FHE: 14 Fundamentals A Prophet Hunt

(Conference Center Image from LDS.org)

Did you notice the following from conference that quoted this talk (Ezra Taft Benson, “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet,” Tambuli, Jun 1981, 1)??

"I will ...invite you in your next family home evening to find these principles in the words and teachings of our living prophets, seers, and revelators during this general conference."
"Obedience to the Prophets" Elder Claudio R. M. Costa from General Conference Oct. 2010

"Our Very Survival" Elder Kevin R. Duncan also quoted ALL 14 fundamentals.

Maybe it's important, maybe it was just a coinky dink (not), maybe we should think about what we're going to teach this Monday!!

For us, we shall do the following:

Family Home Evening: 14 Fundamentals - A Prophet Hunt

Prayer

Song:

Follow the Prophet (CS 110-111)

Attention Activity:

We are going to have daddy do prophet push ups! Sit on daddy's back and for each prophet's name you say, he'll do a push up!

Question:

Are prophets important? Why?

Scripture:

 Luke 1:70 "As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began"

Activity:

Hide 14 different pictures of prophets around the house. Along with each picture have one of the fundamentals from President Benson's talk. Find each picture. Who is each picture of? Answer questions, sing songs or read scriptures at each picture and earn prophet points! If you get enough points as a family you get double treats for the night!!!

First: The prophet is the only man who speaks for the Lord in everything.

Can Daddy speak for the Lord in everything? What about Mommy? What about you?

Second: The living prophet is more vital to us than the standard works.

Share the following story (in your own words for younger children) :“When he concluded, Brother Joseph turned to Brother Brigham Young and said, ‘Brother Brigham I want you to go to the podium and tell us your views with regard to the living oracles and the written word of God.’ Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and laid it down before him, and he said: ‘There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day. And now,’ said he, ‘when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books.’ That was the course he pursued. When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation; ‘Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth.’ ” (Conference Report, October 1897, pp. 18–19.)

Third: The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet.

"God’s revelation to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the Ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore the most important prophet so far as you and I are concerned is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us. Therefore the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the prophet contained each month in our Church Magazines. Our instructions about what we should do for each six months are found in the General Conference addresses which are printed in the Church magazine." Sing Latter Day Prophets (CS 134)

Fourth: The prophet will never lead the Church astray.

Name some bad choices people make in life. Will the prophet ever ask us to make bad choices? NO!

Fifth: The prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time.

Read Amos 7:14 and Matthew 4:18-19

What were the jobs of these prophets?

Sixth: The prophet does not have to say ‘Thus saith the Lord’ to give us scripture.

Play a quick game of the prophet says (Like simon says) What the prophet says, we listen and do!

Seventh: The prophet tells us what we need to know, not always what we want to know.

Sing: Nephi's Courage  verse 2 (CS 120) Nephi's brothers didn't want to build a ship, but they needed to help!

Eighth: The prophet is not limited by men’s reasoning.

If you cut yourself, what should you do? Get a band aid! But sometimes, what we think isn't what the Lord thinks. Share the following from President Benson's talk: "Would it seem reasonable to an eye doctor to be told to heal a blind man by spitting in the dirt, making clay and applying it to the man’s eyes and then telling him to wash in a contaminated pool? Yet this is precisely the course that Jesus took with one man, and he was healed. (See John 9:6–7.) Does it seem reasonable to cure leprosy by telling a man to wash seven times in a particular river, yet this is precisely what the prophet Elisha told a leper to do, and he was healed. (See 2 Kgs. 5.)"

Ninth: The prophet can receive revelation on any matter, temporal or spiritual.

Sing The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden (CS 237)

Tenth: The prophet may be involved in civic matters.

Who is the president of the church? Who is the president of the country? Do they both love our country? Name 3 things you love about our country.

Eleventh: The two groups who have the greatest difficulty in following the prophet are the proud who are learned and the proud who are rich.

Hold up a needle. Read Matt. 19: 24 "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Try to fit your hand through the eye of a needle. What is more important, money or following the prophet?

Twelfth: The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly.

Moroni prophesied that Joseph Smith’s name “should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” (Joseph Smith—History 1:33) Where do we find statues of the angel Moroni?

Thirteenth: The prophet and his counselors make up the First Presidency—the highest quorum in the Church.

Who are the members of the First Presidency of the church today? Where is their picture in our home?

Fourteenth: [Follow] . . . the living prophet and the First Presidency . . . and be blessed; reject them and suffer.”

Pinch your arm. Does that hurt? If we don't following the living prophet it's like our soul is being pinched really hard... it suffers and is pained because we aren't being close to Christ.

"May God bless us all to look to the Prophet and the Presidency in the critical and crucial days ahead is my prayer." says President Benson

Bear Testimonies

Prayer

Treat:

(Doubled of course because you all worked so well together as a family!!)

If you have any other ideas on how to present a Family Home Evening on this talk, please share!!