October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Hutch U. Fale › Adults

30-minute lesson · Adults · Relief Society, elders quorum, Sunday School, or home

Not Earned, Never Lost

From “I Am a Child of God,” by Elder Hutch U. Fale · Saturday afternoon session, October 2026 General Conference

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The big idea

Heavenly Father's love for each of His children was never earned and cannot be lost, and understanding it draws us to Jesus Christ and His covenants.

Objective

Learners will be able to explain how understanding Heavenly Father's love changes the way they see the Savior, other people, and their own chance to change, and will choose one way to act on it this week.

Before you teach

  • Read Elder Fale's talk, especially the baby-picture story and his three reasons for understanding our Father's love.
  • Bring one baby picture: your own, a family member's, or any picture of a newborn.
  • Write on the board two headings, Truth and Twist, and below them the numbers 1, 2, 3.
  • Have paper and pens for silent writing.
  • Mark John 3:16, Matthew 7:9–11, and Luke 15:20.

Lesson plan

Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.

4 min0–4

A baby picture

  1. After the prayer, hold up the baby picture. Ask the first question below and take two or three short answers.
  2. Tell Elder Fale's story in your own words: during a Church meeting he felt prompted to do what the teacher was doing, so he texted his wife and asked her to find a baby picture of each of their children. At home they showed the children their pictures. He told them no words could fully express the love he and his wife felt when each was born, then asked what they had done by that day to earn it. They lowered their eyes and answered, Nothing.
  3. Read what he told them next (the first key quote). Let it sit for a moment before moving on.
Ask
  • What had this baby done, by the day this picture was taken, to earn anyone's love?
6 min4–10

A small fraction

  1. Explain that Elder Fale told his children that what parents feel is only a small fraction of what Heavenly Father feels for them. Invite someone to read the second and third key quotes aloud.
  2. Say gently that Elder Fale knew families differ. He taught that for some the picture may be a sibling, a grandparent, or only a desire for a family, and that even when a loving family is not part of our experience here, knowing Heavenly Father loves us can give power, peace, and comfort.
  3. Invite learners to turn to one person nearby and share an answer to one of the questions below. Give three minutes, then ask one or two to share with the class.
Ask
  • When has knowing you are a child of God given you courage to do your best or to trust Him?
  • Elder Fale hoped this truth would give his children the strength and humility to come home when they need to. Why does coming home take both?
5 min10–15

The truth and the twist

  1. Point to the two headings. Explain that Elder Fale followed his witness with a warning: the adversary twists this truth, hoping we will believe that because God loves us we can be saved regardless of pride, rebellion, sin, or rejecting His Son and His Son's servants.
  2. Ask the class to help you fill in the two columns in a few words each. Under Truth: loved before we did anything; love that cannot be lost. Under Twist: so nothing is asked of me.
  3. Read the fourth key quote together. Then read Elder Gilbert's sentence from this conference (the second aligned quote).
  4. Read John 3:16 together and ask what the Father's love gave and what it invites us to do.
  5. Check understanding: ask one learner to say, in a single sentence, the difference between the truth and the twist.
Ask
  • Why does knowing we are loved make covenants matter more to us, not less?
9 min15–24

Three reasons

  1. Divide into three groups (or three pairs). Assign each group one of Elder Fale's three reasons, found in the three paragraphs of the talk that begin First, Second, and Third.
  2. Group 1 reads the first reason with Matthew 7:9–11: understanding the Father's love helps us understand Jesus Christ and makes us eager to join His work.
  3. Group 2 reads the second reason: we become immune to the divisive labels of the world, quick to repent, slow to judge, and watchful that no one is alone. Give this group President Chibota's sentence (the first aligned quote).
  4. Group 3 reads the third reason with Luke 15:20: we are protected from the lie that it is too late for someone to change or turn to Christ.
  5. Give five minutes for groups to discuss the two questions below. Then give each group one minute to report while you write a few of their words beside 1, 2, and 3 on the board.
Ask
  • What does understanding Heavenly Father's love change, according to this paragraph?
  • Where would that change show up in an ordinary week: at home, at work, or at church?
4 min24–28

Which one do I need?

  1. Hand out paper. Invite learners to write silently for three minutes: Which of the three reasons do I most need right now? Is there a label I need to put down, a person I have quietly decided is too late, or a step back toward the Savior I have put off?
  2. Ask them to finish by writing one specific thing they will do before next Sunday. Suggest the ideas in the act list if anyone is unsure. No one needs to share what they wrote.
2 min28–30

Witness and follow-up

  1. Tell how Elder Fale first learned this as a young boy, riding from Nuku‘alofa to his home village of Mu‘a and reading John 3:16 in a New Testament. He said he knew it was true then and knows it is true now.
  2. Remind the class of what he taught this understanding brings: it is essential for our daily and eternal happiness, it prevents deception, and it gives purpose to mortal life. Bear your own brief testimony that each person in the room is a child of God.
  3. Tell the class that next week you will begin by asking what happened when they acted on what they wrote.

Key passages from the talk

“You did not earn it; you cannot lose it. It is yours forever.”

Elder Fale’s talk, paragraph 6

“He loved you before you were born, He loves you today, and He will love you tomorrow.”

Elder Fale’s talk, paragraph 7

“no matter what has happened, you can always come home, just as you can always turn to your Father in Heaven.”

Elder Fale’s talk, paragraph 7

“Receiving Christ through priesthood ordinances and covenants, and then being faithful to those covenants, is the only way for us to fully understand His love and the only way to exaltation.”

Elder Fale’s talk, paragraph 9

Scriptures

  • John 3:16 Read together in the truth-and-twist segment; ask what the Father's love gave and what it invites us to do. Return to it at the close with Elder Fale's boyhood witness.
  • Matthew 7:9–11 Group 1 reads it with the first reason and asks what the Savior wanted us to know about the Father He came to serve.
  • Luke 15:20 Group 3 reads it with the third reason; look for what the father does while the son is still a long way off.

Other voices that agree

“Our identity is not something we achieve; it is something we inherit as beloved sons and daughters of God.”

President Chibota · A Child of God, paragraph 11

“For disciples of Jesus Christ, truth and love always walk together.”

Elder Gilbert · Teach Truth with Love, paragraph 20

Three things to remember

  • I did nothing to earn Heavenly Father's love, and nothing can remove it.
  • His love does not excuse sin; it leads me to Jesus Christ and to keeping my covenants.
  • It is not too late for me or for anyone I love to turn to Christ today.

Ways to act this week

  • Each morning this week, begin your prayer by thanking Heavenly Father that you are His child, and notice what changes in the rest of the prayer.
  • Name one label you have placed on yourself or on someone else, and each time it comes to mind replace it with the words child of God.
  • Think of one person you have quietly decided will never change. Pray for that person by name every day and reach out once in a simple way.
  • Look around at church or at work for someone sitting, standing, or walking alone, and join them.

Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.

Music

  • I Am a Child of God
  • I Know My Father Lives

Adapting the lesson

  • At home: use baby pictures of those present, if that suits your household, and let each person choose one of the three reasons to read and explain. Skip the board.
  • Large class: do the three reasons by rows instead of groups, and take one report from each section of the room.
  • Short on time: keep the baby picture, the truth and the twist, and the silent writing. Summarize the three reasons yourself in one minute.

This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.