The Joy of a Covenant Relationship with God

Rejoice in the risen Christ

Elder Mutombo begins with the Easter witness that Jesus Christ lives. He teaches that the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection are the source of hope, comfort, peace, and the possibility of returning to Heavenly Father.

The greeter says, “Christ is risen.”

The other person responds, “Truly, He is risen.”

This is more than just a simple greeting or declaration. It is a celebration of the divine gift offered by Heavenly Father to us.

The understanding of what Jesus Christ offers through His Atonement and Resurrection brings comfort, peace, and reassurance to all of us.

Without Jesus Christ’s infinite Atonement, no one would have hope to return to our Heavenly Father. And without His Resurrection, death would be the end.

Christ is risen. Truly, He is risen.

• The Easter acclamation expresses a living witness that Jesus Christ has risen.
• The Resurrection is central to Christian hope.
• The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible to return to Heavenly Father.
• Because Christ lives, death is not the end.
• The doctrines of the Atonement and Resurrection bring comfort, peace, and reassurance.

• When have you felt comfort or peace because you knew Jesus Christ lives?
• What personal experience has strengthened your testimony of the Resurrection?
• How has the Savior’s Atonement given you hope during a difficult time?
• When have Easter or sacrament meeting worship helped you feel closer to Christ?

Come unto Christ and receive His mercy

The talk teaches that the Savior’s invitation to come unto Him is open to everyone. No matter a person’s circumstances, Jesus Christ extends mercy, love, and the promise of eternal life.

The Savior Jesus Christ confirmed the divine purpose of His Atonement, saying: “If ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.”

“Come unto me” is a divine invitation which means wherever you are now or whatever you are going through in your life, you can feel God’s infinite love manifested through His Son, Jesus Christ.

• Jesus Christ personally invites all people to come unto Him.
• His mercy is extended to everyone who will come.
• The promise of coming unto Christ is eternal life.
• God’s love is manifested through His Son in every circumstance of life.
• The invitation to come unto Christ applies regardless of current struggles.

• When have you felt the Savior inviting you to come closer to Him?
• How have you experienced the Lord’s mercy in a personal way?
• What helped you turn to Christ during a season of weakness or uncertainty?
• When have you felt God’s love through Jesus Christ in the middle of a trial?

Deepen your relationship with God through covenants

Elder Mutombo teaches that God has a special love for those who make and keep covenants. That divine love deepens through baptism and temple covenants that are faithfully honored.

Indeed, our Heavenly Father has a special love for each person who makes the covenant with Him in the waters of baptism.

That divine love deepens as additional covenants are made in the house of the Lord and are faithfully kept.

• Covenants create a sacred relationship with God.
• Baptism is an important beginning in covenant discipleship.
• Temple covenants deepen that covenant relationship.
• Faithful covenant keeping allows us to experience God’s love more fully.
• Covenants are meant to bless and strengthen disciples.

• How has your baptism influenced your relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
• What blessings have come from trying to keep your covenants more faithfully?
• If you have been to the temple, how have temple covenants deepened your discipleship?
• When have you felt especially loved by God as you honored a covenant?

Stand by covenants in times of grief and opposition

Through the heartbreaking loss of children and pressure from family tradition, Elder Mutombo and his wife found strength in prayer, temple covenants, and the Savior’s love. Their example shows that covenant faithfulness can sustain disciples in profound sorrow and conflict.

We experienced the death of four of our children at the beginning of our marriage.

After the passing of three of our children, Nathalie and I wondered and asked ourselves so many questions, like the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail: “Heavenly Father, where art Thou? Do You hear our cries and prayers?”

Holding his body in my arms, I cried that day, begging for a miracle.

I also remembered the words of our temple sealing and the promises we made to God and to each other.

I felt great peace and reassurance that Nathalie and I are a daughter and a son of a loving and caring Heavenly Father.

I felt the Savior’s love and His hand lifting me up.

I came out with empty hands and told the people who were there, “I’m sorry, but Nathalie is my eternal companion. We are striving together to build an eternal family, and the Savior is helping us achieve it.”

They opposed my decision, but exercising my faith in Jesus Christ made me stronger.

• Even faithful disciples experience devastating grief and unanswered questions.
• Prayer can bring strength even when circumstances do not immediately change.
• Temple sealing promises can anchor a marriage and family in trial.
• The Savior gives peace, reassurance, and strength in moments of deep pain.
• Covenant loyalty may require standing against family pressure and cultural tradition.
• Faith in Jesus Christ strengthens disciples to do what is right.

• When have your covenants helped you endure grief, loss, or disappointment?
• Have you ever had to choose gospel truth over family, social, or cultural pressure?
• When have prayer or temple promises brought you peace in a painful moment?
• How has the Savior strengthened you when you felt you could not carry a burden alone?
• What experience taught you that eternal family relationships are worth defending?

Follow Christ with continuous commitment

The talk teaches that discipleship is not casual or occasional. Following Jesus Christ is a way of life that may require leaving behind worldly approval and the traditions of men.

