Come, Follow Me for Teens

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:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-resources/p/isaiah-50-57-he-hath-borne-our-griefs-and-carried-our-sorrows

Get this week’s FSY Discussion Guide: Oct. Week 2 | The Word of Wisdom https://joshdowns.com/fsy-discussion-guides/p/october-week-2-word-of-wisdom
• Join the Come Follow Me for Teens membership for full access to weekly lessons, early episodes, Teaching Tips, FSY Discussion Guides, devotionals, and more:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-membership

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

• Join the Come Follow Me for Teens membership for full access to weekly lessons, early episodes, Teaching Tips, FSY Discussion Guides, devotionals, and more:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-membership

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:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-resources/p/isaiah-13-35-study-teaching-guide
• Join the Come Follow Me for Teens membership for full access to weekly lessons, early episodes, Teaching Tips, FSY Discussion Guides, devotionals, and more:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-membership

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:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-resources/p/isaiah-1-12-study-teaching-guide
• Join the Come Follow Me for Teens membership for full access to weekly lessons, early episodes, Teaching Tips, FSY Discussion Guides, devotionals, and more:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-membership

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:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-resources/p/proverbs-ecclesiastes-come-follow-me-teens-study-teaching-guide
• Join the Come Follow Me for Teens membership for full access to weekly lessons, early episodes, Teaching Tips, FSY Discussion Guides, devotionals, and more:
https://joshdowns.com/cfm-membership