Baptism, Covenants Help ‘Tap Into The Divine,’ Elder Nash Teaches Missionaries

Like a branch joined or grafted to a vine that then grows and thrives, baptism and the covenants made at baptism help join people to Jesus Christ and to grow in the gospel, Elder Marcus B. Nash said, citing John 15:4-5.

“Baptism is so important. Without [baptism], we’re just a branch disconnected from the vine. Without baptism, we cannot receive all that a loving Father and His Son desire to give our Father’s children,” Elder Nash, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, taught Tuesday, May 16, at the Provo Missionary Training Center. He was accompanied by his wife, Sister Shelley Nash, who also spoke.

Elder Nash asked the missionaries: “How do we come unto the Savior and be saved?”

Using the missionaries’ answers, he said: “Your role is to invite others to come unto Christ. … By helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, receiving the gift … of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.”

In a role-playing demonstration, Elder Nash stood with two missionaries on one side of the raised stage, and Missionary Training Center President Kevin E. Calderwood was on the other side, representing the journey of a person learning the gospel.

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Elder Nash said missionaries teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Restoration, and also invite people to exercise faith to accept an invitation, including reading the Book of Mormon or praying.

“Faith turns me to the Lord and to repentance, which is inseparably connected with faith in Christ,” Elder Nash said.

As the missionaries remind and follow up with the people they teach, they help them continue to grow their faith, Elder Nash said, as he began walking across the stage. As they learn more from the missionaries and accept more invitations, their faith increases and their lives begin to change, he added as he continued to walk.

“The first fruits of repentance is baptism,” Elder Nash said. Covenants, including those at baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “join us to Christ. It’s how we, metaphorically speaking, take His hand. It’s how we take his yoke upon us.”

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Also, people can then be confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Elder Nash invited missionaries to continue to cultivate the gift of the Holy Ghost, “Do everything you can to listen, cultivate it … and respond. Do everything we can to help others enjoy that great and wondrous gift.”

The covenant includes taking on the name of Christ, serving others, standing as a witness, remembering Him always and keeping His commandments. The Lord promises to remit a person’s sins, to give the companionship of the Holy Ghost, to grant membership in the Church of Christ and to bestow the power of godliness needed to inherit eternal life.

As people continue to endure to the end, “we all fall short,” Elder Nash said. Repent without delay and continue to receive strength through Jesus Christ.

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“Having faith in Christ and repentance is the most hopeful, joyous, ennobling, uplifting, liberating doctrine on the face of the earth. … It connects us to the Savior that we may know how to come unto Christ and be saved,” Elder Nash said.

Pointing to teachings from the 2021 Seminar for New Mission Leaders, Elder Nash said: “The covenant of baptism is not a self-improvement program. It is the very means by which we can tap into the divine. It is how we accept His invitation to take His yoke upon us and receive His divine power. We agree to live according to the prescribed pattern of discipleship. In return, we receive the Holy Ghost so that we can be spiritually reborn.”

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Sister Nash encouraged the missionaries to put in the work needed to get spiritual strength.

While serving in Peru, she saw a dog being exercised by a leash attached to a car and the driver going slowly.

“The driver was just sitting while the dog got their exercise. The driver was getting no benefits from the walk,” she said.

Like physical strength, spiritual strength is an individual endeavor.

“If we want the spiritual benefits of blessings, we have to do the work,” Sister Nash said, adding that there are things to do day by day to be converted and to prioritize their testimony and conversion.