My dear brethren and sisters: I sincerely pray

My dear brethren and sisters: I sincerely pray that God may inspire me with his holy Spirit in what I shall say. ¶

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a message to the world : they declare that God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them; that he is the Father of our spirits; that we lived with him in the eternal world; and that Jesus Christ is his only begotten Son, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Further, that God arranged a plan before this earth was organized by which his sons and daughters who would obey could return into his presence. ¶

The fundamental of that plan is faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus, in speaking to the Jews, called their attention to this very important fact. He asked them, "Do ye believe in God?" They claimed to believe in God. Then he said, "Believe also in me." Have the people of the world the message of Jesus Christ? Do they actually believe in him as the Savior and Redeemer of the world? Christ says, "Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest ; and how can we know the way ? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Jesus is the way, the truth and the light ; no man cometh back to God except through Jesus Christ. ¶

This plan requires not only faith in God and in his Son, but it requires repentance from sin, leaving off wickedness and all that which is wrong before God ; for if one desires to enter into the presence of God, one's sins must be taken away. The plan provides baptism for the remission of sins. And in order that one may remain faithful and true to God, so that he shall not falter by the way-side, a further arrangement is provided, the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, which leads men and women into all truth, leads them back to God, and makes it possible for them to live that Christ-like life which shall eventually prepare them for, and entitle them to, eternal life. ¶

We read in the holy scriptures that Jesus took Peter, James and John upon the Mount and there conversed with Moses and Elias, and a cloud over-shadowed them, and a voice was heard from the cloud saying, "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him." Was this voice only to Peter, James and John? It was the voice of God to all his children, born and unborn, declaring that this was his Son Jesus Christ, the well beloved. "Hear ye him." Have the people of the world caught the echo of the sound of that voice? Has faith entered into their souls? Do they believe Jesus Christ to be the very Son of God, as the Father declared he was? More than a hundred years ago this same voice came back to the earth and declared to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, that this was his beloved Son and to hear him, and from that day to this the message has gone forth from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that God has again spoken, declared anew the divinity of his Son, the way to salvation, the plan prepared for his children, that it might be possible for them to return to him and gain eternal life. ¶

What the world needs today is a spiritual awakening, a realization of what God requires of them, a turning away from sin, seeking the way to which Jesus Christ calls attention. ¶

Jesus remarked to his disciples, when he sent them out to preach the gospel and to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost, "I will be with you even unto the end of the world." But what requirements did he make? "Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." That warning is to all the world, to those who accept Jesus Christ and the gospel plan. They are required to observe and keep all of the commandments and the sayings of Jesus. If it so be that we do that, he will be with us even to the end of the world. Salvation and exaltation are promised only upon condition that we remain faithful unto the end. ¶

I bear witness to you this afternoon that the gospel of Jesus Christ is restored and that this is the Church and kingdom of God established upon the earth. I also bear witness to you of the truth of the saying of Jesus when he said that the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a pearl of great price, that when men found it they went and sold all that they possessed that they might possess that pearl of great price. ¶

The gospel of Jesus Christ means more to me than all the gold and silver of this world, and all that this world has to offer. I prize my standing in this Church above all. And I pray that God will bless you, and each of us, that we may continue faithful unto the end, and those who have not yet made covenant with God, that they may seek until they shall find. Go to God and he will not turn away from you but will show you the way, the truth, that shall eventually save and exalt you in his presence. God bless you. Amen. ¶