November 3, 2025, 4:00 AM MST
Editor’s note: To support individual and family gospel study, Church News is publishing articles about the October 2025 general conference messages. In addition to checking out these resources, we encourage you to listen and read the entire address.
About this lecture
Read the full message here. Read a summary of Elder Jagi’s message here.
overview
When Elder Jaggi toured Hill Air Force Base near Layton, Utah, a pastor showed him around the place of worship. You can display different religious symbols for different faiths. When Elder Jaggi asked what the chaplain used during Latter-day Saint services, the chaplain showed him the altar where the sacrament is prepared and blessed. Many people mentioned in scripture built altars, including Adam and Eve, who learned that the sacrifice offered on the altar was the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Moses 5:5-8.) Covenants unite God’s children with the Savior and bring them closer to His mercy, protection, sanctification, healing, and rest.
Covenant Mercy and Protection
As a teenager, Elder Jaggi asked his father if he could take a week off from church. Her father said she was old enough to make her own decisions, but gave him this advice: “If you choose to miss the sacrament once, it is much easier to choose to miss it again.” Satan tries to separate people from consecrated objects and places. Worshiping the Savior gives us spiritual strength to resist temptation. Because we intentionally make and keep our covenants, we are more likely to stay on the covenant path. Covenants form a relationship with God.
reflection and sanctification
Symbolically kneeling at the altar can be a time to check in with God and reflect on your life. Hearers can always have the Holy Spirit as their companion as they prepare for and participate in the sacrament. By the divine power of the Holy Spirit, they can always maintain remission of sins. Because Jesus Christ drank the bitter cup, all of God’s children can overcome the challenges of this world through Jesus.
A place of healing and rest
As listeners learn about and are united with Jesus Christ through the covenants, they can receive healing. In the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, the lion Aslan is resurrected after giving his life for others. He taught that the sacrifice of a willing victim who did not commit treachery has the power to soften death. Similarly, Jesus Christ makes it possible to live again. President Russell M. Nelson once told a story about a little boy on an open house tour of a temple who thought the altar was a place to rest. When individuals enter into a covenant with the Lord, He gives them rest.
reflection questions
What are you doing to prepare for your next ritual?
How have you felt that your covenants have given you strength?
How have covenants changed your relationship with Christ?
What are some ways to make the sacrament a more meaningful experience?
Why does God require us to make and keep covenants?
speaker’s words
“When we receive the ordinances of the sacrament in church, receive endowments and sealings in the temple, and make and honor our covenants, we are united to our Savior and have access to more of his mercy, protection, sanctification, healing, and rest.” We demonstrate our loyalty and love to the Lord. Our strength and power increases with every promise made and kept. ”Depression, cancer, diabetes, online bullying, loss of pregnancy, loss of a child, sibling, and father? Because Jesus took on the bitter cup of trembling, the cup of wrath, for me, for my family, and for all of us. ”
Reference scripture
“And he gave them a commandment to worship the Lord their God, and to offer the firstborn of their flocks as a sacrifice to the Lord. And Adam was obedient to the commandments of the Lord. And after many days, an angel of the Lord appeared to Adam and said, “Why do you sacrifice to the Lord?” And Adam said to him, “I do not know, except what the Lord has commanded me. And the angel said, “It is an imitation of the sacrifice of the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Therefore, in all that you do in the name of the Son, you must repent and call on God forever.” “Now this is the commandment: Repent, and come unto me, all you that end of the earth, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive the Holy Spirit, and be sanctified, and stand without spot before me at the last day.”
invitation and promise
“Building our understanding of the Savior’s eternal Atonement step by step, precept after precept, inoculates us spiritually against the machinations of the Adversary.” “When we come to the altar, we do not receive a reward, but give a gift. “The arms of our Savior are outstretched, and the table of our Savior is spread out. Come worship the Son of God at His holy altar.”
story
When Elder Jaggi toured Hill Air Force Base near Layton, Utah, the chaplain showed him the area where religious services were held. Various religious symbols may be displayed during worship services. When Elder Jaggi asked what the pastor used during Latter-day Saint services, the pastor pointed to the altar where the sacrament is prepared and blessed. Other faiths also use altars in some form. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they were commanded to build an altar and offer sacrifices to God. When the angel asked Adam why he did this, Adam replied that he did not know. The angel told him that it was a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Moses 5:5-8.) As a teenager, Elder Jaggi asked his father if he could take a week off from church. Although your father said you were old enough to make your own decisions, he offered one piece of advice: “If you choose to miss the sacrament once, it is much easier to choose to miss it again.”
additional resources
Recent Conference Talks on the Atonement of Christ
Who is Elder Jagi?
Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi was sustained by the General Authority Seventy in April 2020. Born in Salt Lake City, the elder Jaggi attended the University of Utah and Pepperdine University and pursued a career in biotechnology marketing and sales. He currently serves as Second Counselor in the Church’s Pacific Area Presidency.
