Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Old Testament Lessons
Title Page
Lessons 1–2
Introduction to the Teacher Manual
- Lessons 1–2
  Welcome to the Old Testament
- Lessons 3–6
  Moses 1; Abraham 3
- Lessons 7–9
  Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5
- Lessons 10–12
  Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5
- Lessons 13–15
  Genesis 5; Moses 6
- Lessons 16–18
  Moses 7
- Lessons 19–21
  Genesis 6–11; Moses 8
- Lessons 22–24
  Genesis 12–17; Abraham 1–2
- Lessons 25–28
  Genesis 18–23
- Lessons 29–32
  Genesis 24–33
- Lessons 33–34
  Genesis 37–41
- Lessons 35–37
  Genesis 42–50
- Lessons 38–40
  Exodus 1–6
- Easter
- Lessons 41–44
  Exodus 7–13
- Lessons 45–47
  Exodus 14–18
- Lessons 48–51
  Exodus 19–20; 24; 31–34
- Lessons 52–55
  Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19
- Lessons 56–57
  Numbers 11–14; 20–24; 27
- Lessons 58–60
  Deuteronomy 6–8; 15; 18; 29–30; 34
- Lessons 61–64
  Joshua 1–8; 23–24
- Lessons 65–67
  Judges 2–4; 6–8; 13–16
- Lessons 68–70
  Ruth; 1 Samuel 1–7
- Lessons 71–73
  1 Samuel 8–10; 13; 15–16
- Lessons 74–76
  1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26; 2 Samuel 5–7
- Lessons 77–80
  2 Samuel 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 6–9; 11
- Lessons 81–82
  1 Kings 12–13; 17–22
- Lessons 83–85
  2 Kings 2–7
- Lessons 86–89
  2 Kings 16–25
- Lessons 90–91
  2 Chronicles 14–20; 26; 30
- Lessons 92–93
  Ezra 1, 3–7; Nehemiah 2; 4–6; 8
- Lessons 94–96
  Esther
- Lessons 97–99
  Job 1–3; 12–14; 19; 21–24; 38–40; 42
- Lessons 100–103
  Psalms 1–2; 8; 19–33; 40; 46
- Lessons 104–106
  Psalms 49–51; 61–66; 69–72; 77–78; 85–86
- Lessons 107–108
  Psalms 102–103; 110; 116–119; 127–128; 135–139; 146–150
- Lessons 109–112
  Proverbs 1–4; 15–16; 22; 31; Ecclesiastes 1–3; 11–12
- Lessons 113–116
  Isaiah 1–12
- Lessons 117–118
  Isaiah 13–14; 22; 24–30; 35
- Lessons 119–122
  Isaiah 40–49
- Lessons 123–125
  Isaiah 50–57
- Lessons 126–129
  Isaiah 58–66
- Lessons 130–133
  Jeremiah 1–3; 7; 16–18; 20
- Lessons 134–137
  Jeremiah 31–33; 36–38; Lamentations 1; 3
- Lessons 138–141
  Ezekiel 1–3; 33–34; 36–37; 47
- Lessons 142–145
  Daniel 1–7
- Lessons 146–148
  Hosea; Joel
- Lessons 149–151
  Amos; Obadiah; Jonah
- Lessons 152–154
  Micah; Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah
- Lessons 155–157
  Haggai 1–2; Zechariah 1–4; 7–14
- Lessons 158–160
  Malachi
Lessons 166–170
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Lessons 166–170
  Scripture Study Skills
- Lessons 171–176
  For the Strength of Youth Guide
- Lessons 177–180
  Building Self–Reliance
- Lessons 181–187
  Physical and Emotional Health
- Lessons 188–191
  Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Lessons 192–195
  Succeed in School
- Lessons 196–200
  Missionary Preparation
- Lessons 201–204
  Temple Preparation
- Lessons 205–208
  Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Exercising Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance: The Lord Can Help Us in Our Efforts to Become Self-Reliant

“Exercising Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance: The Lord Can Help Us in Our Efforts to Become Self-Reliant,” Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual (2026)

