The Only Begotten Son was born to the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ fulfilled ancient prophecies and covenants between God and His people. During Christ’s ministry, He endowed priesthood and leadership authority upon many of His worthy followers on the earth and taught divine truths that were recorded in sacred scriptures. He administered saving temporal ordinances such as baptism, which He Himself submitted to though He had never sinned. The Savior did this because He asks us to follow Him in all things. He ministered to the sick and to the sinners with pure love and compassion. That compassion extends to each of us through the Atonement, a gift that satisfies the scales of justice by paying for our transgressions—a gift only Jesus Christ could have given.

By humbling ourselves, exercising faith on His name, repenting, and keeping His commandments, we can receive the blessings of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice. Before His ministry began, Jesus Christ was a carpenter, and in many ways, He still is. Christ’s skilled, patient hands can transform us if we remain teachable, even as little children. In Matthew 18:4, the Savior taught, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” When we become humble and rely on our Savior, we come to understand a great truth about ourselves: there is an inherent divinity—the Light of Christ—in each of us.

The word gospel literally means “good news,” and how could the gospel of Jesus Christ be otherwise? The fundamental gospel elements are these: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Throughout the history of humankind, God’s prophets have preached Christ’s gospel. In 1830 Jesus Christ restored His gospel for our day through a prophet named Joseph Smith. The Lord instructed Joseph Smith to bring forth and translate the ancient scriptural text known as the Book of Mormon. The Savior also restored the keys of the priesthood and the saving ordinances that are required for His Church to accomplish His work again on earth. The Prophet Joseph Smith received revelation from God, as have all his successors, and during their lives they have all taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of their time. The current prophet does so today. From each of these prophets we learn what is required of us to become more like God and to prepare to live with Him again.

There are five fundamentals of Christ’s gospel. The first is faith in Jesus Christ. It isn’t enough to believe in Christ; we also have to believe Him—believe that we can be made whole through His Atonement and that we are worthy of such a gift. Through faith, our minds and hearts are opened, and the words of the gospel find room to settle into our hearts. Such faith and humility bring about the second principle of the gospel: repentance. We want to correlate our actions with our beliefs, to align our behavior with our thoughts, so not only do we seek sincere forgiveness for previous misdeeds, but we also actively turn toward Christ and a new way of living our lives.

The third fundamental of the doctrine of Christ is baptism by immersion. Baptism is a symbolic ordinance of cleansing that signifies our rebirth as disciples of Christ and followers of His gospel. We join His Church and make sacred covenants to God. We then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the fourth fundamental of Christ’s gospel, and our sins are forgiven. As a member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost is one with God and Jesus Christ in character and in purpose. He is the conduit of Their love and knowledge, and He is given to us as a constant companion if we remain worthy. He speaks to us in a still, small voice to communicate to us the will of God and to provide guidance and direction. As the Apostles of Christ did when they were on the earth, priesthood holders today place their hands on the heads of the newly baptized and confer the gift of the Holy Ghost upon them.

While the ordinances of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost may seem almost momentary in their brevity, the process of following the gospel itself is one of enduring commitment, a promise we make to retain the freshness of conversion always and to constantly recommit ourselves. Enduring to the end is the fifth fundamental of the gospel that eventually leads to salvation. Taking the sacrament weekly is an important part of this process, and each time we partake of the bread and water, we remember Jesus Christ and His Atonement and we remember to keep the commandments of the restored gospel.

Jesus Christ is assisted by earthly Apostles now as He was during His ministry. The Book of Mormon, which was kept and preserved to be brought forth in our day, is another witness of Jesus Christ. It includes teachings of the Savior and clarifies many aspects of the gospel. It also tells of His visit to the Americas, where He taught the people and called Apostles as He had done in Israel; this is another witness that the Savior’s message is for everyone. Today, around the world, some 80,000 young Mormon missionaries are bringing this testament of Him to all who will receive it, allowing the book’s truth about our Redeemer and about the inherent divinity of each of us to be confirmed by the Light of Christ inside them. That light is in us; it is part of what binds us together as a people—His people.