How to Follow the Prophet | Alma 13-16 | June 24-30 | Week 26

Cindy: Welcome back to Primarily Scripture. I'm Cindy Young, and today I have Reagan here with me. He is 10 years old, loves basketball, and I'm so glad you are here, Reagan. How are you?  

Reagan: I'm great. How are you? 

C: I'm doing so good. Thank you for being here. 

R: Mm-hmm! 

C: So tell me, how often do you read your scriptures? 

R: Um, I read, um, a lot.

C: Awesome. Do you have a favorite story?  

R: Um, I kind of like the Noah one where he built the ark.  

C: That's a really good one. Sweet.  Remember that as you search the scriptures, when you study the scriptures, we do three things. Do you remember those three things, Reagan?  

  R: 📍 Search,  📍 ponder, and then 📍 pray.  

C: Awesome, exactly. So, how do you search when you read the scriptures?  

R: Um, I look for certain things that can like, help me throughout what I usually do.  

C: Look for how it applies to yourself? That's one of the best things to do. And then the other thing that you can do is, as you're reading, you can look for connections within the story.    

C:  Okay, so for our viewers out there, you should know by now that I've got free worksheets available on the website. Go and get those if you want, and it can give you study ideas to, uh, study the scriptures. We go along with Come Follow Me, and this week we are in Alma, and we're gonna go to Alma chapter 16.  And if our friends turn on the worksheet to the third page, it says, How to Follow the Prophet, is the name of this study activity. Some of the Nephites were kidnapped. And so the head of the army asks the prophet what to do.  So Reagan and I are going to read verses five, six, seven, and eight. And as we read, we're going to be looking for the 📍 instructions that Alma gave to the armies, what the Lord said to do, then we will📍 mark it.  

Chapter 16, verse 5.  "Therefore, he that had been appointed chief captain over the armies of the Nephites, (and his name was Zoram, and he had two sons, Lehi and Aha) - now Zoram and his two sons, knowing that Alma was high priest over the church, and having heard that he had the spirit of prophecy, therefore they went unto him and desired to know whither the Lord would that they should go in the wilderness in search of their brethren, who had been taken captive by the Lamanites."

That's just telling us that they went to talk to Alma and get the Lord's advice. So now as you read verse six, Let's find the things that the Lord says to do. 

R:  "And it came to pass that Alma inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And Alma returned and said unto them: behold the Lamanites will cross the river Sidon in the south wilderness, away up beyond the borders of the land of  Manti. And behold, there shall ye meet them, on the east of the river Sidon,  and there the Lord will deliver unto thee thy brethren who have been taken captive by the Lamanites."  

C: Awesome. So let's get out our colored pencils and let's mark in this verse all the things that Alma said the Lord would have them do.  And I like my scriptures to be colorful, so I'm going to change colors every time we see a different direction. So, what's the first one that we saw in there?  

R: Um,   the east side of the river Sidon. 

C: Yes, let's mark that right there. East of the river. Awesome. And where else? What else did he tell him?  

R: Um,  by  Manti 

C: Yes, by Manti. Perfect. 

R: In the south wilderness.  

C: There's another one. I got  another color. South wilderness.  I like doing different colors because then it will help me to track them.  All right.  South Wilderness. Manti. East of the river.  Is that it? 

R: Beyond the borders of the land. 

C: Nice. That's a good one.  Beyond borders.  That's pretty specific where they should go. And then I love the part at the end where it says,   "there the Lord will deliver unto thee thy brethren."  That is a cool promise from the prophet that it's okay. you will get your brothers back.  And I like to 📍 highlight promises from the Lord when I'm reading.  All right. How about if we keep going and we'll look in verse 7 and see how well Zoram did in following these instructions.  

R: Okay. 

C: "And it came to pass that Zoram and his sons crossed over the river Sidon," hold on, didn't it say over the river Sidon?

R: Mm-hmm 

C: I think we missed that one. We marked that it was by the river.  But he also told him to cross the river. So I'm going to mark that. And I'm using the same color in both verses. The instruction and where he followed, I'm using the same color to mark.  Okay, they crossed over the river Sidon.  If I read another phrase that we had already highlighted, will you stop me so that we can highlight it again?   Alright, so they "crossed over the river Sidon, with their armies, and marched away beyond the borders of Manti," 

R: Stop! 

