The Gospel of Jesus Christ

General Conference was a few weeks ago and I wanted to share some thoughts that I had from one of my favorite talks. This is from the Saturday afternoon session by Elder L. Tom Perry.

He gave a talk entitled, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" that really stood out to me because his words reminded me a lot of what we taught people on my mission in Brazil. The gospel teaches us what we need to know to return to live with our Father in Heaven again. Elder Perry gave an analogy of a cookbook recipe. Pictures in cookbooks help us envision the outcome if we follow the directions closely. If the directions are not followed or an ingredient is left out, the taste and appearance are different than the picture. Elder Perry relates this analogy to 5 ingredients to the recipe of our vision of eternal life.

1) Faith in Christ and His Atonement
"In order to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, people must first embrace Him whose gospel it is. They must trust the Savior and what He has taught us. They must believe that He has the power to keep His promises to us by virtue of the Atonement. When people have faith in Jesus Christ, they accept and apply His Atonement and His teachings."

2) Repentance
Sincere and true repentance is required for forgiveness of our sins. Repentance begins with an attitude of humility. We must come forward with a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" to prepare for the cleansing process of baptism. However, repentance is a principle that must be practiced daily to be worthy of the Holy Ghost's presence.

3) Baptism
Baptism is a gate to heaven. It is "an ordinance denoting entry into a sacred and binding covenant between God and man." To enter this gate, baptism must be performed by one who has authority and in the proper way Christ taught us. Being baptized by immersion is a symbol of Christ's death and resurrection (Romans 6:4). Immersion into the water symbolizes the death of our past sins, while rising out of the water symbolizes the resurrection of a new life and forgiveness of our sins.

4) Gift of the Holy Ghost
Upon baptism we promise to "forsake the world, love and serve their fellowmen, visit the fatherless and the widows in their afflictions, proclaim peace, preach the gospel, serve the Lord, and keep His commandments." In turn, Heavenly Father promises to "pour out His Spirit more abundantly upon us." We receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those with authority to do so.

5) Endure to the end
After the ordinances of the gospel are performed, we enter the straight and narrow path that leads to eternal life. Enduring to the end is not easy, in fact, it is intended to be difficult. "We must always maintain faith and hope in Christ to endure to the end, and among the many ways we do this are praying, fasting, and reading the scriptures. These practices will fortify us against the subtle schemes and fiery darts of the adversary."

We can take comfort in knowing that we are not alone in our quest to return to our Father's presence. The whole purpose of an earthly life is that we can be tried and tested to prove our worthiness to enter our Father's kingdom. It is a marvelous and perfect plan. I am grateful for living prophets and apostles who act as the Lord's mouthpiece on the earth to teach us the way to eternal life.

For a full copy to this talk follow:
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-16,00.html