This lesson is intended to help you evaluate the goals you have set and the personal growth you have experienced during your study of the New Testament.
Assessing student learning. Allowing students to assess what they are learning can help them reflect on how God is helping them learn and grow. Help students recognize their successes as well as ways they can still improve. As they reflect on their progress and challenges, they can receive revelation about the next step they can take to become more like Jesus Christ.
Student preparation: Invite students to ponder their progress in relation to their personal spiritual goals. Also invite them to think about what they have learned or goals they have set as they have studied Romans and 1 Corinthians 1–7.
Possible Learning Activities
This lesson is intended to help students assess goals they have set, their ability to explain teachings in the New Testament, or how their attitudes, desires, and ability to live the gospel are changing. The class’s study of Romans 1–16; 1 Corinthians 1–7 may have emphasized truths other than those in the following activities. If so, the activities could be adapted to include those truths.
Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ
If you could travel somewhere new, where would you want to go?
While traveling, why would it be important to evaluate if you were still on course? What might happen if you did not?
It is important to evaluate our spiritual journey as well. President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught the importance of working toward spiritual goals and then added:
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President M. Russell Ballard
I have found that to stay focused … , I need to regularly take time to ask myself, “How am I doing?”
It’s kind of like having a personal, private interview with yourself. …
During the coming weeks, find time to review your life’s goals and your plans, and make sure they align with our Heavenly Father’s great plan for our happiness. If you need to repent and change, then consider doing so now. …
I testify there is no greater goal in mortality than to live eternally with our Heavenly Parents and our beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is more than just our goal—it is also Their goal. They have a perfect love for us, more powerful than we can even begin to comprehend. They are totally, completely, eternally aligned with us. We are Their work. Our glory is Their glory. More than anything else, They want us to come home.
(M. Russell Ballard, “Return and Receive,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 64–65)
Take a few minutes to ask yourself the following questions, as if you’re having a personal, private interview with yourself. Consider writing your answers in your study journal.
What have I done recently to gain a testimony of specific truths through the Holy Ghost? What am I learning about receiving revelation through the Holy Ghost? (You may have taken some time to consider this when studying 1 Corinthians 2.)
What goals have I made to come closer to the Savior and become His disciple? What successes am I experiencing? What obstacles do I face? What do I need to do to seek the Lord’s help and continue to progress on my spiritual journey?
Invite students to share their thoughts about these questions. Remember that some goals and experiences may be especially personal or private, so do not require students to share. Congratulate students on their successes. If students are facing obstacles they are struggling to overcome, consider asking the rest of the class questions like the following: What have we learned this year through our study of the New Testament that may help? What experiences have you had that may help? Encourage students to continue working on their goals, and express confidence that Heavenly Father will help them as they strive to become like Him.
Explaining Jesus Christ’s grace
To help you assess your understanding of an important gospel truth you have studied recently, do the following activity:
Imagine you have been contacted by the missionaries. They are teaching someone your age who is having a hard time understanding Jesus Christ’s grace. The missionaries have asked you to accompany them on their next teaching appointment so you can share what you know about the Savior’s grace and how following Jesus Christ has blessed your life.
Take a moment to search the scriptures to find verses and truths that may help. Reading some of the following verses may be helpful:
Write down how you would explain the Savior’s grace in your own words.
Using a scripture from Romans, share one truth about the Savior’s grace and how we can receive it in our lives. Consider including how knowing these truths has brought you closer to the Savior.
Be sure to give students adequate time to prepare. When students are finished, they could work with a classmate and take turns teaching one another as if they were sharing these things with someone the missionaries were teaching.
Increasing your desire to be unified in Christ
Unity was another important concept in Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Corinthians.
Consider inviting students to select one or two verses in which Paul taught about unity (for example, Romans 14:19 or Romans 15:1). Then do one of the following activities:
State the verse or verses in unison as a class.
Divide students into small groups and invite them to state the verse or verses out loud by alternating who says each line of the scripture. If students would like an additional challenge, they can alternate who says each word.
Recite the verses or verses as a class one word at a time, with a different student saying each word.
Ask students to evaluate how well they worked together and to share any insights they learned about unity through this activity. Invite students to summarize what Paul taught in the verse or verses.
Find a verse you studied in Romans or 1 Corinthians that has taught you a meaningful truth about being unified with others in Christ. Some examples may be found in Romans 12:10–21; 14:10–13, 19; 15:1–7 and in 1 Corinthians 1:10–13; 3:3–9. What truth does the verse you selected teach?
Think of a time when you experienced what Paul teaches in the verse you selected. What do you think contributed most to your efforts to be unified in Christ?
Answer two of the following questions:
What is the difference between simply working well together and being unified through Jesus Christ and His gospel?
Why is the truth you selected in item a meaningful to you?
In the last month, how have you increased your understanding of unity and your desire to be unified with others?
What have you done to become more unified with others in Christ?
What challenges are you facing as you work to become more unified with others?
Seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help you know ways the Lord would want you to be more unified with others in Christ. Also seek revelation on how to overcome any challenges you may face.
Continue to move forward on your spiritual journey, coming closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Know that They love you and are ready to help you in your efforts.
Bear testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and Their desire to help.