Preach My Gospel, Lesson 2, Heading 4 “Our Life on Earth”

Our Life on Earth

Preparation: Draw your own stick figure with two canyons to represent a person here on earth trying to
get back to Heavenly Father (see below).Or if you are desperate, use my poor copies of my sweet husband’s
illustration. ☺ Have Gospel Art Kit pictures ready (#600, 240). Be sure to save your incredible artwork for
the next lesson, about the Atonement.

Opening Song: “I Will Follow God’s Plan for Me”

~Our purpose in life is to find lasting peace, joy, and happiness as families and
to prepare to return to live with God.

The purpose of this life is 1) to have joy and 2) prepare to return to God’s
presence.

Is there a difference between having fun and feeling joy? Just having fun is not
long-lasting. Kind of like the difference between eating a yummy dessert, and
having Grandma and Grandpa visit and knowing they love to be with you. One
lasts longer and is much more important. Heavenly Father wants us to have the
joy that He has--real joy that lasts forever! He knew we needed to come to earth
in order to get that kind of joy.

~We came to the earth to be tested (see Abraham 3:24-25).

Show GAK #600 of the earth. Heavenly Father sent us here to be tested. We are
here to show Him that we will obey Him, whatever He asks us to do.

~We gain a body of flesh and bones, but we are subject to physical death.
Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and bones, and to be happy like Him, we
needed that, too. He sent us here as babies to belong to a family. Our bodies are
like His, but they will die someday. Show picture of person near two canyons.
See, here we are on earth. We want to get back to heaven (point to the side with the
flower ☺.) There are two things that make it impossible for us to get back to
Heavenly Father on our own. The first thing is that our bodies will die. Down in
the first canyon, write “Physical Death.”

~God gives commandments. If we obey, we are blessed. If we disobey, we sin and

receive the consequences.
Heavenly Father has given us commandments. If we obey, we are blessed. Why
are we sometimes tempted to do things that are against the commandments? It
seems like it would make us happy (Stealing or lying to get something you
want). But then what happens : you feel guilty. (Alma 41:10, Moroni 7:13). When
we disobey the commandments it is called “sin.”

~All sin must be paid for, either by ourselves or by Christ (see D&C 19:15-20).
Sin has consequences. One is that it means we are not worthy to be with
Heavenly Father. This is the second obstacle to returning to Him. In the second
canyon, write “Spritual Death (Sin).”

~We make choices, and we all commit sin (see Romans 3:23).
Read Romans 3:23 together and discuss.

~We have experiences that bring us happiness and also sorrow.

What kinds of experiences do we have in life? Happy, painful, sorrowful. . .
.These experiences help us to learn and grow, to distinguish between good and
evil and make good choices.

~We cannot overcome either physical or spiritual death without Christ.

So with those two huge problems, how will we get back to Heavenly Father? He
knew that we couldn’t do it by ourselves, so He sent Jesus Christ to be our Savior
(sho GAK #240). Jesus is like a bridge-builder. Draw a bridge over each canyon. He
made it so that we will overcome physical death and spiritual death. This is
called “The Atonement” and we will learn more about it in our next lesson.
Bear testimony of Heavenly Father’s plan for us, and of the love He showed in
sending us the Savior.