Jeremiah 1–20 | “Before I Formed Thee in the Belly I Knew Thee”

This week on Come Follow Me for Teens, we study Jeremiah 1–20 and three connected truths about who we are and who God is helping us become.

Teaching Jeremiah 1–20 this week?
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Jeremiah 1–20 Study & Teaching Guide:
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“I Knew Thee”

Jeremiah feels young and unprepared, but God reminds him that He knew him before birth and had already been preparing him for a purpose.

Sometimes God sees capacities in us that we cannot yet see in ourselves.

“I Formed Thee”

We slow down over a part of Jeremiah 1:5 that is often overlooked and talk honestly about body image, comparison, and learning to see our bodies through God’s eyes.

Your body does not have to be perfect to be sacred.

Physical perfection is a resurrection promise—not a mortal requirement.

“As the Clay Is in the Potter’s Hand”

In Jeremiah 18, God compares His people to clay in the hands of a potter.

We’ll talk about why a life that needs reshaping is not a ruined life, and how staying close to Jesus Christ—the Living Water—can help keep our hearts soft enough for God to continue shaping us.

Through all three principles runs one central truth:

God knew you. He formed you. And He is still forming you.

This week’s For the Strength of Youth Discussion Guide:
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I like this layout much better. The Study & Teaching Guide is essentially above the fold, and anyone who wants the episode content can keep reading without having to wade through a long sales section first.

This week on Come Follow Me for Teens, we study Isaiah 58–66 and the theme “The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion.”

Isaiah gives us one of the clearest descriptions anywhere in scripture of what the Savior came to do: bind up the brokenhearted, free captives, comfort those who mourn, and give “beauty for ashes.”

Teaching Isaiah 58–66 this week?

The complete Study & Teaching Guide gives you three ready-to-use teaching paths, scripture discovery questions, meaningful discussion and application ideas, and a Teach This in 25 Minutes option—so you can spend less time building the lesson and more time helping teens actually engage with it.

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Beauty for Ashes

Centuries after Isaiah wrote his prophecy, Christ stood in the synagogue at Nazareth, read those very words, and declared:

“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

We’ll explore what it means for the Redeemer to create beauty from experiences that feel broken, painful, or beyond repair.

The fire may be part of your history, but it doesn’t get to write the ending.

“Is Not This the Fast That I Have Chosen?”

Isaiah connects fasting with remarkable promises of light, healing, guidance, answered prayer, and the breaking of spiritual yokes.

We’ll look at how fasting teaches self-mastery, how Satan often tempts us with shortcuts to legitimate desires, and why the Savior taught that some difficult battles require “prayer and fasting.”

Self-mastery teaches us that we don’t have to obey every appetite. The Savior teaches us that we don’t have to fight every appetite alone.

“Call the Sabbath a Delight”

The Savior taught that “the sabbath was made for man.”

Instead of asking only, “What am I allowed to do on Sunday?” we’ll ask a better question:

“What did God design the Sabbath to do for me?”

The Sabbath can become a weekly opportunity to reconnect with God, partake of the sacrament, and carry more of His influence into the days ahead.

Sometimes the clearest evidence of a meaningful Sabbath is simply this:

Sunday changes Monday.

Through all three principles runs one central truth:

The practices are not the power. The Savior is.

If you’re teaching this week, the complete Isaiah 58–66 Study & Teaching Guide is ready to help you turn these ideas into a meaningful discussion with teens.

Get this week’s Isaiah 58–66 Study & Teaching Guide:
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Get this week’s FSY Discussion Guide: Oct. Week 2 | The Word of Wisdom:
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This week’s episode studies Isaiah 50–57 and the theme “He Hath Borne Our Griefs, and Carried Our Sorrows.”

We begin with one of the clearest prophecies of Jesus Christ’s Atonement in the Old Testament:

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.”

Isaiah shows us that the Savior carries more than the burden of sin. He also understands grief, sorrow, pain, weakness, fear, and the heavy things that simply come with mortality.

We’ll talk about why some burdens become almost unbearable—not because they were enormous when we first picked them up, but because we have been trying to carry them alone for too long.

We’ll also look at Adam and Eve hiding from God after their transgression and what the Lord’s question “Adam, where art thou?” can teach us about repentance.

Sometimes repentance is an invitation to stop hiding and let Jesus Christ carry what we cannot.

Next, Isaiah gives another powerful promise:

“With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee.”

We’ll talk about what happens when we sincerely repent, try again, and still find ourselves struggling with weakness.

The Lord promises:

“As often as my people repent will I forgive them.”

That does not mean sin does not matter. It means our repeated need for repentance does not exhaust the Savior’s mercy.