“Exercising Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance: The Lord Can Help Us in Our Efforts to Become Self-Reliant,” Old Testament Seminary Teacher Manual

Building Self-Reliance: Lesson 178

Exercising Faith in Jesus Christ to Build Self-Reliance

The Lord Can Help Us in Our Efforts to Become Self-Reliant

Kenya: Youth Social Media 2020: Lavynne Lawino

As we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, we invite Him to help us in all aspects of our lives. In addition to blessing us with spiritual strength and healing from sin, the Savior can help us build self-reliance for our temporal needs. This can include finances, education, employment, and our physical and emotional health. This lesson can help students exercise their faith that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will bless them in their efforts to build self-reliance.

Student preparation: Consider inviting students to write down obstacles that make it hard to become self-reliant in one or more of the following areas:

Gospel knowledge
Current and future financial needs
Education and employment
Physical needs
Emotional and social needs

Possible Learning Activities

Paula’s needs

Note: It may be helpful to teach Lesson 177: “Building Self-Reliance in the Lord’s Way” before teaching this lesson. Lesson 177 introduces students to principles of self-reliance and why it is important in Heavenly Father’s plan.

Consider beginning class by helping students discuss how providing for our needs requires both our own efforts and God’s guidance. The following scenario and activity is one way to help this discussion. It may be helpful to point out that both approaches Paula takes in the scenario are problematic.

You could begin by reading the first part of the following situation. Then share the two possible responses. Pause after each response and invite students to share with a partner what counsel they would give Paula.

Paula is excited to graduate from high school in two years. However, she feels nervous about how much money she will need to save for the future.

What counsel would you give if:

Paula decides to pray every day for God to provide the money she will need after graduation. She has no plans to seek employment, trusting that God will provide for her.
Paula feels that since money isn’t a “spiritual matter,” God would not be interested in it. She decides to search every day for employment that fits her school schedule. She makes plans to talk to business owners, turn in resumes, and learn new skills that will make her more valuable to local shops.

After students have shared counsel they might give Paula, invite them to share how the following statement could apply to her situation.

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, explained:

10:7

Everything, then, points to Jesus Christ as the foundation upon which we must build even our temporal preparedness.

Being temporally prepared and self-reliant means “believing that through the grace, or enabling power, of Jesus Christ and our own effort, we are able to obtain all the spiritual and temporal necessities of life we require for ourselves and our families” [Personal Finances for Self-Reliance (2017), 4]. (“There Was Bread,” Liahona, Oct. 2020, 44)

As students share their insights from Bishop Waddell’s statement, point out that through exercising faith in Jesus Christ and our own efforts, we develop spiritual and temporal self-reliance.

Consider displaying the following self-assessment, including the instructions and categories, to help students reflect on their need for the Savior’s help to become more self-reliant.

Write the following categories in order from the least to the most difficult for you to build self-reliance. Next to one or two of the most difficult categories for you, write down any obstacles you need the Savior’s help to overcome.

Gospel knowledge
Current and future financial needs
Education and employment
Physical needs
Emotional and social needs

As you continue to study today, keep in mind the areas in which you need the most help. Invite the Holy Ghost to strengthen your faith that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help you in your efforts to build self-reliance.

Exercising faith in the Lord to build self-reliance

2026 Old Testament Seminary Teacher Materials

Invite students to share what they found. You could also explore the following questions as part of this discussion.

How do you think this story might have ended if Joseph did not have faith in God? If Joseph was unwilling to put forth effort?
How do you think this account could apply to the life of a teenager?

You might also invite students to share with the class experiences of when their family received what they needed through God’s help and their family’s efforts. You could share a personal experience as well.

Personal application

Consider displaying again the categories of self-reliance that students reflected on in the first section of the lesson and inviting students to do the following.

Take some time to prayerfully record the following as you think about the categories of self-reliance you identified as more difficult for you earlier in the lesson:

What you learned that strengthens your faith that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will help you with obstacles to self-reliance in your life.
How you could exercise your faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through your own efforts to build self-reliance.

Consider inviting volunteers to share part of what they wrote in their journals.

Additional Resources

Will the Lord help us become self-reliant?

