might place yourself on this diagram today. Think about how close to the Lord you feel and in which direction you are moving.

As you have studied the New Testament, you may have felt inspired to come closer to Jesus Christ by exercising faith in Him and repenting of your sins. While it might sometimes seem that repenting will lead to unpleasant consequences, faith in Jesus Christ and sincere repentance can help us overcome those fears.

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared an experience he had that illustrates the blessings we can receive from the Savior as we repent of our sins. Consider watching the video “Repentance: A Joyful Choice” (4:36), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. As you watch, think about the blessings you have received through repentance.

If the lesson on Luke 7:36–50 was not taught, consider adapting the following content in a way that still helps students reflect on their recent efforts to exercise faith in Jesus Christ to repent of their sins.

If you participated in the lesson on Luke 7:36–50, you may remember that you were asked to make a plan to deepen your love for the Savior by repenting of your sins. In that lesson, you were asked to answer the following questions in your study journal:

• What is one thing that you need to stop doing to come closer to the Savior? How will you stop?

• What is one thing that you need to start doing to come closer to the Savior? How will you start?

If possible, refer back to this entry in your study journal to review how you responded to these two questions. Think about the progress you have made toward the goals you set. The following questions can guide you.

Consider displaying the next three questions for students to answer personally in their study journals. These questions are not intended to be discussed with others.

• What obstacles have you faced or what progress have you made while trying to change and come closer to Jesus Christ?

• How has the Lord helped you?

• Based on your current progress, what do you think your next step should be?

  After giving students time to respond to the previous question, have a more general discussion about repentance. Be sure to encourage students to not share information that might be too personal during this discussion. Consider using questions such as the following:

• What questions do you still have about repentance?

• How has choosing to repent helped you grow spiritually and receive joy?

• How have you felt the Savior’s love as you strive to repent or change?

Testify that we can feel the Savior’s love as we sincerely and humbly repent, and encourage students to exercise faith in the Savior and repent.