April 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering – Repent and Rejoice This Easter
The April 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable ties together Elder Matthew S. Holland’s October 2020 General Conference talk “The Exquisite Gift of the Son” and this April’s Come, Follow Me lesson on Easter.
These ministering printables are a great way to help families incorporate the “Come, Follow Me” lessons into their own study. They are also perfect for Young Women’s, Relief Society, Sunday School, or Family Home Evening. I hope that these ministering printables will be a simple way to reach out to those we minister to.
Download April Easter 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable (4×6) (Four to a Sheet PDF)
These clear boxes are quickly becoming one of my favorites. It is such a cute way to gift candy and I love the way a printable looks on top of it. Since it is Easter this month, I filled the boxes either with Nerd Jelly Beans or Cadbury chocolate eggs, two of my favorite Easter candies!
April 2021 Come Follow Me Ministering Printable
Repent and Rejoice This Easter
On Easter, we celebrate the Atonement – Christ’s victory over physical and spiritual death. It is a gift that He not only paid for, but implores us to accept. This year as we read through Doctrine and Covenants in “Come, Follow Me,” we hear the Lord personally pleading for us to repent and follow Him.
How Exquisite You Know Not
In Doctrine and Covenants 19:15-19, the Lord exhorts us to repent or suffer the consequences of sin, saying, “and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.” Christ knows this pain personally because he suffered those things for us, “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.” Christ suffered all this for us so that we might not suffer if we would repent.
Lift Up Your Heads and Rejoice
On Easter Sunday, the Lord appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple shortly after it had been dedicated. The first thing He said to them is, “I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father. Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice.” (Doctrine and Convents 110:4-5)
Notice how the very first thing He tells them is that they are forgiven and to rejoice. We see this same pattern repeated over and over again when the Lord appears to others in the scriptures. When Enos prays in the Book of Mormon, the Lord tells him his sins are forgiven and his guilt is swept away. In the Doctrine and Covenants, it is often one of the first things the Lord tells His disciples at the beginning of a revelation (Doctrine and Covenants 31:5, 36:1, 60:7, 61:2, 64:3, 90:1, 108:1, and many others). In the Old Testament when Isaiah sees the Lord, he laments because he is a man of unclean lips and is in the presence of the Lord. Isaiah’s sins are then purged as the seraphim lays a hot coal from the altar on his lips.
The Atonement
I have never stood before the Lord in this life, but someday I will. Given the experiences of others, I can only imagine my mind will be filled with the millions of reasons I do not deserve to be there. Like Alma in the Book of Mormon, I may wish to “become extinct both soul and body.” But also like Alma, I can turn my mind to Christ and His Atonement.
Although on a much smaller scale, I feel somewhat the same as I go to renew my temple recommend. When I am asked the question, “Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord’s house and participate in temple ordinances?” I feel a little uncomfortable. I never can say yes without qualifying it. I always say, “Yes, thanks to the grace and Atonement of the Savior.” Those blessings are only available to me because Christ paid the price for my sins. In that moment of accountability, I am not perfect. But I am trying and the Lord knows that. Thanks to Christ, I can also lift up my head and rejoice.
The Purpose of Repentance
In his October 2020 General Conference talk, Elder Matthew S. Holland talks about the exquisite pain of our sins and the exquisite joy of forgiveness. He says, “We must never forget that the very purpose of repentance is to take certain misery and transform it into pure bliss. Thanks to His “immediate goodness,” the instant we come unto Christ—demonstrating faith in Him and a true change of heart—the crushing weight of our sins starts to shift from our backs to His. This is possible only because He who is without sin suffered “the infinite and unspeakable agony” of every single sin in the universe of His creations, for all of His creations—a suffering so severe, blood oozed out of His every pore. From direct, personal experience the Savior thus warns us, in modern scripture, that we have no idea how “exquisite” our “sufferings” will be if we do not repent. But with unfathomable generosity He also clarifies that “I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent”—a repentance which allows us to “taste” the “exceeding joy” Alma tasted.”
Rejoice This Easter
As imperfect sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father, we must not forget the why behind the Savior’s suffering. He did not come to cast us aside, but to gather us “as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:65) He suffered so that we could rejoice.
Elder Holland testifies, “I witness to you that through the staggering goodness of Jesus Christ and His infinite Atonement, we can escape the deserved agonies of our moral failings and overcome the undeserved agonies of our mortal misfortunes.”
This Easter, don’t forget to rejoice. Block out all the negative voices telling you that you aren’t good enough. Focus on the voice of the Savior who calls us all to Him.
