Jesus Christ—the True Vine

Recognize Jesus Christ as the True Vine

Elder Soares teaches that Jesus Christ is the true, trusted, and essential source of spiritual nourishment, strength, hope, and joy. As branches depend on the vine, we depend completely on the Savior for spiritual life and growth.

“I am the true vine. … Ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Through this beautiful and moving metaphor, the Savior teaches that He is the true, trusted, and essential source of spiritual nourishment for our souls.

Through Him, we receive strength beyond our own not only to survive the challenges of life but to grow and thrive.

Therefore, just as the branches cannot bear fruit of themselves unless they remain connected to the vine, neither can we reach our full spiritual measure unless we abide in Him and His gospel.

In this sacred Easter season, I solemnly testify that Jesus Christ is the True Vine.

• The Savior used the phrase “I am” to testify of His divine identity.
• His declaration that He is the True Vine is one of His most tender and solemn teachings.
• Jesus Christ is the essential source of spiritual nourishment for our souls.
• Real spiritual growth, strength, hope, and joy come through Him.
• Without remaining connected to Christ, we cannot reach our full spiritual measure.

• When have you felt that the Savior gave you strength beyond your own?
• What experience has helped you know that Jesus Christ is the true source of peace or hope?
• When have you realized that you could not handle something spiritually without the Lord’s help?
• What gospel habit has helped you feel more connected to the Savior?
• How has your testimony of Jesus Christ deepened during Easter or another sacred season?

Choose daily to abide in Christ

Abiding in Christ is a constant and sacred choice. It means letting His teachings shape our thoughts, words, digital behavior, actions, and covenant living through the influence of the Holy Ghost.

Abiding in Christ is not an occasional or casual act; it is a constant, conscious, and sacred choice.

It is allowing His holy teachings to abide in us, elevating our thoughts and governing our words in every setting—including the digital spaces where we so often interact—and purifying and consecrating our actions unto Him.

It is letting our daily choices be guided by the covenants we have made with Him and allowing our lives to be directed by His loving and constant influence through the Holy Ghost.

It is choosing to listen to His voice and the voice of His servants and following what they teach, above all the enticing voices of the world.

• Abiding in Christ requires consistency, not occasional effort.
• The Savior’s teachings should influence our thoughts and words.
• Discipleship includes how we act in digital spaces.
• Covenants help guide our daily choices.
• The Holy Ghost directs our lives as we abide in Christ.
• We show that we abide in Christ by listening to Him and His servants above worldly voices.

• What daily practice helps you stay connected to the Savior?
• When have your covenants guided you through an important decision?
• How have you seen the Holy Ghost influence your thoughts or actions in ordinary moments?
• What change in your media or digital habits has helped you feel closer to Christ?
• When have you chosen the Lord’s voice over another persuasive voice?

Receive strength and change through Christ

Abiding in Christ does not remove life’s burdens, but His grace lightens them and strengthens the heart. Through Him we endure trials, overcome weakness, and become spiritually changed.

Abiding in Christ does not remove the burdens of life, but through His grace they are made lighter, and our hearts are strengthened by the comfort and peace He promises.

As we place ourselves in His loving care and take upon us His yoke, we receive the spiritual power to endure and overcome the trials, weaknesses, and sorrows of mortality—burdens often too heavy to bear without His redeeming help and healing influence.

The Apostle John taught that he who “abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

The Apostle Paul likewise testified, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”

• The Savior does not always remove burdens immediately.
• His grace makes burdens lighter and gives peace.
• Taking His yoke brings spiritual power to endure and overcome.
• Christ helps us through trials, weaknesses, and sorrows.
• Abiding in Him leads us to walk as He walked.
• Being in Christ changes us into a new creature.

• When has the Savior helped make a burden lighter, even if the trial remained?
• What experience has taught you about the healing influence of Christ?
• When have you felt peace from the Lord during sorrow or weakness?
• How have you seen the gospel change you over time?
• What personal example could you share of trying to walk as the Savior walked?

Discern false vines and competing voices

The world is full of persuasive voices and philosophies that can appear good or even seem connected to Christ, yet subtly lead people away from Him. Spiritual discernment is necessary to avoid becoming entangled in these false vines.

The word true suggests that there are, in the world, other vines that present themselves as legitimate, even appearing to represent the loving voice and word of the Savior, the True Vine, and His gospel, while subtly and deviously leading minds and hearts elsewhere.

We live in a world filled with many voices—voices that relentlessly seek our attention and offer persuasive messages and invitations.

Others are attractive in appearance but lack substance. Still others are misleading and may even appear to be connected to Christ and His gospel.

Over time, many of these voices grow into tangled vines, rooted in popular philosophies and spread through various forms of media.

They promise security, happiness, or authenticity, yet they cannot satisfy the soul.

Often, they quietly introduce doubt and division—first in the mind and then in the heart—leading to spiritual loss and sorrow.

Although becoming entangled in such voices may feel exciting at first, it ultimately draws us toward fleeting worldly pursuits and weakens our connection to the True and Living Vine, Jesus Christ.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

• Not every appealing message leads to Christ.
• Some false influences imitate goodness or religious sincerity.
• Popular philosophies often spread through media and culture.
• Worldly voices may promise happiness, security, or authenticity but cannot satisfy the soul.
• These voices can gradually introduce doubt, division, and spiritual loss.
• Disciples must be alert to anything that weakens connection to Jesus Christ.