Through Alma the Younger’s story and Isaiah’s words “I have seen his ways, and will heal him,” we’ll explore why God may be far more patient with us than we are with ourselves.

Finally, Isaiah asks:

“Wherefore do ye spend … for that which satisfieth not?”

We’ll talk about the things we genuinely thirst for—love, belonging, peace, relief, identity, forgiveness, and purpose—and the many imitations the world offers to satisfy those needs.

Using Moses’ experience with God, the Savior’s conversation with the woman at the well, and a familiar Captain Crunch story, we’ll explore why the best defense against spiritual counterfeits is becoming deeply familiar with what is real.

This week’s invitation:

Come with the burden.

Come again when you fall.

Come thirsty.

Jesus Christ carries our griefs and sorrows.

His kindness is everlasting.

And He offers the living water that can actually satisfy the soul.

• Get this week’s Isaiah 50–57 Study & Teaching Guide:
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This week’s episode studies Isaiah 40–49 and the theme “Comfort Ye My People.”

We begin with one of the Lord’s most repeated promises in these chapters:

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee.”

Isaiah does not promise that we will avoid every difficult circumstance. Instead, the Lord says, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” We’ll talk about why fear can make us forget what we already know about God and why faith sometimes means rehearsing His promises instead of continually rehearsing the problem.

Next, Isaiah describes being “chosen… in the furnace of affliction.”

We’ll explore the difference between simply going through something difficult and allowing Jesus Christ to refine us through it. Not every painful experience is caused by God, but through Christ, adversity can still develop courage, patience, compassion, humility, and trust.

Drawing on Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s teachings about “soul-stretching experiences” and the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, we’ll talk about why sometimes Christ delivers us from the furnace—and sometimes He meets us in it.

Finally, Isaiah gives one of scripture’s most personal assurances:

“Yet will I not forget thee.”

“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”

We’ll talk about what it means to feel forgotten by God and why that feeling is not the same as actually being forgotten.

When circumstances make us wonder whether heaven still sees us, Isaiah gives us somewhere to look:

His hands.

This week’s message:

When I’m afraid, He is with me.

When I’m in the furnace, He can refine me.

When I feel forgotten, He remembers me.

• Get this week’s Isaiah 40-49 Study & Teaching Guide: https://joshdowns.com/cfm-resources/p/isaiah-40-49-comfort-ye-my-people

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This week’s episode studies Isaiah 13–35 and the theme “A Marvellous Work and a Wonder.”

We begin with Isaiah’s warning about Babylon, which he describes as “the glory of kingdoms.” Babylon looked powerful, beautiful, and secure, but Isaiah makes one thing clear: anything built on pride and worldliness will eventually fall.

We’ll talk about why that matters for teenagers living in a world that constantly invites them to measure their worth by appearance, possessions, popularity, success, and the opinions of other people. There is nothing wrong with enjoying nice things, but the danger begins when those things start answering the question:

Who am I, and how much am I worth?

The world keeps moving the measuring stick.

God does not.

Next, we turn to Isaiah 29 and his prophecy of “the words of a book.” Isaiah says that through those words, the deaf will hear, the blind will see out of darkness, and “the meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord.”

We’ll explore how these verses point toward the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and, even more importantly, what the Book of Mormon is meant to do in our lives.

It is meant to help us see more clearly, hear God more fully, come out of confusion, and draw our hearts closer to Jesus Christ.

The Book of Mormon has already come forth into the world.

The question is:

Will we allow its words to come forth in us?

Finally, Isaiah declares:

“I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder.”

In Isaiah 35, that marvelous work reaches people with weak hands, feeble knees, and fearful hearts with this promise:

“Be strong, fear not … your God will come … he will come and save you.”

Drawing on Elder Brook P. Hales’s message “Mortality Works!”, Elder Patrick Kearon’s teaching that God’s plan is designed to bring His children home, and Elder J. Devn Cornish’s message “Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It?”, we’ll talk about why struggle does not mean God has stopped working.

Being unfinished is not the same as being hopeless.

Sometimes our hands feel weak.

Sometimes our hearts feel fearful.

Sometimes we cannot yet see what God is doing.

But Isaiah’s message is full of hope:

Babylon falls.

God’s word helps us see.

And God is still doing a marvelous work in us.

• Get this week’s Isaiah 13–35 Study & Teaching Guide:
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This week’s episode studies Isaiah 1–12 and the theme “God is My Salvation.”

We begin with one of Isaiah’s most hopeful promises:

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

We’ll explore what this teaches about repentance, grace, and the power of Jesus Christ to help us begin again. Through Corianton’s story, teachings from President Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Patrick Kearon, and a personal experience with repentance, we’ll talk about why our mistakes do not have to become our identity.

The Savior’s invitation is not, “Come after you have fixed everything.”

