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To Fulfil All Righteousness

A voice in the wilderness, real-life repentance, and three separate witnesses at the Jordan

  • ⭐ Valiant 9–11
  • Week 4
  • 📅 Sunday, January 24, 2027
🤔 Forehead Guess🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

Jesus Christ, who never sinned, was baptized to fulfil all righteousness and show me the way; real repentance changes what I do, and the Holy Ghost keeps refining me.

I can follow Jesus Christ’s example by keeping my baptism covenant, repenting with real changes, and listening to the Holy Ghost.

Study it yourself firstRead Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3 in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3)
Know the chapters

John the Baptist, the miracle baby from week 1, is grown. He preaches in the wilderness of Judaea in camel’s-hair clothes, eating locusts and wild honey, and crowds pour out from Jerusalem to be baptized in the Jordan “confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1–6). All three Gospels quote Isaiah 40:3 about him: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Luke adds Isaiah’s road-building picture: valleys filled, mountains brought low, crooked made straight (Luke 3:4–6). John’s job was to get hearts ready for the Savior.

John’s message was blunt. To proud religious leaders who counted on being Abraham’s descendants, he said, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” and warned that God could raise up children to Abraham from stones (Matthew 3:7–10). When ordinary people asked, “What shall we do then?” he gave concrete answers: share your extra coat and food; tax collectors, take no more than you’re owed; soldiers, don’t bully, don’t accuse falsely, be content (Luke 3:10–14). The Bible Dictionary explains that the word for repentance means a change of mind: a fresh view of God, of ourselves and of the world. For 9–11s, repentance becomes something they can see: good fruit in real life.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized. John protested: “I have need to be baptized of thee.” Jesus answered, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:14–15). Nephi explains why the sinless Savior was baptized: to show His obedience and humility before the Father, and to show us the path and the gate we must enter (2 Nephi 31:5–9). He went “up straightway out of the water” (baptism by immersion), the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended like a dove, and the Father’s voice declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16–17). All three members of the Godhead are present and clearly separate. John also promised that Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew 3:11): the Holy Ghost purifies and refines us the way fire refines metal.

This lesson connects straight to your oldest kids’ next steps. On May 15, 1829, John the Baptist came back as a resurrected being and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (Doctrine and Covenants 13; Joseph Smith—History 1:68–72). That priesthood holds the keys of baptism. Deacons receive it the year they turn twelve, priests use it to baptize, and young men and young women that age can go to the temple to be baptized for ancestors who never had the chance. Nobody plays Jesus or Heavenly Father in the drama: you read their words.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Matthew 3 and Luke 3:1–22. Play Baptism Myth-Busters (no supplies), run your phone or tablet story drama with readers, teach Matthew 3:15, and play Forehead Guess. End by telling how John the Baptist returned in 1829 and bear testimony. No blue sheet? Two lines of kids make the Jordan River with their arms.

What to bring4 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Spread the blue sheet on the floor as the Jordan River before class.
  2. Draw a simple apple (or orange) on paper and cut it out for the bonus Fruit Check.
  3. Mark verses for your Scripture Readers: Luke 3:4–5, Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:10–14, Matthew 3:11, 3:14–15, 3:16 and 3:17.
  4. Look up 2 Nephi 31:5–9 so you can point the class to Nephi’s explanation of why Jesus was baptized.
  5. Add your kids’ names in the My Class tab so Roles and the Name Spinner work.

If your class is wild

  • Myth-Busters works best fast: read the statement, count “3, 2, 1,” and everyone commits at the same time.
  • Give John the Baptist to a confident, loud reader. He gets the best lines in the lesson.
  • The Pharisees and Sadducees scene is about pride, not insults. Coach John to deliver “generation of vipers” like a serious warning, not a joke.
  • In Wheat or Chaff, chaff spins slowly with arms out, no running into walls. The last one to the center does five slow squats.
  • Most of your class was baptized at eight. Invite a few to share one memory from their own baptism day during the discussion.

The 25-minute plan25 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Steps that mention Teach Mode, the Sound Board or other class games refer to the Gospel Sparks app; on the web you can play Forehead Guess and Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

Baptism Myth-Busters

3 min

A fast stand-or-sit challenge gets everyone committing to answers and sets up the real story of Jesus’s baptism.

