POST-AND-PRESENT ACTIVITY. FEAST UPON THE WORDS OF CHRIST feast and 30-day reading bookmark. 2 Nephi 32:3 “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” As youth put the puzzle together they will want to learn/eat more to FEAST upon the scriptures. DOWNLOAD the matching FEAST scripture poster/card set (HERE or below).
For: Children and Youth, Personal Development, Church & Home, Family Night
POST-AND-PRESENT
ACTIVITY: FEAST upon the Words of Christ
FEAST and 30-day reading challenge bookmark
OBJECTIVE: Help youth know the difference between nibbling and feasting upon the scriptures (comparing them with nibbling and eating real food). Read, 2 Nephi 32:3 “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” (see where you can obtain SCRIPTURE POSTER and CARDS on this below-page 3).
TO MAKE VISUALS:
Print, color, and cut out FEAST food puzzle pieces and a Feast upon the Words of Christ bookmark for each youth.
ACTIVITY:
- Tell the youth, “When you are not hungry for something to eat you choose not to eat. Or, you just taste it. Later when you are hungry you seek food and eat and if you are really hungry you eat all of it and are nourished by it. It is like that with the scriptures.”
Talk about how we learn about a gospel principle or a scripture story in getting a nibble. Then if we are hungry for more we go home and search the scriptures and “feast” upon the words. Sometimes we memorize the “words” and desire to learn more.
We are told that if we FEAST upon the words of Christ, they will tell us all things we should do (2 Nephi 32:3 – see the scripture in the Objective above). So let’s not just nibble at the scriptures—let’s feast upon them!
2. Take a Bite Out of the Scriptures Feast. Choose two of the youth to partake of a small piece of food and read the first part of a scripture/story. Then ask youth, “Do you want to learn more?”
3. Then with a “yes,” you can have the second player find the rest of the food and read the remaining part of the scripture or story found in the scriptures.
After reading each complete story, talk about what they would be missing if they did not read on (e.g. they would never know ______ happened). Say, “It’s so important that we FEAST upon the words of Christ found in the scriptures and not just nibble.”
To go one step more we could SEARCH, PONDER, AND PRAY about what we read (to know that they are true).
DOWNLOAD “Search, Ponder, and Pray” song visuals (HERE or below) to teach this song.
30-DAY READING BOOKMARK ACTIVITY:
- Give youth the FEAST UPON THE WORDS OF CHRIST (2 Nephi 32:3) bookmark to mark as they read the scriptures for 30 days.
- Talk about challenges on the bookmark.
- Tell youth that by reading the scriptures we are to do four things:
– Search diligently—Mosiah 1:7
– Feast—2 Nephi 32:3; 2 Nephi 31:20
– Treasure up—D&C 84:85
– Hold Fast to Its Teachings—1 Nephi 15:24
THOUGHT TREAT: A Nibble or a FEAST. Have a large feast of yummy food under a tablecloth where youth can’t see. Then have a plate of cookies in sight, very small cookies or brownies, bite-size. Tell them they can choose to have one bite of the bite-size cookies on the plate or the banquet of food under the cloth. Compare this to reading the scriptures only one verse compared to reading a whole chapter. At first, the ones who choose the banquet can eat it while the ones who choose the cookie-or-brownie bite can only have what they choose. Then let them join in.
Then while eating the food, talk about taking a bite out of the scriptures one bite at a time, one verse at a time, but reading more and more each day until they have a banquet or rich knowledge that comes from FEASTING (even though it only starts with one bite).
Read Matthew 22:29 what Jesus said about reading the scriptures: “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”
MORE LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
NOT INCLUDED IN THIS PDF:
You could DOWNLOAD this scripture poster/card set (below). 2 Nephi 32:3 “Feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
To Present, give youth the black and white card and after they memorize it, take a video of them saying it together, creating a memory of this experience. You could take the video while they are feasting and reading the scriptures. Then reward them with the colored version of the card, or copy the black and white card on cardstock paper that they can take home, color, and treasure.
QUOTE TO PONDER:
Family Scripture Study
“Just as the best meals are home cooked,” Elder Ballard says, “the most nourishing gospel instruction takes place at home” (Ensign, May 1996, 81).
A sister in Sandy, Utah, tells of a time her son, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter stayed in her home. “Every evening before their little girl’s bedtime,” she recalls, “all three would disappear into their bedroom. One evening during their absence, they received a phone call. I went to their room and quietly opened the door. There on the bed were the three of them, each with a Book of Mormon. Mom and Dad would take turns reading and then talking to their two-year-old about what they had just read. The warm, sweet spirit that filled the room is difficult to put into words. By their example as parents, they were teaching their little daughter to feast on the words of Christ. I quietly closed the door and thanked my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have a peek at a bit of heaven on earth.” – READ MORE – Source: “Feasting upon the Words of Christ” April 2000 . . . there’s more ⇓
Feasting Daily
Our relationship with Deity is something we need to work on constantly. President Spencer W. Kimball once observed: “I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 135).
If we desire to know the Father and His Son, we must feast daily upon the words of Christ. As we do so, we can testify, with those who have gone before us, that we “have heard [His] voice, and know [His] words” (D&C 18:36).
