Welcome to Closer to Christ through General Conference,
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent General
Conference talks. This is Abby. And Amy. Let's
jump into it. Today we get to discuss Jesus Christ
and your new beginnings by Elder Patrick Kearon
in Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Looking forward
to the new year in the talks. This is perfectly
aligning This is actually gonna air I think on
New Year's Day. Love it. Happy New Year. Yeah.
Happy New Year. That's one opportunity This new
year is a great time for new beginnings It's
a great time to remember that Jesus Christ offers
as many new beginnings as we are able and willing
to ask for So I love it, Abby. He says, Jesus
went about doing good. And he essentially says,
okay, we read that simple report in the book
of Acts, what an enormous understatement that
is. He says, sorry, he says, Jesus surely did
go about doing good. He's the very essence and
source of goodness. And I just love how he reminds
us that any attempt at describing or summarizing
Jesus Christ, goodness and mercy would be an
understatement. Truly, as the apostle John tried
to express, If we were to attempt to record every
manifestation of the Savior's goodness, even
the world itself could not contain the books
that should be written. I love that when they
say, when you went about doing good, like just
automatically my own mind goes to the living
Christ. The phrase that they've picked out of
there. And so it kind of other phrases of the
living Christ kind of flood my memories or my
emotions. And I'm like, that's such a good, it's
such a good succinct. way to describe his life.
Right. And it's easier for us to follow and we
like put it in those short words. He went about
doing good. Am I going about? Yes. Exactly. Elder
care reminds us how far -reaching Jesus Christ
works. Example, life and sacrifice reach. Quote,
he conversed with the social outcast. He touched
the diseased and unclean. He brought comfort
to the weary. He taught liberating truth, he
called. Sinners to repentance. To each leper,
blind man, adulterous woman, to the lame, the
deaf, the dumb, to every grieving mother, desperate
father, mourning widow, to the condemned. the
shamed, the suffering to the dead in body and
the dead in spirit. What he did was offer a new
beginning. Abby, when I listened to that, I listened
to this talk quite a few times, I was like, okay,
whose life didn't he touch? Whose life hasn't
he touched? And a lot of those in that list,
I think, particularly at that time, and certainly
in our day, there are a lot in that list that
just with each of those, a lot of those circumstances
are like, man, That I'm the worst. I'm the worst
that I could be. How could he ever want to sucker
me? How could I ever come to him? He he covered
You really did every single person that could
have made so I mean what what circumstance are
we going to find ourselves that he? isn't wouldn't
be able to reach us. Right. It's called infinite,
the infinite atonement for a reason. It defies
space and time. The Savior's words to these individuals
were brief, but with them, He painted vast new
horizons of forgiveness, healing, restoration,
peace, and eternal life. And the glorious news
is that He offers this same new beginning to
you and to me. I love how He keeps saying that
in His talk. He keeps bringing it back. He says
all of us can have a new beginning. through and
because of Jesus Christ, even you. That means
even me. How many times in this talk does he
bring it right back to us? I feel like it's over
and over again. He is very broad with the scripture,
showing us how far reaching the atonement was,
and then brings it right back down to us, very
individual. Here's a slew of people that he reached
and touched. Which one can you relate to? So
how hard is it for you to see? He wants to reach
you too. This is the Church of New Beginnings.
According to Elder Kieran, it's also the Church
of Joy, like he said in a previous talk, and
our new beginning doesn't just happen once. We
tend to think that our baptism is our one shot
at new beginnings. It isn't. We don't have just
one chance. These new beginnings can happen every
day and certainly every week as we take of the
sacrament in that ordinance every week. Yes.
It's interesting because Um, love that January
is a new beginning, right? And then there's another
calendar that says something and I don't remember.
I can't think of which one it is right now, but
that spring is also a new beginning. And I mean,
I can see that because things start to grow again
and stuff, you know? Um, so I just love that.