  1. SAY“I’ll read a statement about Jesus’s baptism. Stand if it’s TRUE, stay seated if it’s a MYTH. Everyone commits on 3, 2, 1.”
  2. Statements: Jesus was baptized because He had sinned (myth) · John tried to talk Jesus out of it (true) · Jesus was sprinkled with a little water (myth) · John ate bugs (true) · At Jesus’s baptism, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost showed They are all one person (myth) · Jesus traveled from Galilee to be baptized by someone with authority (true).
  3. Don’t explain the answers yet. Say: “Keep score in your head. By the end of class you’ll know exactly why each one is true or a myth.”
🌪️ Everyone moves at the same moment on “1.” Anyone who waits to copy a friend has to explain their answer.

Class screen: 🕵️ True or myth? Stand for true, sit for myth! · 3… 2… 1… commit!

2. Story

Story Drama: A Voice in the Wilderness

6 min

Acting out John’s preaching and Jesus’s baptism with real verses makes repentance, baptism and the Godhead concrete.

  1. Hand out roles (tap Roles in Teach Mode). Give your Scripture Readers their verses. Two River Keepers hold the blue sheet.
  2. SAY“Nobody plays Jesus or Heavenly Father. I’ll read Their words.”
  3. Read each scene and pause for the reader and the action.
  4. After scene 5, ask: “John’s answers were super specific. Why didn’t he just say ‘be good’?”
  5. After scene 9, go back to the Myth-Busters: “Which answers can you now prove from Matthew 3?”
🌪️ River Keepers ripple gently. Big splashes only in scene 8, on your signal.

Class screen: 🎭 Story Drama: A Voice in the Wilderness · Everyone has a part · Three separate witnesses at the Jordan

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A blue sheet, towel or tablecloth (the Jordan River)

  1. Hand out roles (tap Roles in Teach Mode). Give your Scripture Readers their verses. Two lines of River Keepers face each other and ripple their arms like waves; the space between them is the Jordan.
  2. SAY“Nobody plays Jesus or Heavenly Father. I’ll read Their words.”
  3. Read each scene and pause for the reader and the action. In scene 8, the River Keepers make one big arm splash and tap splash on the Sound Board.
  4. After scene 5, ask: “John’s answers were super specific. Why didn’t he just say ‘be good’?”
  5. After scene 9, go back to the Myth-Busters: “Which answers can you now prove from Matthew 3?”
3. Wiggle break

Wheat or Chaff?

2 min

A fast decision game from Matthew 3:12 gets everyone moving and practicing quick good choices.

  1. Explain: at harvest, farmers tossed grain in the wind. Heavy wheat fell and was gathered; light chaff blew away. John said the Savior would do the same with our lives (Matthew 3:12).
  2. A kid Caller reads a choice. Good choice = “Wheat!”: everyone hurries to the center and crouches together. Bad choice = “Chaff!”: everyone spins slowly outward with a whoosh.
  3. Choices: sharing your extra snack · copying homework · inviting the new kid · lying to a teacher · saying sorry first · bragging you’re better than others · praying when you’re scared.
  4. Last one in the right spot does five slow squats.

Class screen: 🌾 Good choice? Wheat! Gather in! Bad choice? Chaff! Spin away! · Matthew 3:12

4. Scripture

Scripture Spotlight: Matthew 3:15

3 min

Kids memorize Jesus’s reason for being baptized and learn how Nephi explained it.

  1. Show the verse on your phone or tablet. A Verse Leader reads it and teaches the motions.
  2. Ask: “What does ‘suffer it to be so’ mean?” (Allow it; let it happen.) Say it three times: normal, as a whisper, then boys and girls alternating phrases.
  3. Have a kid read 2 Nephi 31:7 and 9 from the Book of Mormon. Ask: “According to Nephi, why did Jesus, who never sinned, need to be baptized?” (To show obedience to the Father and show us the path and the gate.)
  4. SAY“Jesus walked all the way from Galilee to be baptized by someone with the right authority. You were baptized the same way, by the same priesthood.”

Class screen: 🌊 “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” · Matthew 3:15 · Compare 2 Nephi 31:7, 9

5. Game

What Shall We Do?