C: Hmmm, that's one of the instructions, wasn't it? Beyond the borders. I'm gonna find, I highlighted that one in red. 

R: And Manti.  

C: Oh, and then Manti was another one good. "Into the south wilderness." Didn't we 

R: Stop 

C: do that one too? Yep, South Wilderness. Let's  mark that. Okay, from the "south wilderness, which was on the east side of the river Sidon." 

R: Stop

C: on the east side. Good job.  Okay, so now let's compare.  How many of the instructions that Alma gave to Zoram did Zoram follow? 

R: All of them.  

C: Absolutely all of them! That is so cool! Okay, will you read verse 8, and let's see what happened after Zoram followed the instructions. 

R: "And they came upon the armies of the Lamanites, and the Lamanites were scattered and driven into the wilderness;  and they took their brethren who had been taken captive by the Lamanites, and there was   not one soul of them had been lost that were taken captive. And they were brought by their brethren to possess their own lands."
So, um. They got the brothers back, and they found the Lamanites where the instructions were,  and they made all the Lamanites scattered in the forest. So they got them back. 

C: That is so awesome. Okay, so remember I highlighted the promise, that they would be able to save their brethren, I am now going to take that same color and highlight where that 📍 promise was fulfilled.  Let's see, what does it say? "Not one soul of them had been lost," not even one of them.  Awesome. Okay, so now I'm going to go back to the  worksheet and we've got 📍 ponder questions, okay? What does it mean to ponder? 

R: Think?  

C: Yeah, that's 

R: I don't know 

C: exactly what it is. It means thinking about things. So why would pondering make a difference when you read the scriptures?  

R: Um, thinking, it's not just reading the scriptures, it's thinking about, like, what the words mean.  

C: That's right. But why do we need to know? 

R: It's important because it helps your life today.  Like, pray to God and know the right answers. 

C: Yeah, so as we read, and as we feel the Spirit, we'll want to choose the right more, right? Things like reading our scriptures and saying our prayers.

R: But then also, if we're pondering what we read, there will be very specific lessons that we can learn. 

C: So, what can we learn about following the prophet from this story?  

R: Um, We can learn that I think it's better for us to just listen  than like try and do different things. 

C: Yeah. 

R: If God gives a promise, then he's going to fulfill it to you.  

C: Oh, I love that lesson! That is fantastic! So good. I'm gonna write that down so I can remember it.  There's a little spot on the worksheet where you can write down thoughts.  If you have a journal, you can write it in there too.  If God promises... 

R: He will keep it.  

C: He always keeps his promises.  

R: But you always have to do what he asks you to, otherwise he's not gonna, like, keep it. 

 C: If Zoram had not followed the instructions from Alma so precisely, do you think he would have been able to save his brothers?  

R: No, because he didn't listen to all the instructions. 

C: Right?  Following with exactness  gives you blessings. 

C:  Do you know where to find the words of the prophet today? Do you have any idea what President Nelson has asked us to do?  

R: Um, not really.  

C: It's kind of hard to keep up, isn't it? 

R: Yeah.  

C: It is important to find the words of the prophet and know them so that we can follow. Here's one thing that you probably remember.  Think celestial. Have you heard that?  

R: Mm-hmm 

C: That's one of his more recent things that he wants us to do is to think celestial. What does that mean to you?  

R: Do more what God wants than what you want.  

C: And so do you try to do that?  

R: Yes, always.  

C: So you are trying to follow and so you will get the blessings that have been promised.  That's so cool. There are so many lessons in the scriptures, so many. And when you read, if you are searching and pondering and praying, you can find lessons in every single verse, every single one of them. So put in the work and then you can have that blessing. 

You guys, thank you so much for being here with me. Reagan, this has been fantastic. Maybe we can do it again sometime.  

R: Yeah. 

C: Okay. Awesome. You guys go read your scriptures. All right?  Bye.  

R: Bye.

 C: 📍  Thanks for tuning in to Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website PrimarilyScripture. com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time!