Joshua 1–8; 23–24: Lesson 64

Doctrinal Mastery Practice 4

Apply the Principles of Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge

Doctrinal mastery can help students build the foundation for their lives upon Jesus Christ and His gospel. This lesson will help students apply truths found in doctrinal mastery passages and learn and apply divine principles for acquiring spiritual knowledge.

Student preparation: Invite students to choose one of the doctrinal mastery passages that they have studied this year. Encourage them to think of a realistic situation in which a teenager could benefit from applying the teachings in that passage. A list of the passages can be found in the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023).

Possible Learning Activities

Doctrinal mastery review: Apply

To begin discussing the importance of applying doctrinal mastery passages, consider bringing or displaying pictures of objects that many teenagers might recognize but not know how to use. Below are possible examples. Ask students what each item is and if they know how to use it.

• Why is it important to know not only what something is but also how to use it?

• How can this principle apply to our study of doctrinal mastery passages?

Today you will practice using doctrinal mastery passages and the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge in real-life situations. Seek inspiration from the Holy Ghost to help you learn these passages and principles and apply them in your life.

Consider inviting students to list the doctrinal mastery passages and key scripture phrases they have studied this year. If needed, refer to the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2022).

Organize students into small groups, and provide each group with a piece of paper. Assign or invite groups to select one doctrinal mastery passage. Ask them to create a scenario (or situation) where someone could benefit from applying the doctrine in that passage. For example, students who choose Joshua 24:15 could write the following scenario: “A girl is tempted at a party to do something everyone else is doing but that she knows the Lord would disapprove of.” Encourage students to not write the scripture reference on the paper but be prepared to share the reference later.

Collect the papers. You could read the scenarios to the class or distribute them to different groups.

Invite students to share a doctrinal mastery passage that could help the person in the scenario. Help them understand that more than one passage might be relevant for each scenario. The students could also discuss how applying the doctrine taught in the passage could help the person strengthen their relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. If needed, the group who wrote the scenario could then share the original scripture reference they chose and explain how it can help in their chosen scenario.

Leave 20–30 minutes for the “Learn and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge” activity below.

Additional ideas for helping students apply doctrinal mastery passages are in the appendix materials under “Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities.”

Learn and apply principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge

The remainder of the lesson focuses on helping students apply the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to relevant situations. You might first want to review the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge. Suggested review activities are included in the appendix materials under “Doctrinal Mastery Review Activities.” Descriptions of the principles are found in paragraphs 5–12 of the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023).

Ponder the needs of your students and seek the Lord’s help to select or adapt one of the following scenarios or to create one of your own.

Both scenarios are incomplete. Help students fill in the blanks of the chosen scenario in an appropriate and meaningful way.

• A young man named [name of teen] is feeling pressure from [a person or group] to break the Lord’s commandment of [a commandment that a teen might realistically feel tempted to break]. He’s often told it’s not a big deal to break this commandment because [a reason why someone might think it’s okay to break this commandment]. [Name of teen] feels confused and doesn’t know what to do.

• A young woman named [name of teen] is excited for when she’s old enough to leave her parents’ house and be out on her own. At her parents’ house, she has to keep the commandment of [a commandment a teen might realistically not want to keep]. She wants to be a good person, but she doesn’t know if she will continue to keep that commandment after she leaves home. This is because [a reason why someone might not want to keep this commandment].

  Students will now apply the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge to help the person in the chosen scenario. Students could work in pairs or small groups.

  Display the three principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge:

  • Act in faith.

  • Examine concepts and questions with an eternal perspective.

  • Seek further understanding through divinely appointed sources.

  Invite students to discuss the following questions.

• Which principle of acquiring spiritual knowledge do you think would be most helpful for the person in the scenario? Why?

• Which doctrinal mastery passage or other scripture passages do you feel could help the person in the scenario? Why?

After enough time, invite students to share what they discussed.

Display the picture from the beginning of the lesson. Organize students into pairs to complete the following activity.

Imagine the person in the scenario chooses to ignore the Savior’s doctrine. Determine what could happen to them. Then determine what could happen if they choose to act on that doctrine and the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge.

After students have had sufficient time to discuss the scenario, invite them to share their thoughts with the class. As students share, consider asking follow-up questions such as the following to help guide a meaningful class discussion:

• What else would you add to what your classmate shared?

• How else could the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge help the person in this scenario choose to follow Jesus Christ?

• What do you know about Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ that could be important for the person in the scenario to remember?

Invite students to ponder how doctrinal mastery passages or the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge have helped them with their personal decisions. You could invite students to write or share their thoughts.

Supplemental Learning Activities

Examples of completed scenarios

Instead of inviting students to fill in one of the incomplete scenarios, you could use one or both of the following scenarios:

A young man named Franco is feeling pressure from his teammates to use foul language and laugh at inappropriate jokes. He’s often told it’s not a big deal to use foul language because most people talk that way. Franco feels confused and doesn’t know what to do.

A young woman named Maria is excited for when she’s old enough to leave her parents’ house and be out on her own. At her parents’ house, she has to obey the Word of Wisdom. She wants to be a good person, but she doesn’t know if she will obey this commandment after she leaves home. Few of her friends obey it, and they seem to be okay.

An alternative scenario

If you think your students would benefit from a scenario with a different focus, you could use or adapt the following scenario:

Each time Samantha attends church, she receives many notifications on her phone. She chooses to look and respond to the notifications during sacrament meeting and her church classes. A leader or teacher invites her to put her phone away or only use it for the lesson. She reluctantly puts it away for a few minutes, but she feels annoyed. She wonders, “Does it really matter how I use my phone at church as long as I’m not doing anything bad?” She begins to feel frustrated by that leader or teacher, and she starts resenting having to come to church at all.

Help students discuss the principles of acquiring spiritual knowledge as if they faced a similar circumstance as Samantha.