3 min

Teams give John-style specific answers for kids today, turning repentance into real actions.

  1. Split into two teams. Say: “In Luke 3, three groups asked John, ‘What shall we do?’ and he gave each one a specific answer. Now YOU are John.”
  2. Read a person. Start the Big Timer for 20 seconds. The team gives one specific thing that person should do.
  3. People: a kid with a closet full of clothes · a team captain who picks only their friends · a big sister who teases the little one · a gamer who stays up past bedtime · a kid who got extra change at the store · someone new at school.
  4. A kid Judge gives 2 points for a specific, doable answer and 1 point for a vague one (“be nice”).
🌪️ Teams whisper inside their huddle. Only the captain answers out loud.
⏱️ Big Timer (a class game in the Gospel Sparks app)

Class screen: 🧥 “What shall we do then?” You be John! · 20 seconds · Specific = 2 points · Vague = 1 point

6. Game

Forehead Guess: Jordan River Hard Mode

3 min

A Heads Up–style round with harder words reviews John’s preaching, Jesus’s baptism and the Aaronic Priesthood.

  1. Tap Forehead Guess. A kid runs the timer: 45 seconds per guesser.
  2. The guesser holds your phone or tablet on their forehead. Classmates give clues without saying the word; tilt down for got it, up to pass.
  3. Challenge words like Publicans, Chaff, Immersion and Aaronic Priesthood need story clues, not rhymes.
  4. Teams alternate guessers. Most words wins.
🌪️ Hands up to give a clue; the guesser picks who goes next.
▶ Play Forehead Guess on the web

Class screen: 🤔 Forehead Guess: Can you get Publicans? · No saying the word! · Story clues only

7. Talk it over

Kid-Led Discussion

3 min

An older kid leads the class into repentance, the Godhead and the Holy Ghost as refining fire.

  1. Hand your phone or tablet to your Discussion Moderator. They read each question and tap the Name Spinner to choose who answers first.
  2. After each answer the Moderator asks, “Who can add to that?”
  3. Sit beside the Moderator. Invite one or two kids to share a memory from their own baptism day.
💬 Ask the class
  • Repentance means a change of mind and heart, not just “sorry.” How can you tell when someone has really repented?
  • Jesus never sinned. Why do you think He still insisted on being baptized?
  • At the Jordan, where was each member of the Godhead? What does that teach us about Them?
  • John said Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” How is the Holy Ghost like fire?
  • What’s one “fruit” you want to grow this month to show you’re keeping your baptism covenant?
🎡 Name Spinner (a class game in the Gospel Sparks app)

Class screen: 🎤 Your turn to lead the discussion! · Read it · Spin it · Add to it

8. Testimony

John Came Back

2 min

End quietly with the Restoration of the priesthood that baptized them, and what’s ahead for them.

  1. Lower your voice. Say: “In 1829, John the Baptist came back as a resurrected being and gave the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (Doctrine and Covenants 13). That’s the priesthood that baptized you.”
  2. SAY“The year you turn twelve, the young men will receive that same priesthood, and all of you can go to the temple to be baptized for people who never got the chance.”
  3. Share a short testimony of Jesus Christ’s example and what your baptism covenant means to you.
  4. Introduce the Good Fruit challenge. Ask a child to say the closing prayer.

Class screen: 🕊️ “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” · Matthew 3:17 · Doctrine and Covenants 13

9. Game

Scripture Showdown

5 minBONUS

A tough team quiz reviews John’s preaching, Jesus’s baptism and the Restoration.

  1. Split into Team Wheat and Team Fire. Tap Scripture Showdown.
  2. Read each question aloud. Teams huddle 10 seconds, then a captain answers. Rotate captains every question.
  3. Bonus point for naming the verse.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

Class screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown!

10. Object lesson

Fruit Check

3 minBONUS

A real fruit and a paper fruit show the difference between looking repentant and actually changing.

  1. Hold up the paper apple and the real apple. Ask: “Which one came from a living tree? How can you tell?”
  2. Let a kid smell or hold the real one. Say: “The paper one looks right, but there’s nothing inside. That’s what the Pharisees were doing: looking good without changing.”
  3. Read Matthew 3:8. Ask: “What does real fruit of repentance look like at school or at home?” (Actually apologizing, fixing what you broke, stopping the habit, being kind to the person you hurt.)

