Family Home Evening Lesson fro Malachi

 Read or Summarize Malachi 3:8-12

8 ​​​​​​Will​ a man ​​​rob​ God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ​​​tithes​ and offerings.

​​​9 ​Ye ​are​ ​​​cursed​ with a curse: for ye have robbed me, ​even​ this whole nation.

​​​10 ​Bring ye all the ​​​tithes​ into the storehouse, that there may be ​​​meat​ in mine house, and ​​​prove​ me now herewith, saith the ​​Lord​​ of hosts, if I will not ​​​open​ you the ​​​windows of heaven​, and pour you out a ​​​blessing​, that ​there shall​ not ​be room​ enough ​to receive it.​

​​​11 ​And I will ​​​rebuke​ the ​​​devourer​ for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the ​​Lord​​ of hosts.

​​​12 ​And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the ​​Lord​​ of hosts.

Discuss

What is tithing?

D&C 119:4 simply states that all members “shall pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this shall be a standing law unto them forever, … saith the Lord.”

What is tithing used for?

In Elder David A. Bednar’s talk “The Windows of Heaven” (Ensign October 2013), he said, “These sacred funds are used in a rapidly growing church to spiritually bless individuals and families by constructing and maintaining temples and houses of worship, supporting missionary work, translating and publishing scriptures, fostering family history research, funding schools and religious education, and accomplishing many other Church purposes as directed by the Lord’s ordained servants.”

Share Your Testimony

Share your testimonies with each other of the blessings of tithing. Elder Bednar discussed how his mother recognized that by giving the Lord 10% of their income, they didn’t spend as much money on medical bills. Elder Bednar bore his testimony of tithing by saying, “I testify spiritual and temporal blessings come into our lives as we live the law of tithing. I bear witness that such blessings often are significant but subtle.”

Activity 

Look at the following incomes below. Have children identify how much money in each group should be given to tithing. If you give your children an allowance, help them figure out how much money they should give to tithing.

Answers to the activity, and our video for this lesson is in the video, when you click on the picture below.

Family Home Evening for Haggai; Zechariah 1-3; 7-14

 Read Haggai 1:2-7

 ​Thus speaketh the ​​Lord​​ of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the ​​Lord​​’s house should be built.

​​​3 ​Then came the word of the ​​Lord​​ by Haggai the prophet, saying,

​​​4 ​​Is it​ time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ​​​ceiled​ houses, and this house ​lie​ waste?

​​​5 ​Now therefore thus saith the ​​Lord​​ of hosts; ​​​Consider​ your ways.

​​​6 ​Ye have ​​​sown​ much, and bring in little; ye ​​​eat​, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that ​​​earneth​ wages earneth ​​​wages​ ​to put it​ into a bag with ​​​holes​.

​​​7 ​​Thus saith the ​​Lord​​ of hosts; ​​​Consider​ your ​​​ways​.

Discuss

The Israelites had been in captivity for a long time. When they finally went back to Jerusalem, the whole city had been destroyed. Their houses were broken up and the temple had been destroyed. The people wanted to rebuild the temple immediately, but the Lord told them that they needed to rebuild their own spiritual foundation first. 

The scriptures we just read asked us to “consider your ways.” As a family, let’s think about our ways. “Our ways” represents our habits and the things that we do everyday. Think about the phrases in verse 6. What could they mean in your family? For example, “Ye have sown much, and bring in little,” could mean that though you are busy all day, maybe you fill your day with things that don’t help you come closer to Heavenly Father, develop your talents, help others, or help you become the person that Heavenly Father wants you to be. Or “ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink,” could mean that you have your scriptures open or you sit quietly during family scripture study, but you don’t really listen to or pay attention to what is being read.

Find your own family meaning for these phrases and discuss how you could work harder to “consider your ways” and grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus, as a family.

• ​​​​Ye have ​​​sown​ much, and bring in little

• Ye ​​​eat​, but ye have not enough 

• Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink

• Ye clothe you, but there is none warm

• He that ​​​earneth​ wages earneth ​​​wages​ ​to put it​ into a bag with ​​​holes

Click the picture below to see how we did this lesson

Family Home Evening for Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah

Read Zephaniah 2:3

3 ​Seek ye the ​​Lord​​, all ye ​​​meek​ of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek ​​​righteousness​, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the ​​​day​ of the ​​Lord​​’s anger.

Discuss

What does it mean to be righteous?

The Guide to the Scriptures teach us that people who are righteous do what is right, are holy and virtuous, act fair, avoid sin, and obey God’s commandments.

What does it mean to be meek?