Teaching about our discipleship and covenant relationship with our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ, our prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks, said: “Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice. It is a continuous commitment and way of life that should guide us at all times and in all places. His teachings and His example define the path for every disciple of Jesus Christ.”

Keeping covenants “would require [the Savior’s] followers to leave what He called ‘that which is highly esteemed among men’ (Luke 16:15) and ‘the tradition of men’ (Mark 7:8).”

• True discipleship is constant, not occasional.
• Jesus Christ’s teachings and example define the disciple’s path.
• Covenant keeping affects every part of life.
• Following Christ may require rejecting worldly values.
• Disciples must sometimes leave behind human traditions that conflict with gospel truth.

• When have you realized that following Christ required more than occasional effort?
• What daily practices help you live as a disciple of Jesus Christ?
• Have you ever had to let go of a habit, priority, or tradition to follow the Savior more fully?
• When has the example of Jesus Christ guided a difficult decision?

Trust the Lord through dark days until Sunday comes

Elder Mutombo compares personal sorrow to the darkness surrounding the Savior’s crucifixion. He testifies that despair does not last forever and that covenant keepers can trust that, through Christ, Sunday will come.

The miracle Nathalie and I prayed for happened after we stood for the truth and the light that is in Jesus the Christ.

We received a strong confirmation that Christ works miracles according to our faith in Him.

Sometimes things do not work out in mortality as we hope, and sometimes we need the faith in Jesus Christ that all will work out in the end.

During this mortal life, each of us will face our own dark days, times when things are not going as hoped.

When you face this darkness of sorrow, please remember that dark day when Jesus Christ was humiliated, bruised, abused, reviled, and lifted on the cross for you and me.

But the doom of that day did not last forever.

The despair did not linger because, on Sunday, the resurrected Savior overcame the bonds of death.

So no matter how dark your days are, please remember that Sunday will come if you faithfully keep the covenants that you made with the Lord.

• Miracles come according to faith in Jesus Christ.
• Some righteous desires are not fulfilled in mortality as hoped.
• Faith includes trusting that all will work out in the Lord’s way and time.
• Everyone experiences dark days in mortality.
• The Savior’s suffering and Resurrection show that sorrow and despair are not final.
• Covenant faithfulness helps disciples endure until joy comes.

• What is a ‘dark day’ in your life when the Lord helped you keep going?
• When have you seen that the Lord’s answer was different from what you hoped, but still merciful?
• Have you experienced a time when ‘Sunday came’ after a period of sorrow or waiting?
• What miracle, large or small, has strengthened your faith in Jesus Christ?
• How have your covenants helped you hold on to hope?

Choose God’s plan of happiness over Satan’s counterfeit

The talk contrasts Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness and eternal joy with the adversary’s effort to make people miserable and break their covenants. Obedience, love for God, and doing His will protect disciples from deception.

Our Heavenly Father’s plan for us is happiness now and joy forever in His presence.

He gives us laws and commandments and makes covenants with us to bless us.

His desire, purpose, and glory are to have us return to Him pure, having proven ourselves worthy of an eternity of joy in His presence.

We know the adversary’s goal. He seeks for all to “be miserable like unto himself.”

He would have us break our covenants to bring sorrow upon us. He is committed to our destruction.

Satan’s program is often described as “play now and pay later.”

He also tries to teach that there are never any consequences or accountability for our actions.

President Ezra Taft Benson taught:

“The great test of life is obedience to God. …”

“The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.”

“The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.”

• Heavenly Father’s plan is designed for happiness now and joy forever.
• Commandments and covenants are gifts meant to bless us.
• God’s goal is to help us return to Him pure and worthy.
• Satan seeks misery, covenant breaking, and destruction.
• The adversary promotes deception by minimizing consequences and accountability.
• Obedience, learning God’s will, and loving the Lord are central tests and tasks of life.

• When have you seen that God’s commandments brought happiness rather than restriction?
• How have you recognized the difference between the Lord’s way and Satan’s counterfeit promises?
• What experience taught you the value of obedience to God?
• When have you felt joy from choosing the Lord’s will over immediate convenience or pleasure?

Become humble and build on Jesus Christ

Elder Mutombo concludes by inviting disciples to become childlike, build on the rock of Jesus Christ, yield in faith, follow the Holy Ghost, and faithfully keep baptismal and temple covenants.

We can grow in humility and strengthen our covenantal relationship with our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ if we change our nature to become like a child, building our life on the rock, who is the Savior Jesus Christ, yielding in faith in Him, responding to the Holy Ghost’s direction to faithfully keep the covenants made with the Lord at our baptism and in the house of the Lord.

• Humility strengthens a covenant relationship with God.
• Disciples should become childlike in their nature.
• Jesus Christ is the rock on whom to build life.
• Faith requires yielding to the Savior.
• The Holy Ghost directs disciples in covenant living.
• Baptismal and temple covenants should be kept faithfully.

• What has helped you become more humble and childlike before the Lord?
• When have you felt that your life was more secure because it was built on Jesus Christ?
• How has the Holy Ghost guided you to keep a covenant more faithfully?
• What specific covenant practice has brought you closer to Heavenly Father and the Savior?