Class screen: 🍎 Real fruit or paper fruit? How can you tell?

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: A real apple or orange, and a paper picture of the same fruit

  1. Pick two volunteers. One acts out a pretend apology: rolling eyes, mumbling “sorry,” then doing the same thing again. The other acts out a real one: looking the person in the eye, fixing what went wrong, and changing.
  2. Ask: “Both said sorry. Which one showed real fruit?”
  3. Read Matthew 3:8. Ask: “What does real fruit of repentance look like at school or at home?” (Actually apologizing, fixing what you broke, stopping the habit, being kind to the person you hurt.)

Class screen: 🍎 Fake sorry or real fruit? How can you tell?

Story drama

A Voice in the Wilderness

Matthew 3; Luke 3:2–22; Mark 1:1–11 ↗

Parts to hand out

  • John the BaptistWears camel’s hair, preaches repentance, baptizes at the Jordan, and protests when Jesus comes to him.
  • IsaiahOpens the story by reading his ancient prophecy about a voice in the wilderness (Luke 3:4–5).
  • Pharisees and SadduceesProud leaders who come to watch and brag, “We have Abraham to our father.”
  • The CrowdPeople from Jerusalem and Judaea who come to be baptized and ask, “What shall we do then?”
  • PublicansTax collectors who ask John what they should do.
  • SoldiersRoman soldiers who ask John what they should do.
  • Scripture ReadersRead the marked verses straight from the scriptures when their scene comes.
  • River KeepersHold the edges of the Jordan River and make it ripple on cue.

Scenes

  1. 📜🛣️ A voice crying in the wilderness

    About seven hundred years earlier, Isaiah had prophesied about a messenger who would prepare the way for the Lord, like a road crew smoothing out a road before a king arrives: fill the valleys, flatten the hills, straighten the crooked paths.

    🎬 Isaiah reads Luke 3:4–5. Everyone crouches (valleys) and rises, reaches high (mountains) and lowers, twists (crooked) and stands straight.

  2. 🐪🦗🍯 Camel hair, locusts and wild honey

    Out in the wilderness of Judaea, a man appeared wearing rough camel’s-hair clothes and a leather belt, eating locusts and wild honey. It was John, the son of Zacharias and Elisabeth. His message was short: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

    🎬 John strides to the front and calls out, “Repent ye!” The Crowd turns their heads, curious.

  3. 🌊🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Everyone comes to the Jordan

    People came from Jerusalem, from all of Judaea, and from all around the Jordan River. They confessed their sins, and John baptized them in the river.

    🎬 River Keepers ripple the river. The Crowd lines up at the bank, bows their heads, then steps across the river one by one.

  4. 🎩🪨 “Bring forth fruits meet for repentance”

    Some proud religious leaders came to watch. They thought being Abraham’s descendants was enough. John warned them: don’t just claim you’re good, show it. God could make children of Abraham out of these stones! A tree that doesn’t grow good fruit gets cut down.

    🎬 The Pharisees and Sadducees puff out their chests: “We have Abraham to our father!” John holds up a pretend stone. A reader reads Matthew 3:8.

  5. 🧥💰🛡️ “What shall we do then?”

    The people asked, “What should we do?” John said: if you have two coats, give one away. Share your food. The tax collectors asked, and he said: don’t take more than you’re supposed to. The soldiers asked, and he said: don’t bully, don’t lie about people, be content.

    🎬 The Crowd, then the Publicans, then the Soldiers each step forward and ask, “What shall we do?” A reader reads each answer from Luke 3:11–14.

  6. 🔥🕊️ “One mightier than I cometh”

    Everyone wondered if John was the Christ. He said no. He baptized with water, but Someone mightier was coming, whose shoes John wasn’t worthy to carry, and He would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

    🎬 John kneels and shakes his head. A reader reads Matthew 3:11. The Crowd flickers their fingers upward like flames.

  7. 🚶✋ “Suffer it to be so now”

    Then Jesus came all the way from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. John tried to stop Him, saying he needed to be baptized by Jesus instead. Jesus answered that it was right, to fulfil all righteousness. So John agreed.