It is:

“Come now.”

Next, we look at some of Isaiah’s powerful names for Jesus Christ:

Immanuel. Counsellor. The Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. The Prince of Peace.

Each name teaches us something about who He is and what He can personally become in our lives.

We’ll also consider what it means to take His name upon ourselves and ask:

If I carry the name of Jesus Christ, what should that begin to change about the way I live?

Finally, Isaiah looks forward to a day when:

“They shall not hurt nor destroy … for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”

We’ll explore why knowing Jesus Christ more deeply should lead to greater peace in the way we treat others—and even in the way we treat ourselves after making mistakes.

Drawing on President Russell M. Nelson’s invitation to become peacemakers, the story of Chris Williams choosing forgiveness, and Brad Wilcox’s teaching from “Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness,” we’ll consider how the knowledge of the Prince of Peace can begin changing our hearts now.

Isaiah begins with scarlet.

But scarlet is not the end of the sentence.

Snow is.

And because of Jesus Christ, our worst chapter does not have to be the end of our story.

• Get this week’s Isaiah 1–12 Study & Teaching Guide:
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This week’s episode studies Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and the theme “He Shall Direct Thy Paths.”

We begin with Proverbs 3:5–6:

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

We’ll explore the difference between using our understanding and relying on it so completely that we stop seeking God’s direction. Through the Holland “wrong road” story and Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s teaching that “the dots will connect,” we’ll talk about why God’s path may not always make sense while we are walking it.

Next, we look at the repeated scriptural invitation to “fear the Lord.”

Godly fear is not being terrified of God. It means trusting and reverencing Him enough that His voice matters more than the pressures, opinions, and fears around us.

Drawing on Alma’s people, who “hushed their fears” by remembering the Lord, and Joseph Smith’s experience with the lost 116 pages, we’ll consider:

What do I sometimes fear more than I trust God?

Finally, Ecclesiastes teaches:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

We’ll explore why trusting God also means trusting His timing and His will—doing the things that lie within our power while learning to place the rest into His hands.

The episode closes with Moroni’s declaration:

“I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ.”

Sometimes we won’t understand the path. Sometimes we’ll be afraid. Sometimes we’ll have to wait.

But Jesus Christ remains worthy of our trust.

• Get this week’s Proverbs and Ecclesiastes Study & Teaching Guide:
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This week’s episode finishes our study of Psalms 102–150 and the theme: “Let Every Thing That Hath Breath Praise the Lord.”

We begin in Psalms 110 and 118 by looking at passages written centuries before the Savior’s mortal ministry that Jesus Christ and His Apostles later connected directly to Him.

Psalm 118 declares: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”

We’ll explore how the Old Testament continually points toward Jesus Christ through prophecy, symbolism, ordinances, deliverance, and the experiences of God’s people—and why one of the most important questions we can ask while studying scripture is:

What does this teach me about Jesus Christ?

The more we learn to look for Him, the more we begin to recognize that He has been at the center of God’s plan all along.

Next, we’ll return to one of the most familiar verses in Psalms:

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
—Psalm 119:105

We studied this verse earlier while learning how to find the Psalm we need, but this time we’ll go deeper into what the image of a lamp can teach us when life itself becomes difficult.

Sometimes what we want from God is a map. We want Him to show us where the road is going, why something is happening, and how everything will eventually work out.

But a lamp may only give enough light to take the next step.

We’ll talk about how God’s word can provide direction, comfort, hope, reassurance, and truth during grief, illness, unanswered prayers, uncertainty, and other experiences that may not come with immediate explanations.

Sometimes faith is not seeing the whole road.

It is trusting the light God has already given us enough to take the next faithful step.

Finally, we’ll come to the closing chapters of Psalms.

After 150 Psalms filled with fear, repentance, grief, questions, deliverance, gratitude, joy, worship, and hope, the final five repeatedly declare:

“Praise ye the Lord.”

We’ll explore why praise is deeper than simply thanking God when life goes the way we hoped.

Drawing on President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s teachings about gratitude in every circumstance, we’ll discuss how gratitude can become an act of faith and testimony—something rooted in what we already know about God and Jesus Christ even when our present circumstances are difficult to understand.

Over time, praise becomes less about what happened today and more about what we have learned about God through everything that has happened.

So as we finish Psalms, maybe the final question is not simply:

What did I learn?

Maybe it is:

What do I now have to praise God for?

This week’s episode helps teens learn to see Jesus Christ more clearly in scripture, rely on God’s word when they cannot see the entire road ahead, and develop the kind of faith that can still say:

“While I live will I praise the Lord.”
—Psalm 146:2

https://joshdowns.com/cfm-resources/p/psalms-102-150-come-follow-me

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