And then also I feel like for me, like all of
the seasons are a chance for me to reflect and
I can have a new beginning or maybe I can put
to rest some of the things or put to bed some
of the things that I've been working on and start
something new. So I love that like for me, because
of the way that the Lord set up the earth, every
season is a new beginning. And that's just like
a really good reminder of me. That's four times
a year. But what Elder Karen is saying is that
also every single week when we partake of the
sacrament. And truly, anytime we turn to the
Lord, we can have countless new beginnings. I
love that. That thought went through my mind
quite a few times too. It's like, we intentionally
have this going on New Year's. A lot of people
think of resolutions, you know, you have fitness
or health goals or whatever, and then you blow
it on January 2nd. You're like, I'll get to that
next 2027. My year for the gym. the phrase, daily
repentance, the prophet's way, like he was really
trying to hit that home, because it's like a
new beginning can be, it can be hour to hour,
it can be, he really brought it from, it can
be this big picture. Don't have to be disappointed
that you can't be baptized every day, because
you can, you can renew those covenants in any
moment, time and time again. Absolutely. So,
the next. The next part talks about new beginning
in how we view repentance. So just like you were
talking about Abby Repentance opens the door
to our new beginnings it are also our fresh starts
and our second chances and like you were talking
about with President Russell and Nelson his teachings
have cleared up misconceptions about the divine
gift of repentance and I think we're finally
beginning to grasp it meaning that it can be
you know We heard this, I think, in like 2013,
15 -ish about get really, really good at repenting
or repent every day, every day, every day. And
then with President Nelson, it just became almost
with every single... And join repentance. Yes,
join repentance. Kind of just really putting
a different light on it. Yes. And it was just
spoken of a lot more, I feel. I think so. I feel
like I finally started to get it. Yep. A new
beginning for everyone every time. Do you need
a new beginning? Can you make a fresh start?
Think about the people the Savior minister to
the people he taught healed raised forgave and
restored. He was selecting from them a particular
Economic class or background what or was he you
know, that's a question. We're asking was he
Distinguishing between the righteous and the
sinful was he singling people out because they
were more deserving or more loved I'd say no
everybody is worthy of new beginnings in the
Savior's infinite divine atonement. Absolutely,
Abby. I think it's interesting because when I
was thinking about like, you know, He keeps saying,
even you, like, can you have a new beginning?
Can the Lord's atonement even reach you? And
I think it's interesting because in my mind I
was thinking, you know what? It's available for
everyone who seeks this Jesus. However, we're
going to go through three different He says,
well, this is a new beginning for everyone. A
new beginning looks different for each person
who comes to Christ. Some came to him with great
faith, right? That would be the first group of
people believing in his power to heal. Like,
for example, the woman with the issue of blood,
the Roman centurion whose servant was dying,
the leper, Jairus, and blind Bartimaeus. So they
each put their faith on the line, hoping that
the goodness and power of the rabbi from Nazareth
would change their lives and change their prospects.
And he did, and he let his healing flow, right?
So that's the first group we look at. Yep. Okay.
And then another group, he blessed those who
had wavering faith, like the father of the sick
child who cried out, perhaps like many of us
would, Lord, I believe help thou my unbelief.
So came to him with everything he could muster,
but still had never seen it happen before. So
of course, didn't know what he could believe.
He was just so hopeful as a father. And this
is surprising. He even poured out compassion
upon those who'd sought him. Hadn't. Yeah. Hadn't
sought him at all like the woman taken an adultery.
She wasn't coming to him for his forgiveness
I was really surprised by that. Yeah, the woman
of name the disabled man at the pool of Bethesda
Just like kind of sees him in his observing.
Mm -hmm and the man born blind Have you felt
him going about doing good in your life even
when you haven't been seeking him or following
him I Feel like that's interesting because again
My first thought was those who seek him. And
he was like, no, essentially what he's telling
each one of us is we're all going to have seasons
of our life where we do have unwavering faith.
We're going to have a season of our life or seasons
where we where it's wavering and we come to him
anyway. And we're going to have other times where
we're not coming to him and he seeks us like
that's amazing. Again, it shows me he is for
everyone. That scenario is particularly interesting
because You would take you getting through the
trial looking back and seeing his hand in it
and recognizing that you hadn't like fallen down
in prayer. You haven't lifted up your heart in
prayer like you were just going through the motions.
Trying to survive. Yeah and I'm thinking different
people would have been put in your path that
were maybe following spiritual impressions to
be his hands. or listening to a conference talk
or listening to someone speak in church, like
we just had Christmas Sunday and oh my goodness,
the talks and the words that were shared just
went straight to my heart. So it is good to be
in places where he can find you. So what does
this mean for you and for me? His goodness and
mercy and loving kindness know no bounds. That
is really the essence of this entire. entire
talk. New beginnings are at the heart of the
Father's plan. Fresh starts are the mission of
the Son. New dawns, new chapters, and new chances
are the simple core of the gospel's good news.
Welcome to 2026. We're so excited to share another
year with you guys. We've got big plans, can
keep taking through the podcasts. And if you
want to join us this week on Facebook, maybe
share with us what your new year and your new
beginnings are going to look like. Oh, I'd love
that. We'll catch you next time. See you next
time.