    🎬 John holds up both hands to protest. The teacher reads Jesus’s words from Matthew 3:15. John lowers his hands and nods.

  8. 🌊☁️🕊️ Straightway out of the water

    John baptized Jesus all the way under the water, and Jesus came straight up out of the water. The heavens opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.

    🎬 River Keepers make a big splash with the river. Everyone links thumbs to make a dove with their hands and glides it slowly down.

  9. ☁️🗣️ “This is my beloved Son”

    Then a voice came from heaven. It was Heavenly Father: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Son in the water, the Holy Ghost descending, the Father speaking from heaven: three separate members of the Godhead, all at once.

    🎬 Everyone freezes in silence. The teacher reads Matthew 3:17 softly. Kids hold up three fingers: Father, Son, Holy Ghost.

Key verse

Matthew 3:15 ↗
“Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”
In kid words: Jesus said, “Let it happen. This is the right thing to do to obey everything God asks.”
🙌 “Suffer it to be so now” = open both palms toward John, calm and patient · “for thus it becometh us” = point to yourself, then to everyone · “to fulfil all righteousness” = sweep your arm in a big circle, then point up.

More verses

Matthew 3:16–17 ↗
“and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove … This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
In kid words: The Son was baptized, the Holy Ghost came like a dove, and the Father spoke from heaven.
Matthew 3:8 ↗
“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance”
In kid words: Show you’ve really changed by what you do.
Luke 3:10–11 ↗
“What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none”
In kid words: “What should we do?” “If you have two coats, give one to someone who has none.”
Matthew 3:11 ↗
“he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”
In kid words: Jesus gives us the Holy Ghost, who cleans and refines us like fire.

Forehead Guess words20 words

  • 🧔 John the Baptist
  • 🏜️ Wilderness
  • 🐪 Camel’s hair
  • 🦗 Locusts
  • 🌊 Jordan River
  • 🔄 Repent
  • 🎩 Pharisees
  • 💰 Publicans
  • 🛡️ Soldiers
  • 🧥 Two coats
  • 🍎 Good fruit
  • 🪓 Axe
  • 🌾 Chaff
  • 🔥 Fire
  • 💦 Immersion
  • 🕊️ Dove
  • 3️⃣ Godhead
  • ✅ Righteousness
  • 🙌 Aaronic Priesthood
  • 📜 Isaiah
Clues for each word
  • John the Baptist: Son of Zacharias; prepared the way for Jesus
  • Wilderness: Where John’s voice cried out
  • Camel’s hair: What John’s rough clothes were made of
  • Locusts: Bugs John ate with wild honey
  • Jordan River: Where Jesus was baptized
  • Repent: Change your mind and heart and turn to God
  • Pharisees: Proud leaders John warned to bring good fruit
  • Publicans: Tax collectors told not to take extra
  • Soldiers: Told to be content and not bully anyone
  • Two coats: If you have these, give one away
  • Good fruit: Shows your repentance is real
  • Axe: Laid at the root of trees with no good fruit
  • Chaff: Light husks that blow away from the wheat
  • Fire: Jesus baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with this
  • Immersion: All the way under the water
  • Dove: Sign of the Holy Ghost at Jesus’s baptism
  • Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three separate beings
  • Righteousness: Jesus was baptized to fulfil all of it
  • Aaronic Priesthood: John restored it in 1829
  • Isaiah: Prophesied a voice crying in the wilderness
▶ Play Forehead GuessFull screen, 60-second timer, works on any phone.

Scripture Showdown10 questions

  1. Which Old Testament prophet foretold “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”?
    • A. Jeremiah
    • B. Isaiah
    • C. Daniel
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Isaiah Isaiah 40:3, quoted in Matthew 3:3 (Esaias is the Greek form of Isaiah).

  2. What did John the Baptist eat in the wilderness?
    • A. Locusts and wild honey
    • B. Manna and quail
    • C. Figs and bread
    Show answer

    ✅ A. Locusts and wild honey Matthew 3:4. He wore camel’s hair and a leather belt too.

