Feast upon the Words of Christ
2 NEPHI 32-33
SAMPLE
GORGE
TASTE
NIBBLE
FEAST
SAMPLE, GORGE, TASTE, NIBBLE, SNACK, & FEAST
Which of these words associate with:
Thanksgiving
Christmas Dinner
When you have the flu
Fast Sunday
Day after your breakup
Scripture study
2 NEPHI 32
Read 2 Nephi 32:1-3
Do you think feasting on scripture refers to: (1) the amount of
scripture you read, (2) the types or passages of scripture you
read, (3) the speed at which you read, or (4) the frequency of
your scripture study? Why?
• Share a time when feasting on the words of Christ helped you
know what to do in your life
• What little things do you do to make study meaningful?
Russell Nelson, “Living by
Scriptural
Guidance,” October 2000
“To feast means more than to taste. To feast
means to savor. We savor the scriptures by
studying them in a spirit of delightful
discovery and faithful obedience. When we
feast upon the words of Christ, they are
embedded ‘in fleshy tables of the heart.’
[2 Corinthians 3:3.] They become an integral
part of our nature.”
“If you and I are to feast upon the words of
Christ, we must study the scriptures and
absorb His words through pondering them
and making them a part of every thought and
action.”
Robert Hales, “Healing
Soul and
Body,” October 1998
Are you feasting?
• Personal scripture study: _____________________
• Sacrament meeting: _________________________
• General conference: _________________________
• Family scripture study: _______________________
• Seminary: _________________________________
• Family home evening: ________________________
• Priesthood meeting or Young Women class: _______
• Sunday School: ______________________________
• Personal prayer: ____________________________
2 Nephi 32
Prayer must accompany scripture study: 2 Ne 32:8-9
2 Nephi 32
Elder David A. Bednar: “In morning prayer, after expressing
appropriate thanks for blessings received, we plead for
understanding, direction, and help to do the things we cannot
do in our own strength alone. …
“During the course of the day, we keep a prayer in our heart
for continued assistance and guidance. …
“We will notice during the day that there are occasions where
normally we would have a tendency to speak harshly, and we
do not; or we might be inclined to anger, but we are not…
2 Nephi 32
“At the end of our day, we kneel again and report back to our
Father. We review the events of the day. We repent and, with
the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord, identify ways we can
do and become better. Thus our evening prayer builds upon
and is a continuation of our morning prayer.
“Morning and evening prayers—and all of the prayers in
between—are not unrelated, discrete events; rather, they are
linked together each day and across days, weeks, months,
and even years. This is in part how we fulfill the scriptural
admonition to ‘pray always’ (“Pray Always,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov.
2008, 41–42).
Invitation
“Pray always” for 24 hours.
2 Nephi 32:1-3
Elder Holland, The Ministry of Angels, October 2008
ELDER HOLLAND
“May I suggest to you that one of the things
we need to teach our [children], and one of the
things which will become more important in their
lives the longer they live, is the reality of angels,
their work, and their ministry.
“Obviously I speak here not alone of the angel
Moroni, but also of those more personal
ministering angels who are with us and around
us, empowered to help us, and who do exactly
that.
ELDER HOLLAND
“Perhaps more of us… could literally, or at
least figuratively, behold the angels around us if
we would but awaken from our stupor and hear
the voice of the Spirit as those angels try to
speak….
“I believe we need to speak of and believe in
and bear testimony to the ministry of angels
more than we sometimes do. They constitute one
of God's great methods of witnessing through the
veil…” CES Symposium on the Book of Mormon • 9 August 1994
“I will go before your face. I
will be on your right hand
and on your left, and my
Spirit shall be in your hearts,
and mine angels round about
you, to bear you up” (D&C
84:88).
ALMA 32
And now, behold, I say
unto you, and I would that
ye should remember, that
God is merciful unto all
who believe on his name;
therefore he desireth, in the
first place, that ye should
believe, yea, even on his
word.
And now, he imparteth
his word by angels unto
men, yea, not only men but
women also.
www.lds.org: Angels
The word angel is used in various
ways. A person who is a divine
messenger is called an angel (Moroni,
John the Baptist, Peter, James, John,
Moses, Elijah, and Elias all ministered to
Joseph Smith as angels).
The scriptures also speak of another
class of persons who, because of failure
to obey the gospel, will not be exalted
and will become angels in eternity.
