Assess Your Learning 5
This lesson is intended to help you evaluate the goals you have set and the personal growth you have experienced during your study of the New Testament.
Student preparation: Invite students to reflect on the last several lessons and the experiences they have had as a result of those lessons.
Possible Learning Activities
This lesson is intended to help students assess goals they have set, their ability to explain teachings in the New Testament, or how their attitudes, desires, and ability to live the gospel are changing. The class’s study of Matthew 21–26; Mark 11–14; Luke 19–21; John 12–13 may have emphasized truths other than those in the following activities. If so, the activities could be adapted to include those truths.
What have you learned?
Take a minute to reflect on what you have recently learned from your study of the New Testament. The following pictures may help you. It may also be useful to refer to your recent notes in your study journal. The following activity can help you assess your growth as a result of what you are learning.
If preferable, consider allowing students to answer the following questions in pairs or small groups.
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What have you recently learned about Jesus Christ that has been most meaningful to you? What scripture accounts helped you come to this understanding about Him?
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What actions have you taken to become a more devoted disciple of Jesus Christ?
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What next step(s) could you take to improve as a follower of the Savior?
Love God and love your neighbor
You recently studied Jesus’s teaching that the two greatest commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves (see Matthew 22:36–39).
Consider inviting students to discuss the following question with a partner.
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Why do you think these are the two greatest commandments?
You also recently learned about Jesus washing His disciples’ feet and giving them a new commandment to love one another as He loved them (see John 13).
Allow multiple students to respond to the following questions. Consider asking follow-up questions to allow students to share experiences they had as they acted on their plan.
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How was your experience acting on the Savior’s teachings?
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What did you feel about Jesus Christ’s love for you and for others as you responded to the invitations given in class?
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What would you like to do or continue doing as a result of the Savior’s teachings?
It may be helpful to follow up with students on their plans again in the near future. Testify of the blessings that come as we strive to love God and love others as the Savior does.
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
During this portion of the lesson, consider displaying the depiction of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ from the beginning of the lesson.
A great way to simplify gospel teachings is to explain them at the level of a child. To help you explain important aspects of the Savior’s Second Coming in your own words, write a summary as though you were writing it for a child.
Students could work on their own or in pairs to write the summary.
Remember that in a previous lesson, students may have spent some time studying how to avoid confusion, doubt, and fear about the Second Coming. It might be helpful to ask students to recall what they learned when studying Joseph Smith—Matthew before they begin writing their summaries.
The purpose of your summary is to answer two questions:
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What can we do to be prepared for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?
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Why will the Savior’s Second Coming be glorious? (Recall that in a previous lesson, you may have read Elder Neil L. Andersen’s invitation to envision and rehearse the glorious events surrounding the Second Coming [see “Thy Kingdom Come,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2015, 122].)
The following resources may help you review what you have learned.
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Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:22–23, 28–36, as well as your notes in your study journal
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“Signs of the Times” (Guide to the Scriptures, scriptures.ChurchofJesusChrist.org)
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“Jesus Christ, Second Coming” (Topical Guide)
Students could share their summary with a partner, or one or two students could volunteer to read their summary to the class.