Lesson #36 3 Nephi 1-7. Unity of the Nephites

Unity of the Nephites

Attention Activity:
Have each student stand up with their hymn books. (If you have a large class you can have a select group of students do this activity) The students hold the hymn books up, end to end, to create a ‘long board’ or ramp. Have the students see how level they can make the board or the ramp. Place a ball (a plastic ball or a tennis ball) at one end of the ramp and tell the students that the purpose of this activity is to see if the can carefully angle and tilt their hymn books and roll the ball down the long ramp from one end to the other, and then back again to where it started, without having the ball fall off the hymn book ramp. (If it does fall off just put it back where it was and have them keep going.)
What is the #1 principle that we have to have in order to succeed at this activity? (Talk about this for a while and make sure that the class gets to the idea of unity.)

Class Discussion:
The first thing that we need to understand is the reason for unity and what danger is facing us today. Look in 3 Nephi 3:2-10. (I usually don’t have students read this whole section out loud. I find that the class starts to lose interest if you read too long of a section. I would just have the class look on their own.) This is a letter from Giddianhi (Gadianton Robber) to Lachoneus (Governor of the Nephites). “What is similar to what Giddianhi asked Lachoneus for to what Satan asks of us?” Make sure that the class understands that Giddianhi asks Lachoneus to yield up his possessions to him. Satan asks us to yield up our will and our happiness. Giddianhi makes some impossible promises. Satan also makes us promises that cannot be fulfilled either. Giddianhi becomes a great type of Satan. “How is the danger that the Nephites faced from the Gadianton robbers similar to the danger that we face from Satan today? What would have been the effect if the Nephites had decided to join the robbers? What is the effect if we decide to follow what Satan has planned for us?”
The Nephites now do something very interesting to prepare for the oncoming Gadianton army. There are some important principles we can learn in what they do. Look in 3 Nephi 3:12-16, 26 for things that the Nephites did that helped them be successful.

Verse 12: They were not frightened by the demands of the robbers. (Cross reference 2 Tim 1:7 and 1 John 4:18.)
Verse 13: They gathered together into one place.
Verse 14: They placed fortifications around the city and placed guards around the city.
Verse 15: They repented of their iniquities.
Verse 16: The did “exert themselves in their might” to do what their leaders asked them to do.
Verse 26: They armored themselves. (Cross reference Eph 6:11 and D&C 27:15)

Each of these can be a whole discussion. Questions like “What does God do to help us overcome our fears? What fortifications and guards can we have in our lives? How do we build our fortifications? Do we ever walk outside of those safeguards? How? How have you felt as you have exerted yourself to follow the prophet or other leaders? Etc.”

Depending on how much time you have left you can spend varying amounts of time with chapter 4. If you are in a hurry you can just have the class look at the chapter heading. You can also take them through the story and show the exceptional success. Whichever method you read, I would make sure to read verses 32 and 33. “When have you felt similar to how the Nephites felt?”

If we want to save our families we have to follow these same principles of unity against the enemies that we have today.

Application:
How would the principles that the Nephites learned through this experience change your family? Why was it so significant that they gathered together?

A great quote to share in conclusion is from Elder Russell M. Nelson:
Individual progression is fostered in the family, which is “central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” The home is to be God’s laboratory of love and service. There a husband is to love his wife, a wife is to love her husband, and parents and children are to love one another.
Throughout the world, the family is increasingly under attack. If families fail, many of our political, economic, and social systems will also fail. And if families fail, their glorious eternal potential cannot be realized.
Our Heavenly Father wants husbands and wives to be faithful to each other and to esteem and treat their children as an heritage from the Lord. In such a family we study the scriptures and pray together. And we fix our focus on the temple. There we receive the highest blessings that God has in store for His faithful children.
Thanks to God’s great plan of happiness, families can be together forever—as exalted beings. Our Heavenly Father declared, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Both of His objectives were enabled by the Atonement of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. His Atonement made resurrection a reality and eternal life a possibility for all who would ever live.
In Church callings we are subject to release. But we cannot be released as parents. From the first days of human history, the Lord has commanded parents to teach the gospel to their children. Moses wrote, “Thou shalt teach . . . diligently . . . thy children, and shalt talk of [God’s words] when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
In our day the Lord has added, “Bring up your children in light and truth.” The Church is to assist and not to replace parents in their responsibilities to teach their children.
In this day of rampant immorality and addictive pornography, parents have a sacred responsibility to teach their children the importance of God in their lives. Those evils, so highly destructive of divine potential, are to be strictly shunned by children of God.
We are also to teach our children to honor their parents. The fifth commandment states, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”
Russell M. Nelson “Salvation and Exaltation” Ensign May 2008