This is an LDS "how to study your scriptures" guide geared toward big kids, teens, or anyone who wants a little support in learning how to go from reading the scriptures, to studying them. This season we're diving into The Doctrine and Covenants and learning simple tips and tricks for how to study the scriptures on a beginner level with advanced results. And trust me when I tell you that even though a child can do it, you'll want to use these tips and tricks for the rest of your life! There are so many resources for studying the gospel, but be sure that your study includes PRIMARILY scripture.
After a few weeks of rest following a surgery, host Cindy Young is back for another episode with her guest Vienna. They talk about the meaning of the word GOSPEL, and read what Jesus told the Nephites his gospel is. Then they spend some time pondering spiritual meanings of everyday phrases in the scriptures, and finding the lessons they teach. Stay tuned at the end for some fun bloopers!
Don't forget the parable of the snowball: listening to someone else talk about the gospel is like having snowballs thrown at you. Reading the scriptures is like making your own snowball. Taking the time to search, ponder, and pray about what you've read is like rolling the snowball around and around so that it grows and grows. So don't just listen to me - please go read for yourself so your knowledge and testimony can grow and grow!!
Come Follow Me Old Testament Beginners Guide to Scripture Study The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Book of Mormon Doctrine and Covenants CFM 2026 Teens, Youth, Kids, Family Primary LDS Latter Day Saint Young Women Young Men Temple Aaronic Priesthood Scripture Study Study Tips
Cindy:
Hi, friends! Welcome back to Primarily Scripture. It has been a minute since we have been together. Thank you so much for your patience. As you can see, I have a lovely neck device. If you're on podcast, I'll tell you, I have a neck brace on. I had surgery and some different things going on and now I have to wear this neck brace. These health issues are the reason that I did not get any episodes done for the past little bit, but I'm so excited to be able to continue now, and we've got our favorite guest, Vienna, here with us today. Hi, Vienna.
Vienna:
Hi.
Cindy:
How have you been?
Vienna:
I've been doing good.
Cindy:
Good. Have you been reading your scriptures?
Vienna:
Uh, yes.
Cindy:
Good, good. Okay, this week we've got the last chapters of 3rd Nephi, and then fourth Nephi as well. Do you remember what's going on in third Nephi? What is the big important thing that happens in third Nephi?
Vienna:
The important thing is Jesus comes to North America.
Cindy:
That's right. He came and visited the Nephites. Such a cool thing. Now, the study pages we have on the worksheets this week, one of them is in 3rd Nephi chapter 27 and one of them is in 4th Nephi chapter 1. Vienna, which one do you want to look at?
Vienna:
Let's do 3rd Nephi 27.
Cindy:
Okay. I love this one. Lots of good stuff here. Do you want to tell us what it's about?
Vienna:
Um, it's about, um, the gospel.
Cindy:
What is the gospel? What, what is that word?
Vienna:
Um, it, up here, it says the Bible Dictionary tells us that the word gospel means good news.
Cindy:
That's right. Good news is the translation of that word gospel. So what is the good news? I'll read verse 13 and then you can tell us what it means, okay?"Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you - that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my father sent me." What does that mean?
Vienna:
Uh, I have given you my gospel, and this is what my gospel is, that I came to the world, with the purpose of doing what the father wanted me to do. He sent me.
Cindy:
Okay, so the gospel is what? What does he say? This is my gospel, that
Vienna:
That I came to the world.
Cindy:
That's right! Jesus came! That is the good news! Jesus came! And there's a lot more to it, right? But if you boil it down to the most basic thing, what is the good news of the gospel?
Vienna:
Jesus came.
Cindy:
He came! Yes, he came! So good! Okay, let's mark that. I love marking things about Jesus. in yellow. I know that when I see a bright yellow marking, it's going to be something about Jesus Christ. If you have a hard time understanding the whole verse all together, then highlight just a word or just a phrase. But if you love all of it and you know exactly what it means, then highlight all of it. It's however you want to do If you're reading from your mom or dad's scriptures, be sure you ask them before you start coloring in them.
Vienna:
Definitely do that.
Cindy:
For sure, for sure. Okay, so then the next couple of verses, Jesus gives us even more about what his gospel is. But let's look at the Find Doctrine activity that is on this worksheet. You already read part of that, that the Bible Dictionary tells us gospel means good news. So we're going to find the doctrine, the actual truth, the teachings, of what his gospel is. So the first space is Why did Jesus come? And we learned that in verse 13. Why did he come?
Vienna:
Is that the Father wanted him to?