• When have you recognized that something appealing was not spiritually nourishing?
• What experience has helped you become more discerning about media or messages you consume?
• Have you ever felt your peace diminish when giving too much attention to worldly voices?
• What helped you return your focus to the Savior?
• How have you taught your family or others to recognize truth from error?

Use modern tools with spiritual discernment

Elder Soares teaches that wisdom in a technological age is not rejecting tools but using them with the guidance of the Holy Ghost and never allowing them to replace the voice of the Savior.

My beloved brothers and sisters, true wisdom in our technological day is found in using modern tools with spiritual discernment—through the Holy Ghost—without allowing them to replace the rightful voice of the True Vine.

Only our Redeemer can truly redeem us.

He is the way, the truth, and the life of the world.

“His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.”

• Technology and modern tools require spiritual discernment.
• The Holy Ghost helps us use these tools wisely.
• No tool, platform, or personality should replace the Savior’s voice.
• Jesus Christ alone redeems and leads to eternal life.
• His way is the path to true happiness now and forever.

• How have you tried to use technology in a way that strengthens faith?
• When has the Holy Ghost prompted you to change how you use media or devices?
• What boundaries have helped you keep the Savior’s voice first in your life?
• How has technology ever helped you draw closer to Christ when used wisely?
• What personal lesson have you learned about balancing convenience with spiritual sensitivity?

Follow the Savior through His ordained servants

The Lord invites us to come unto Him through His words and through the words of those He has called and ordained. Hearing and trusting the Savior’s voice through His servants helps us remain connected to the True Vine.

President Dallin H. Oaks declared with clarity and conviction: “Jesus Christ is the way. … ‘There shall be no other name given, nor any other way nor means, whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.’”

With patience and perfect love, He continues to invite us to come unto Him through His words and the words of those whom He has called and ordained to represent Him, to speak in His name, and to testify of Him.

Those who abide in Jesus Christ come to recognize and trust His voice, especially as it is spoken through those He has called to represent Him.

In that sacred moment, I felt the Savior ministering in love to me through the voice of one of His anointed servants.

Elder Holland’s life and mighty ministry testify that as we hear the Savior’s voice through His servants and abide in Him—the True Vine—we bring forth much fruit, “for without [Him we] can do nothing.”

• Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.
• The Savior speaks through those He has called and ordained.
• Listening to prophets and apostles helps us abide in Christ.
• We can feel the Savior’s love and assurance through the ministry of His servants.
• Trusting the Lord’s servants strengthens our connection to Him and helps us bear fruit.

• When have you felt the Savior speaking to you through a prophet, apostle, or local leader?
• What conference message or counsel from a Church leader has especially blessed your life?
• How have you gained a testimony that the Lord works through His servants?
• When have you followed prophetic counsel and later seen the blessing of it?
• What personal experience could you share about feeling peace through priesthood ministry?

Invite the Savior to abide with you

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we must desire the Savior’s presence and invite Him into our lives. That invitation opens the way for spiritual transformation, recognition, and testimony.

After His Resurrection, Jesus walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

“[The Savior] made as though he would have gone further. But [the two disciples] constrained him, saying, Abide with us.”

Those disciples invited the resurrected Savior to abide with them.

Without first the desire and then the invitation, their hearts would not have been transformed, their eyes would not have been opened to recognize Him, and they would not have returned to Jerusalem to bear witness of the living Christ—the True Vine.

• The disciples on the road to Emmaus invited the resurrected Savior to stay with them.
• Desire and invitation are important parts of abiding in Christ.
• When we invite the Savior into our lives, our hearts can be transformed.
• The Lord helps us recognize Him more clearly.
• A deeper experience with Christ leads to stronger testimony and witness.

• When have you consciously invited the Savior’s help into a situation?
• What experience helped your eyes be opened to the Lord’s hand in your life?
• How has prayer or scripture study become a personal invitation for the Savior to abide with you?
• When has your heart been changed after seeking the Lord more intentionally?
• What experience moved you to bear testimony of Christ to someone else?

Bear fruit by remaining in the Savior’s love

Remaining connected to Jesus Christ is essential for spiritual survival and for bringing forth the fruits of the gospel. As we continue in His love, God’s love is perfected in us and we come to know that we are in Him.

The True Vine offers something far greater and eternal than visibility or acclaim—the promise to “dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.”

If we desire to bring forth good fruit, as the Savior taught, we need to receive our spiritual nourishment directly from the True Vine, for He is the source of all light and truth.

Only then do the precious fruits of the gospel grow in our souls, and only then do we find the true light, life, and hope that flow from Him.

In a world of many voices, remaining connected to the True Vine is not merely desirable; it is essential to our spiritual survival.

With perfect love, He invites all to abide in Him and to continue in His love that we may recognize His power in our lives, that God’s love may be perfected in us, and that we may know that we are in Him.

• Christ offers eternal joy, not worldly acclaim.
• Good fruit grows only as we receive nourishment from Him.
• Jesus Christ is the source of light, truth, life, and hope.
• Remaining connected to Him is essential to spiritual survival.
• Continuing in His love allows us to recognize His power in our lives.
• As we abide in Him, God’s love is perfected in us.

• What fruits of the gospel have you seen grow in your life as you have drawn closer to Christ?
• When have you felt that staying close to the Savior protected your faith?
• How have you experienced the Lord’s love being perfected in you over time?
• What blessings have come from choosing eternal things over recognition or worldly success?
• How have you come to know more surely that you are in Him?