Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “Joy Through Covenant Discipleship”
- Elder John A. McCune | General Authority Seventy
- Sunday morning session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: As disciples of Jesus Christ make covenants with God and strive to be like Him, they can experience a fullness of joy.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder McCune’s message here.
Outline
- A woman in Mongolia became interested in the Church after seeing a mission president treating others with kindness. As she learned the gospel, she felt increased joy.
- Because of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done, disciples of Christ worship and follow Him. His mission illustrates God’s love for all His children.
- God is the perfect Father, and listeners can trust Him completely.
- Christ can help listeners better understand the Father’s perfect attributes and overcome mortal weaknesses to become more like God.
- Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are perfectly merciful and just. These attributes complement each other and illustrate God’s perfect love.
- Because God and Jesus Christ love everyone, listeners can make covenants with Them. By doing so, covenant-keepers connect to Christ and God the Father in a special relationship.
- Those who keep the Lord’s commandments will abide in His love and experience a fullness of joy (see John 15:9-11).
- Better understanding God’s nature can help with understanding potentially confusing gospel principles, such as how God can have a fullness of joy when some of His children suffer. God has a perfect plan that allows His children to overcome pain, suffering and sin through Jesus Christ.
- Some say they are only as happy as their most unhappy child. Elder McCune’s mother has more than 200 living descendants, at least one of whom will be unhappy at any given time. If the saying were true, his mother would always be unhappy, but she isn’t.
- When President Nelson called Elder McCune and his wife to their current calling, he made them feel loved and important even though one of his daughters had passed away from cancer the same day. President Nelson was joyful during such a difficult time because he knows Christ has been victorious.
- President Nelson taught that the Savior offers peace and joy that defy human logic. For example, it doesn’t seem possible to feel joy when a child suffers with an incurable illness, but that is the joy the Savior offers.
- As disciples of Christ make and keep covenants, they will have a desire to help others feel joy. When listeners act as covenant disciples, their relationship with the Father and the Son is enriched, their joy enhanced and their eternal perspective expanded.
Reflection questions
How has making and keeping covenants changed your relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
How has learning about God’s nature strengthened you in difficult times?
When has following God’s commandments brought you joy?
What has making and keeping covenants taught you about Heavenly Father’s love?
What in your life can you change to more fully recognize God’s love?
Speaker quotes
- “Because of who [Jesus Christ] is and what He has done, we worship Him, we revere Him, we give glory to Him, and we follow Him.”
- “In Christ, we can understand better the perfect attributes of the Father and His plan. Through Christ, we are given the enabling power to overcome the tendencies of natural men and women so that we might become more like the Father.”
- “As disciples, when we make and keep sacred covenants, we are blessed with spiritual power. We are connected to Christ and God the Father in a special relationship and can experience Their love and joy in a measure reserved for those who have made and kept covenants.”
Reference scriptures
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
- “And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.”
- “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
Invitations and promises
- “Because God and Jesus Christ love us, we are given the opportunity and privilege as true disciples to make covenants with Them. By our doing so, our relationship with Christ is expanded.”
- “Our ability to sense a full measure of God’s love, or to continue in His love, is contingent upon our righteous desires and actions.”
- “As we bind ourselves to act as covenant disciples, in whatever our level of capacity, our relationship with the Father and the Son is enriched, our joy enhanced and our eternal perspective expanded. We then are endowed with power and can feel joy in a measure reserved for God’s true covenant disciples.”
Stories
- A woman in Mongolia became interested in the Church when the Mongolian mission president entered her workplace. She thought he had light in his countenance and was very kind to those around him. A few days later, he returned to her workplace and invited her to church. She agreed to attend and hoped that her children would become like the mission president, spreading joy in a society full of darkness. As she and her children learned about tithing and temples, this woman felt her faith and joy growing. She is part of the great gathering of Israel.
- There is a saying that “we are only as happy as our most unhappy child.” Elder McCune’s 94-year-old mother has over 200 living descendants, at least one of whom is sure to be unhappy at any given time. If the statement were true, his mother would be in a perpetual state of unhappiness, but she isn’t.
- In January 2019, Elder McCune and his wife met with President Nelson, who extended their current calling to them. President Nelson was loving and gentle, and it seemed to the couple that they were the most important people to him. On Monday, they saw in the news that one of President Nelson’s daughters had passed away from cancer the same day he had spent with them. They asked themselves how he could be so loving and joyful at such a difficult time. The answer is because President Nelson knows that Christ has been victorious and that he will be with his daughter again.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Christ Calling Peter and Andrew” by James T. Harwood
- Related video: “Now Is the Time To Draw Closer to the Savior”
- Related hymn: No. 1004, “I Will Walk With Jesus”
Recent conference talks on discipleship
- President Henry B. Eyring: “Draw Near Unto Me” (April 2025)
- Sister Amy A. Wright: “Thou Art the Christ” (April 2025)
- Elder Ulisses Soares: “Reverence for Sacred Things” (April 2025)
Who is Elder McCune?
- Elder John A. McCune was one of 10 new General Authority Seventies sustained during the April 2019 general conference. He was serving as an Area Seventy in the Utah South Area at the time of his call. He served as a full-time missionary in the Japan Fukuoka Mission and as a bishop, stake president and leader of the Utah Provo Mission.