  3. What did John tell someone with two coats?
    • A. Sell one
    • B. Wear both in winter
    • C. Give one to someone who has none
    Show answer

    ✅ C. Give one to someone who has none Luke 3:11. Same with food: share it.

  4. What did John tell the publicans, or tax collectors?
    • A. Quit your jobs
    • B. Take no more than you’re supposed to
    • C. Move to Jerusalem
    Show answer

    ✅ B. Take no more than you’re supposed to Luke 3:13. Repentance showed up right in their everyday work.

  5. John said God could raise up children to Abraham from what?
    • A. These stones
    • B. The river water
    • C. The desert sand
    Show answer

    ✅ A. These stones Matthew 3:9. Being Abraham’s descendant wasn’t enough; they needed good fruit.

  6. John said Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with…
    • A. oil
    • B. water
    • C. fire
    Show answer

    ✅ C. fire Matthew 3:11. The Holy Ghost refines and purifies us like fire.

  7. Why did John first try to stop Jesus from being baptized?
    • A. The river was too cold
    • B. John felt he needed to be baptized by Jesus
    • C. The Pharisees told him to
    Show answer

    ✅ B. John felt he needed to be baptized by Jesus Matthew 3:14: “I have need to be baptized of thee.”

  8. Jesus said He was baptized to fulfil all…
    • A. righteousness
    • B. the prophecies
    • C. the law of Moses
    Show answer

    ✅ A. righteousness Matthew 3:15. Nephi explains more in 2 Nephi 31:5–9.

  9. Which detail shows Jesus was baptized by immersion?
    • A. He wore white
    • B. John used a cup
    • C. He went up straightway out of the water
    Show answer

    ✅ C. He went up straightway out of the water Matthew 3:16. You can only come up out of the water if you went all the way in.

  10. Who restored the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1829?
    • A. Peter
    • B. John the Baptist
    • C. Elijah
    Show answer

    ✅ B. John the Baptist Doctrine and Covenants 13. The same priesthood baptizes children today.

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

Songs

  • Baptism Children’s Songbook, p. 100

    Tells the story of Jesus’s baptism in the Jordan. Find it ↗

  • The Holy Ghost Children’s Songbook, p. 105

    John promised Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost. Find it ↗

  • Choose the Right Hymns, no. 239

    Good fruit comes from choosing the right every day. Find it ↗

This week’s challenge

Good Fruit

Ask yourself John’s question: “What shall I do?” Pick one real change, like sharing something you have two of, apologizing and fixing something, or dropping a habit you know isn’t right. Do it this week so the change shows on the outside. Each night, think of one way you kept your baptism covenant.

Text the parents

Today in Primary we studied Matthew 3 and Luke 3. John the Baptist taught that real repentance shows up as “fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:8), and Jesus, who never sinned, was baptized “to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15) while the Holy Ghost descended like a dove and the Father spoke from heaven. We learned that John returned in 1829 to restore the Aaronic Priesthood. Ask your child: if John the Baptist visited your family, what specific thing do you think he’d tell each of you to do?

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

🔥 Refiner’s Fire · 4 min

  1. Explain that metalworkers heat gold or silver until the impurities rise to the top and can be skimmed away, leaving the metal purer.
  2. Read Matthew 3:11. Ask: “How does the Holy Ghost do something like that in us?” (He helps us notice what’s wrong, feel sorry, and want to change.)
  3. Ask: “When has the Holy Ghost helped you want to be better?”

⚖️ Two Baptisms, Side by Side · 5 min

  1. Make two columns on a whiteboard or paper: Jesus’s baptism and my baptism.
  2. Kids fill in: who baptized (someone with authority), how (immersion), where, what happened after (the Holy Ghost; confirmation), what was promised.
  3. Read Mosiah 18:10 together and add the covenant they made. Ask: “Which part of your baptism day do you remember most?”

🏞️ Susquehanna, 1829 · 4 min

  1. Read Joseph Smith—History 1:68–72 together, taking turns verse by verse.
  2. Ask: “What were Joseph and Oliver doing right before John appeared?” (Praying about baptism after reading about it in the Book of Mormon.)
  3. Ask: “Why does it matter that baptism is done by someone with real priesthood authority?”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

All Valiant 9–11 lessons