Week 14: The Restoration of the Gospel

Song: On a Golden Springtime (CS. 88)

Thought: The Great Apostasy was a time of spiritual darkness, but we now live in a time when we can partake of “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4; see also D&C 45:28). The fulness of the gospel has been restored, and the true Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth again. No other organization can compare to it. It is not the result of a reformation, with well-meaning men and women doing all in their power to bring about change. It is a restoration of the Church established by Jesus Christ. It is the work of Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son. (True to the Faith)

Object Lesson: Show your family some old pennies that are tarnished and no longer shiny and new as they once were. Discuss with your family why the pennies are not the same as they were and what they have lost. Then compare those old pennies to the gospel. How when Christ was on the earth the gospel he taught was pure and correct. Over time it got changed by the world and lost the proper authority (or shine). Then place the pennies in lemon juice or vinegar and let your family take a small brush and scrub the pennies to see if they can become clean again. Compare this to a restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. Discuss how the proper authority and true gospel principles have been restored through him. (Idea adapted from here.)

Video: What the Restoration Means to Me

Lesson Activity:
Discuss with your younger family members what a testimony is and what we say when we are bearing our testimonies. Prepare something beforehand that could represent a podium with a microphone and encourage them to be prepared to practice bearing their testimonies of the restoration of the gospel.

As a family read together the first six paragraphs of Dallin H. Oaks’s article “The Only True and Living Church.” Ask your family how we can testify of the only true Church in a way that avoids offending others. Divide the remaining sections of the talk among them, and ask them to read their sections and look for what Elder Oaks does to powerfully testify of the restored gospel while being respectful to the beliefs of others. Invite your family to take turns bearing their testimonies to each other about the restoration of the gospel.

This Week's Challenge: Encourage your family members to find ways to bear their testimonies of the restored gospel with their friends and associates this week. As an added challenge encourage them to be prepared to bear their testimonies in your next fast and testimony sacrament meeting.