Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from October 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “Jesus Christ and Your New Beginning”
- Elder Patrick Kearon | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Saturday evening session of October 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Jesus Christ offers new beginnings and the power to change to every child of God.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Kearon’s message here.
Outline
A scriptural understatement: Jesus went about doing good
- Jesus devoted His entire mortal life to doing good. Any attempt at describing His goodness and mercy would be an understatement.
Jesus Christ offers each of us a new beginning
- Everything Christ said and did in mortality provided a new beginning for each of those He healed, blessed, taught and relieved of sin. He offers new beginnings to all now as well.
This is the church of new beginnings
- Disciples of Jesus Christ are born again at baptism, but new beginnings can happen every day, as well as each week as disciples partake of the sacrament. Jesus Christ demonstrated what faithful endurance with God looks like.
- The more individuals invite goodness into their hearts and cast out the self-defeating voices in their heads, they become God’s people.
A new beginning in how we view repentance
- Repentance opens the door to new beginnings and second chances. President Russell M. Nelson helped Church members see repentance as a divine and hopeful gift.
A new beginning for everyone, every time
- Jesus did not minister to only one type of person — He taught, healed, raised and forgave people from all economic classes, both righteous and sinful, and those with wavering faith.
- New beginnings are at the heart of the Father’s plan. None are too far from Christ for another chance.
- New beginnings are for more than just sins and mistakes. The Savior also offers fresh starts that propel change in bad habits, negative attitudes and feelings of powerlessness.
- Those who are struggling with the same sin or setback over and over again can press on and seek help. The Savior hasn’t set a limit on second chances.
Conclusion
- Jesus Christ fulfilled messianic prophecy when He suffered the agonies of Gethsemane and died on the cross, but His Atonement was not complete until He Himself experienced new life on the third day — as a glorified, resurrected being through the power of the Father.
Reflection questions
When has Jesus Christ helped you begin anew?
What can you do to accept the new beginnings Jesus Christ offers?
Why is it important to know that the Savior “hasn’t set a limit on your second chances”?
How has keeping your covenants allowed you to have a fresh start?
What’s a favorite scriptural account you have of someone receiving a new beginning? What do you learn from their journey?
Speaker quotes
- “Everything [Jesus] said and did provided a new beginning for each of those He healed, blessed, taught and relieved of sin. He didn’t withdraw from them, and He certainly won’t withdraw from you.”
- “Jesus so keenly wants to be our King and our Shepherd and our Prince of Peace, and we can choose to make Him so in our own hearts and minds.”
- “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.”
Reference scriptures
- “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
- “But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven.”
- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Invitations and promises
- “With every covenant we make and every effort we give to keep it, we can receive ‘a new heart’ and a fuller measure of ‘a new spirit’ (Ezekiel 36:26-28).”
- “And new beginnings are for more than just our sins and mistakes. Through the goodness and grace of the Savior, we can have fresh starts that propel change in old mindsets, bad habits, grumpy dispositions, negative attitudes, feelings of powerlessness and tendencies to blame others and avoid personal responsibility.”
- “Leave deliberate sinning, casual repeats and prideful rebellion behind you, where they belong. You don’t have to be who you’ve been before.”
Stories
- Everything Christ said and did in mortality provided a new beginning for each of those He healed, blessed, taught and relieved of sin. The Savior’s words to them were brief, but He painted vast new horizons of forgiveness, healing, restoration, peace and eternal life.
- Recently a young woman, with a smile on her face, said, “When I think of repentance, daily repentance, I feel incredible joy and hope.” She understands that because of Jesus Christ, she can have new beginnings.
- Jesus did not minister to only one type of person — He taught, healed, raised and forgave people from all economic classes, both righteous and sinful, and those with wavering faith. The Savior’s goodness, mercy and loving-kindness know no bounds.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Jesus Raising Lazarus from the Dead” by Carl Heinrich Bloch
- Related video: “How Jesus Christ Restores What Is Broken”
- Related hymn: No. 1020, “Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling”
Recent conference talks on repentance
- Elder Neil L. Andersen: “The Atoning Love of Jesus Christ” (October 2025)
- Sister Tamara W. Runia: “Your Repentance Doesn’t Burden Jesus Christ; It Brightens His Joy” (April 2025)
- Sister Kristin M. Yee: “The Joy of Our Redemption” (October 2024)
Who is Elder Kearon?
- Elder Patrick Kearon was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Dec. 7, 2023. At the time of his call, he was serving as the senior president of the Presidency of the Seventy. Elder Kearon was born in Carlisle, England.
