Sharing Time January 2014 Week 4: I can return to Heavenly Father by following Jesus Christ.

Preparation:
Prayerfully study and think about what the specific needs of your primary are and how you can teach them this doctrine.

Identify the doctrine: I can return to Heavenly Father by following Jesus Christ. 
Print and cut out the pintables, a lot of these are the printables I had for prior week sharing times (laminate if you would like), place the path, children, Bridge, Sun and picture of Christ on the board.(See the Example) 

Plan on doing a short review of prior weeks sharing times.

Help the Children Understand the Doctrine: Prepare to tell about Jesus calling to his apostles to follow him.  Here is a link to the picture.  Gather these pictures: Christ praying with Mary, John the Baptist baptizing Jesus, Christ Teaching, Jesus with the people, Jesus and the Apostles partaking of the Sacrament 

Help them apply the doctrine in their lives:  Laminate the footprints.  Have a dry erase marker to write on them with.

Free Printables:

Sharing Time Instruction:

Begin the sharing time by discussing with the children the items that are on the board.  The children represent all of us who chose to come to the earth.  The path is the pathway that Jesus left us by example that will lead us back to live eternally with our Heavenly Father.  Holding the pathway together is the bridge.  The bridge represents the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Without the atonement the pathway would be broken and we would not be able to return to our Father in Heaven. But Heavenly Father loved us so he sent his son to suffer and atone for our sins, so we can be able to repent and be forgiven for the wrong choices we will make.  Our goal is to return to live eternally with our Heavenly Father, the Celestial kingdom is represent by the sun.  Jesus has provided his example to lead us on the path to return to our Father in Heaven.  What are some things that Jesus has done here on Earth that are an example to us of what we should do?  Ask a child to come hold the picture of Christ praying with Mary.  Explain that Jesus showed us by example how to pray to our Father in Heaven.  Our Heavenly Father wants to hear from us, he wants to here how are day is going, what we need and especially what we are grateful for.  Show a picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.  Explain that even though Jesus was perfect he was still baptized to be an example to us.  Baptism is one of the saving ordinance that we need to qualify for the Celestial kingdom. When we are baptized me make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.  Show a picture of Christ Teaching.  Jesus showed us to share the gospel with everyone.  Discuss ways to share the gospel.  Show a picture of Jesus with the people.  Jesus taught us to love and serve others.  We are to treat everyone with love and kindness.  We are all daughters and sons of God.  We need to look out for each other, show compassion towards each other and give service to one another.  Discuss ways to do this.  Show a picture of the Jesus and the Apostles partaking of the Sacrament.  Explain that partaking of the sacrament is the most important thing we do on Sundays.  When we partake of the sacrament we are renewing our baptismal covenants.  Tell the children the story of Christ calling to his apostles as found in Matthew 4:18–22. Here is the example from the Sharing Time Outline: “Peter and Andrew earned their living by catching fish. One day as they cast their nets into the Sea of Galilee they saw Jesus of Nazareth. They heard Him say, “Follow me.” Even though Peter and Andrew were in the middle of their work, they immediately left their nets, and followed Him. James and John were in another ship mending their nets. Jesus called to them, so they left their nets and followed Him.” Ask the children that if the Savior said to them, "Follow Me", would they stop what they were doing and follow him? Explain that Jesus has said those words to them, he wants all of us to follow him.  Ask the children if they have any examples of how they followed Jesus throughout the week?  Write what they say on the footprints and place them on the path.  See example above.  Thank all who participated.  Bear your testimony about how following the example of Jesus Christ will help each of us return to live with our Heavenly Father.  Remind them to throughout the week to think about the words Jesus said to his apostles, "Follow me", ask them to follow those words and to find ways they can follow Jesus.

***Basic ideas for this sharing time came from the 2014 Sharing Time Outline, you can find a link here