Lesson Helps for "Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ" by President Emily Belle Freeman (October 2023)

General Conference LessonGeneral Conference

Nov 22

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Didn’t you love President Emily Belle Freeman’s talk “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ” from General Conference October 2023? Not quite sure how to teach it though? Start with our discussion questions below!

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Questions to Ponder

Who can you invite to walk with you on the covenant path with Christ? How can you invite them?
How can we encourage others already on the covenant path? What can we stop doing so we don’t discourage those currently on the path?
What do you want your relationship to look like with Jesus Christ? How does keeping this question in mind simplify other questions you may have?
Why is progress more important than placement on the path? What helps you remember this important truth? What do you do when you do get discouraged at your placement or progress?
What blessings have you noticed by keeping your covenant relationship? How might you have taken some of them for granted?
What helps you embrace your covenants more fully?
In what ways has walking with Christ alleviated your concerns and weaknesses? What personal experiences have you had?
What personal experiences can you share of someone help you along the covenant path?

Discussion Ideas

Start with a silent portion of your lesson. Hang up some quotes and scriptures from President Freeman’s talk to represent the covenant path or the Jesus Trail. Invite your class to get up and walk around the room silently reading and pondering the different quotes and enjoying different images. Play some music if you need to encourage reverence. Once everyone has returned to their seats, invite them to share some thoughts from their walk. What stood out to them? What new connections did they make? Even though we might not literally be able to walk the Jesus Trail, what are some ways we can follow the Savior’s footsteps in our everyday lives? What does it look like?
Bring in a discussion about ministering or temple and family history work. Is there someone who needs a helping hand or a kind word? Are there ancestors who need your help?
President Freeman said, “Jacob had a choice to make. He could choose to live his life simply acquainted with the God of his father, or he could choose to live life in a committed covenant relationship with Him.” Which life are you currently living? Why? Consider all the covenants you’ve made in your life, starting with baptism. How can you improve? How can we encourage those around us, including ourselves?
Compare President Freeman’s walk in Israel with the Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life (1 Nephi 8). What similarities do you notice? What can they teach us about staying on the covenant path? What new connections did you notice?
Christ will invite us to walk with Him no matter how heavy our loads are. You can represent this principle with an object lesson. Give different people in your class loads of various weights. Invite someone to the front of the classroom and ask them if they are willing to carry each person’s load for the entire class. Start with the light ones then go to one that is really heavy (don’t hurt anyone!). Eventually, they won’t be able to even if they want to. Christ always can. We need never shy away from asking him to help us no matter what’s going on in our lives.
President Freeman mentions the five-finger promise God made Jacob:
- “I am with you.”
- “I will keep you safe.”
- “I will bring you home again.”
- “I will not leave you.”
- “I will keep my promise to you.”
How can reviewing these promises daily be helpful? Which one sticks with you the most right now? How do these emphasize a relationship with Christ, not just a stranger walking next to us?