Angels also has reference to the
heavenly messengers sent forth to
minister to the inhabitants of the earth.
ELDER ENZIO BUSCHE
At a Christmas social once, I was
sitting next to a woman from a recently
opened country in Eastern Europe. She
was in the west for the first time and was
helping with the translation work. She was
a convert of a little over a year.
She told me about her branch and
the poor circumstances they were all living
in and how difficult it was for the members
to get to their Sunday meetings… These
new members could not say enough about
the love and the gracious care of the Lord.
Then she said, “Once in awhile, we
have holy angels visit and comfort and
strengthen us.” She added with a smile,
“Can you imagine? I have found people in
Salt Lake City who have never see an
angel.” She laughed as if that were the
strangest thing she had ever heard.
Yearning for the Living God, p. 234
“When They speak to
you—and They will—it will
not be in the wind, nor
in the earthquake, nor in
the fire, but it will be
with a voice still and
small, a voice tender
and kind. It will be with
the tongue of angels.”
(Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)
“When messengers are sent to
minister to the inhabitants of this earth,
they are not strangers, but from the
ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellowbeings and fellow-servants...
“Our fathers and mothers, brothers,
sisters and friends who have passed
away from this earth, having been
faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights
and privileges, may have a mission given
them to visit their relatives and friends
upon the earth again, from the divine
Presence messages of love, of warning,
or reproof and instruction, to those whom
they had learned to love in the flesh.”
(Gospel Principles, p. 435)
JOSEPH F. SMITH
“Enveloped in flaming fire,
they [in the spirit world] are not far
from us, and know and
understand our thoughts, feelings,
and emotions, and are often
pained therewith.” History of the Church,
6:52
JOSEPH SMITH
What questions do you have about
the role of Angels?
Who is the angel that most
commonly speaks to us?
“Through the Aaronic Priesthood ordinances of
baptism and the sacrament, we are cleansed
of our sins and promised that if we keep our
covenants we will always have His Spirit to be
with us. I believe that promise not only refers
to the Holy Ghost but also to the ministering
of angels, for "angels speak by the power of
the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the
words of Christ" (2 Ne. 32:3). So it is that
those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood open
the door for all Church members who worthily
partake of the sacrament to enjoy the
companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and
the ministering of angels.”
(Elder Oaks, "The Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament," Ensign,
Nov. 1998, p. 39)
2 Nephi 33:1
“The Holy Ghost
carrieth it unto the
heart…”
2 Nephi 33:1
“When a man speaketh
by the power of the
Holy Ghost…”
2 Nephi 33:1
Elder David A. Bednar: “Please notice
how the power of the Spirit carries the
message unto but not
necessarily into the heart. A teacher can
explain, demonstrate, persuade, and
testify, and do so with great spiritual
power and effectiveness. Ultimately,
however, the content of a message and
the witness of the Holy Ghost penetrate
into the heart only if a receiver allows
them to enter. Learning by faith opens
the pathway into the heart” (“Seek Learning by
Faith,” Ensign, Sept. 2007, 61).
2 Nephi 33:1
Elder Gerald N. Lund: “Why
just unto the heart? Individual agency
is so sacred that Heavenly Father will
never force the human heart, even
with all His infinite power. Man may try
to do so, but God does not. To put it
another way, God allows us to be the
guardians, or the gatekeepers, of our
own hearts. We must, of our own free
will, open our hearts to the Spirit, for
He will not force Himself upon us”
(“Opening Our Hearts,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2008, 33).
2 Nephi 33:1-2
“Work hard to gain your own salvation”
Buddah
Famous Last Words
“I love you more”
Michael Jackson
“Oh Lord, my God”
Joseph Smith
“I’m shot”
John Lennon
“I hope I haven’t bored you”
Elvis Presley
“Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here”
Nostrodamus
“I am a dead man”
Hyrum Smith
“I must obey”
Nephi
(2 Nephi 33:15)
THE OBJECTIVE OF SEMINARY IS TO HELP
YOUTH UNDERSTAND AND RELY ON THE
ATONEMENT OF JESUS
CHRIST.
TEACHINGS AND
What principles from today’s
scriptures point you the
teachings of Christ?
What part of the lesson can
help you rely on the
Atonement?
Feast upon the Words of Christ
2 NEPHI 32-33