Elder Dale G. Renlund - The Powerful, Virtuous, Cycle of the Doctrine of Christ

Using the analogy of a Hawiian kayaking trip, he taught - 

"Spiritual momentum is created “over a lifetime as we repeatedly embrace the doctrine of Christ.” Doing so, President Russell M. Nelson taught, produces a “powerful virtuous cycle.” Indeed, the elements of the doctrine of Christ—such as faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, entering a covenant relationship with the Lord through baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end—are not intended to be experienced as one-time, check-the-box events. In particular, “enduring to the end” is not really a separate step in the doctrine of Christ—as though we complete the first four elements and then hunker down, grit our teeth, and wait to die. No, enduring to the end is repeatedly and iteratively applying the other elements of the doctrine of Christ, creating the “powerful virtuous cycle” that President Nelson described."

"Our faith in Jesus Christ needs to be nourished daily. It is nourished as we pray daily, study the scriptures daily, reflect on the goodness of God daily, repent daily, and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost daily. Just as it is not healthy to defer eating all our food until Sunday and then binge our weekly allotment of nutrition, it is not spiritually healthy to restrict our testimony-nourishing behavior to one day in the week."

"The next element of the doctrine of Christ is baptism, which includes the baptism of water and, through confirmation, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. While baptism is a singular event, we renew our baptismal covenant repeatedly when we partake of the sacrament. The sacrament does not replace baptism, but it links the initial elements in the doctrine of Christ—faith and repentance—with reception of the Holy Ghost. As we conscientiously partake of the sacrament, we invite the Holy Ghost into our lives, just like when we were baptized and confirmed. As we keep the covenant described in the sacrament prayers, the Holy Ghost becomes our companion."

"Forward spiritual momentum also propels us to make additional covenants with God in the house of the Lord. Multiple covenants draw us closer to Christ and connect us more strongly to Him. Through these covenants, we have greater access to His power. To be clear, baptismal and temple covenants are not, in and of themselves, the source of power. The source of power is the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Making and keeping covenants create a conduit for Their power in our lives. As we live according to these covenants, we eventually become inheritors to all that Heavenly Father has. The momentum produced by living the doctrine of Christ not only powers the transformation of our divine nature into our eternal destiny but also motivates us to help others in appropriate ways.