The First Presidency stated:

The Lord has declared, “It is my purpose to provide for my saints” (D&C 104:15). This revelation is a promise from the Lord that He will provide temporal blessings and open the door of self-reliance, which is the ability for us to provide the necessities of life for ourselves and our family members. …

We invite you to diligently study and apply [principles of faith, education, hard work, and trust in the Lord] and teach them to your family members. As you do so, your life will be blessed. You will learn how to act on your path toward greater self-reliance. You will be blessed with greater hope, peace, and progress.

Please be assured that you are a child of our Father in Heaven. He loves you and will never forsake you. He knows you and is ready to extend to you the spiritual and temporal blessings of self-reliance. (“Message from the First Presidency,” Personal Finances for Self-Reliance [2017])

Bishop H. David Burton, former Presiding Bishop, taught:

Having done all we can to be self-reliant, to provide for our own needs and those of our family, we can turn to the Lord in confidence to ask for what we might yet lack. (“The Blessing of Work,” Ensign or Liahona, Dec. 2009, 43)

What if we try and fail in our efforts to become self-reliant?

President Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained the following about the character of Christ:

Please remember tomorrow, and all the days after that, that the Lord blesses those who want to improve, who accept the need for commandments and try to keep them, who cherish Christlike virtues and strive to the best of their ability to acquire them. If you stumble in that pursuit, so does everyone; the Savior is there to help you keep going. If you fall, summon His strength. … Soon enough you will have the success you seek. (“Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders among You,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2016, 126)

What can we learn from Joseph of Egypt’s example of building self-reliance?

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric said:

10:7

When considering the principle of preparedness, we can look back to Joseph in Egypt for inspiration. Knowing what would happen would not have been sufficient to carry them through the “lean” years without a degree of sacrifice during the years of abundance. Rather than consume all that Pharaoh’s subjects could produce, limits were established and followed, providing sufficient for their immediate, as well as their future, needs. It was not enough to know that challenging times would come. They had to act, and because of their effort, “there was bread.” (“There Was Bread,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2020, 44)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Scripture study

You might invite students to look through the list of doctrinal mastery passages from all four years, looking for scriptures that:

Could increase someone’s faith that God is willing to help us.
Help us understand that God expects us to do our part to find answers and solutions.

A few examples of doctrinal mastery passages students might share include:

Doctrine and Covenants 88:118

Give students a chance to share what they found. As they share, you might follow up by asking the class to think of real situations in which understanding that scripture passage could help someone work toward greater self-reliance.

Increasing your faith

Toward the end of the first section of the lesson, after inviting students to reflect on areas where they need help from God to become more self-reliant, you might share the following statement from President Russell M. Nelson. Invite students to look for a common solution for whatever problems they may face.

16:23

My dear brothers and sisters, my call to you … is to start today to increase your faith. Through your faith, Jesus Christ will increase your ability to move the mountains in your life, even though your personal challenges may loom as large as Mount Everest. …

… Your mountains will vary, and yet the answer to each of your challenges is to increase your faith. (“Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains,” Liahona, May 2021, 102–103)

You could divide students into five groups, with each group focusing on one of the following areas of self-reliance:

Building spiritual strength and a testimony of Christ
Gaining an education
Earning money
Being physically healthy
Being emotionally resilient

Ask groups to brainstorm together and report to the class how increasing faith in Christ could help someone who is struggling in that area.

Scriptural examples can strengthen our faith in Christ

Sometimes a challenging situation can seem more manageable when we remember what God has done for others. If you feel it would help students to study examples in addition to the account of Joseph, a few other examples could include the story of David (1 Samuel 17:40–50) and the Jaredites (Ether 2:16–17, 22–23; 3:1–6).

An alternative way to end the lesson is to invite students to fill in the following prompts:

Knowing that God helped (someone from the scriptures) with (what God did for them) gives me confidence that God can also help me find a way to overcome (an obstacle to self-reliance that I can’t overcome on my own).

(For example: Knowing that God helped David with his battle against Goliath gives me confidence that God can also help me find a way to overcome my struggles to understand what is being taught in school.)