The Guide to the Scriptures teach us that to be meek means that we put what God wants us to do above what we want or what other people want us to do. A meek person is righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering. The meek are willing to follow gospel teachings.

What does it mean to seek righteousness and meekness?

Activity

Sometimes it is hard to find meekness and righteousness in a world that’s full of so many distractions. See if you can find 5 MEEKNESS words and 5 RIGHTEOUSNESS words in the words below

VIDEOGAMES TELEVISION ONLINE MOVIES GAMES MEEKNESS FOOD FRIENDS PARTIES PLAYING RIGHTEOUSNESS EMAIL TEXTING MEEKNESS PHONES NOTIFICATIONS RIGHTEOUSNESS SOCIAL MEDIA RIGHTEOUSNESS BALLOONS BUBBLES MEEKNESS TOYS SIBLINGS MONEY SLEEPING WEB SURFING RIGHTEOUSNESS HOMEWORK FITTING IN SICKNESS LAZINESS MEEKNESS THOUGHTS NEWS NOISE RIGHTEOUSNESS PEER PRESSURE CLOTHING WANTING TO BELONG MEEKNESS

Click on the picture below to see our video of this lesson

 

Family Home Evening for Jonah and Micah

 Today, we will be covering Jonah 1-4. These are very short chapters, but they are a lot more fun to act out, than they are to read. You can read the chapters and write your own script. Here is what we did:

Lord: Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Jonah: (Jumps up) I don’t want to go to Nineveh. Those people are so wicked, they won’t listen to me. I know, I’ll hide out in Tarshish instead!

A great storm arises, people on the boat are shaking, being squirted with squirt guns or having water thrown on them, pieces of the boat break off. The people in the boat are scared and begin to kneel down and pray. Some of them start throwing things overboard to lighten the load)

Jonah: Sleeping in the bottom of the boat.

Shipmaster: Why are you sleeping?! You need to wake up and pray, or we are all going to die! 

Shipmate 1: Let’s cast lots and see who made God so mad that He sent this storm! (Passes out sticks. Jonah gets the short stick)

Shipmate 2: (to Jonah) What did you do that caused this to happen? Where did you come from?

Jonah: I am an Hebrew; and I pray to the God that created the whole world. I am running away, because God told me to do something that scared me.

All Other Shipmates: Gasp

Shipmaster: Why did you do that? What should we do to save us and our ship?

Jonah: I know that this storm is my fault. Just throw me overboard and you will be safe.

Shipmaster: I hate throwing you over board in this storm. Maybe we can row really fast and make it to land.

The storm continues as they try to row to land.

Shipmaster: Please God, do not let us die. We tried to protect this man, but we know that’s not possible. We hate killing this man, but we will do what you want.

Throw Jonah overboard. The storm stops. The shipmates thank God, and the boat leaves, and Jonah is swallowed by a big whale.

Inside the belly of the whale

Jonah: (praying) Please forgive me. Thank you for answering my prayer and saving me from that terrible storm. I promise, if I make it out of here alive, I will go to the temple. No matter what happens, or whomever I am with, I will always worship Thee!

Jonah gets spit out of the belly of the whale onto dry land.

Lord: Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Jonah: Okay! 

Narrator: Nineveh was a great city that took 3 days for Jonah to travel to.

Jonah: In 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown, according to the word of God.

Townsperson: We should worship God and fast. We don’t need fancy clothes or jewels.

King of Nineveh: I too shall take off my fancy clothes and repent of my sins. I send out a royal decree that every man, woman, child, plant, and beast will begin a fast. Nothing will eat or drink anything, but we will be humble and pray to God for forgiveness.

Lord: I am pleased with the humility of these people. I forgive them and I will not let them be destroyed.

Jonah: Hey! I was like them, when I was at home, and I knew you were kind, merciful, forgiving, and not angry. That’s why I tried to leave and go to Tarshish. If you are going to forgive them that easily, I might as well just die.

Lord: Is it doing you well to be angry?

Jonah: I’m going to sit up in the mountains and watch this city fall again.

Narrator: Overnight a gourd grew and the leaves covered Jonah’s head and protected him from the sun. Jonah was grateful for the gourd. The next evening, the Lord sent a worm to destroy the gourd. Then there came a strong east wind and the sun beat down on Jonah all day, until he fainted.

Jonah: It is better for me to die than to live.

Lord: Do you still think it is worth it to be angry? Would you rather be angry at or be happy for the people of Nineveh? You are sad that the gourd died, but you didn’t do any work to create it or grow it. Nineveh is a great city, with thousands of people and animals that are mine, and I love them. Why should I not save them?

Discuss

What lessons do we learn from Jonah?

Click in the picture below to see how we did this lesson