Cindy:
That's exactly it. Because my Father sent me. Okay, I'm going to write that right here. Why did Jesus come? To obey Heavenly Father, or because Heavenly Father wanted him to. Now if the line is too small for you to write on because it's just this tiny little line, you can write it somewhere else, get out a journal and write in your study journal, write it on the journal lines at the bottom of the worksheet page, or, you could just draw a line. So like if I take my purple and I highlight because my father sent me on the worksheet and then I draw a nice little purple line over to that question. Does that make sense? There's a question and I just draw a line- here's the answer: because my Father sent me. What's our next one? Verse 14. What doctrine will we find there?
Vienna:
Um, Jesus [blank] so he could [ blank].
Cindy:
Jesus [did something] so that he could [do something]. So I'll read the verse and then you tell us what it means. And we are looking for what he did and why, so that he could what?"And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me..." and we'll pause right there. What does that mean?
Vienna:
The Father's plan was that I would perform the atonement and die on the cross. After I was resurrected, I would be able to help all people as they turn to me.
Cindy:
Exactly. So Jesus did what?
Vienna:
Died.
Cindy:
Mm hmm. He was lifted up on the cross, or we can write in, died. So he could, what?
Vienna:
Save us? I mean, that's what we learned in Primary.
Cindy:
Yeah, exactly. So he could save us. The words of this verse is "that I might draw all men unto me." Then we're able to repent and be saved. if you want to write save us, that's great. And otherwise we can highlight, maybe I'll do green this time, draw all men unto me. Okay, so, so far the doctrine we found is Jesus came, because Heavenly Father sent him, and then he died so he could save us. Okay, this all sounds like really good news.
Vienna:
Really good news.
Cindy:
It's the best! There are a couple more things here that are of his doctrine, but I want to move on and look at one of the other activities. Okay, so our friends can go and finish this Find Doctrine activity, and if you're not sure about doctrine when you're doing any of these activities, please go ask your parents or teachers or bishop. Find somebody who knows the scriptures and ask them to help you. They can help you find the doctrine, but it's all there. It's here in the scriptures. Okay, so do you want to move on and do the Spiritual Meanings or do you want to do Your Own To-Do List?
Vienna:
Do Ponder Spiritual Meanings.
Cindy:
Will you read that paragraph under Ponder Spiritual Meanings? What does this activity ask us to do?
Vienna:
The scriptures are full of phrases that use everyday ideas to symbolize spiritual things. For example, when verse 19 says,"no unclean thing can enter," it doesn't mean that you can't have any dirt on your clothes. Ponder these other phrases and try to find a lesson in them.
Cindy:
Very good. Let's actually read all of verse 19, and then it'll help us ponder these other phrases.
Vienna:
"And no unclean thing can enter into this kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and their repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end."
Cindy:
Very good. Okay, so no unclean thing can enter. That's not talking about mud. What is it talking about?
Vienna:
Unclean means, like, sin.
Cindy:
So,
Vienna:
then
Cindy:
How do we become clean. We're gonna need to
Vienna:
Be baptized?
Cindy:
Yes, we can be baptized. And then after that, we'll never send again for the rest of our lives, right?
Vienna:
No.
Cindy:
Oh, I wish that's what it was!
Vienna:
It would be so easy!
Cindy:
Wouldn't that be great? We just baptized, done. There are some churches that teach that, that baptism is the only thing that you need. We know that that's not true. And one of the reasons we know that's not true is because of these verses. So we said baptism. Yes, that's important. And then this tells us some other things we can do- that we keep repenting, right?
Vienna:
Always until forever.
Cindy:
That's right. Okay. What's the next phrase for us to ponder?
Vienna:
Next phrase is"washed in my blood." This phrase has always confused me, because in other verses it says washed white in my blood, and with me I've just not been able to connect white color with blood?
Cindy:
So we have to take that literal meaning out. Just throw it away. It's gone. Okay? Now let's think about the spiritual meaning. If ever you come across a phrase that you're like, this doesn't make sense. Then it might be because it is a symbol. There's symbolism here. And so don't think of it too literally. Maybe, here, let's ask this question. When did Jesus bleed?
Vienna:
Um, in Gethsemane.
Cindy:
Yeah, and why did he bleed?
Vienna:
Because he felt every, all of the bad things.
Cindy:
That's right. Jesus bled from every pore on his entire body. He bled and suffered for us. We have the good news that he did that for us. Blood symbolizes what he did. It was part of his sacrifice, so we can be clean again. So cool. So let's look at the questions that are here to help us ponder. Do things get washed without effort?
Vienna:
So I have to put all of my dirty clothes in my hamper and then carry my hamper downstairs and put it next to the washing machine.
Cindy:
And then the washing machine will do washing for you, but not everybody has a washing machine and washing machines didn't always exist. So what would they do to their clothes to wash them 500 years ago?
Vienna:
They probably have to walk a bit to get to like a river. They would need to take it and they need to put it in water and then rub it on a rock.
Cindy:
Right. They had to use their body and their effort to wash their garments. Garments is another word for clothes, right? So they had to put forth all this effort, and wring it out, and then go hang it up, and wait for it to dry. There're all these steps. So things don't get washed without effort. What is the spiritual lesson there?
Vienna:
Is that you need to put in the effort?
Cindy:
Yes!
Vienna:
There's no easy way.
Cindy:
That's right. If we just sit around and think, well, one of these days I'm going to be forgiven, that's not going to work. Okay. What's the next question?
Vienna:
Is one washing enough?
Cindy:
Hmm. Do you have anything that you've only washed once?
Vienna:
No.
Cindy:
No!
Vienna:
Maybe stuff that I haven't worn a lot.
Cindy:
Yeah.
Vienna:
But I mean, like.
Cindy:
But chances are you'll wear it again, and then wash it again, and then wear it again, and then wash it again, and then wear it again! And wash it again! So what does that teach us? What is the spiritual lesson there?
Vienna:
Is that you always need to keep doing it.
Cindy:
Yeah.
Vienna:
Like you can't just take sacrament once, and then you just pass it every other time. You need to keep on doing it.
Cindy:
Yes. Okay, and then the last question here is, what would you do with a stain if it was really hard to get rid of?
Vienna:
Use extra powerful soap and scrub really hard.
Cindy:
Yeah. So are there sins that need a little bit of extra repentance?
Vienna:
Yeah.
Cindy:
Yeah. The Lord has told us that there are some sins that we need to talk to the bishop about, that we really need to go that extra mile in our repentance process and get a little extra help. And it seems like, maybe you wouldn't like to go tell your bishop that you messed up. But, every bishop that I've ever talked to, they're just there to help you feel the Savior's love, and help get you turned around and wash your garments in the blood of Jesus. And it's just a wonderful experience. So, don't be afraid of that. Okay, so "washed in my blood" - do we understand that a little bit better?
Vienna:
Yes.
Cindy:
All right. The last thing for us to ponder is the best one. And we're going to close with this. In the verse, in verse 19, it says, "Nothing enters into his rest, save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood." His rest. Does that mean that when we get to heaven, we're gonna take a nap?
Vienna:
We could.
Cindy:
Maybe. Maybe. But is that what it means?
Vienna:
No.
Cindy:
What are some things you've had to rest from?
Vienna:
One time I kept on doing this one thing and I need to think about it really hard and then I finally finished. I was like, I don't want to do anything productive for the next, like, five minutes.
Cindy:
Yes, you just need to rest. Just rest. When we're here on Earth, sometimes it'll feel like that, because everything gets crazy. Because you have to do your chores, and you have to do your homework, and you have to do the things that you have to do. Right? And sometimes you just go, Oh, I need a rest! Now this is saying nothing can enter into his rest in his kingdom, like the celestial kingdom. But in the short term, we can find rest, that peace in our hearts, in tiny little moments here and there. I know that as I've gone through my health stuff, I've had times where I am just so tired of it. Just so tired of being hurt and having to go through it. But then I find rest by opening my scriptures and by saying my prayers and going to church and partaking of the sacrament. And those things are a tiny glimpse of heaven for me. It's actually heaven on earth because I'm inviting Jesus into my life. And it is the best thing ever. The best thing. So, to all of our friends, I hope you will find rest in the Lord as you turn to the scriptures and say your prayers and do all those things you're supposed to do. There are a couple more activities, more chapters, There's a whole section on unity, um, from fourth Nephi chapter one, all about how the Lamanites live together in love, and it was the perfect society! Oh, that is a really great chapter! Go read that and do those activities. There are a lot of ways to study, a lot of different resources for you, but be sure that as you study, you're studying primarily, which means mostly, most importantly, scripture. Go read those scriptures, and I'll see you next time. Bye, Vienna! Bye, friends!
Vienna:
Bye! 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!
Cindy:
journal lines at the bottom of the page.
Vienna:
I dropped it!
Cindy:
Hahaha! Awesome. Okay, I'll say it again. Ready? So let's read verse 14 and see what's there. Do you want to read it or should I?
Vienna:
I dropped my pencil!
Cindy:
Again!
Vienna:
Again! You say prayers, you read scriptures.
Cindy:
Right. Do all those things. Are you okay? What did you do? Did you just throw your pencil again? This is, what, the third time that your pencil has been gone? That pencil does not want to stay in your hand! Ha ha ha ha What am I saying? we're going to edit this part totally out, and no one will know that we said the wrong thing.
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