You can watch or read Elder Gong’s talk at Happy and Forever (churchofjesuschrist.org)

Elder Gong begins his address by talking about living happily ever after:

“Happy and forever” are not the imaginary stuff of fairy tales. True, enduring joy and eternity with those we love are the very essence of God’s plan of happiness. His lovingly prepared way can make our eternal journey happy and forever.

How does God’s plan for us lead to happiness forever?

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Alive in Jesus Christ includes immortality—His gift of our physical resurrection. As we live with faith and obedience, alive in Christ can also include joyfully abundant eternal life with God and those we love.

Here, Elder Gong identifies the importance of faith and obedience. Similarly, in the October 2019 General Conference, President Eyring observed:

‘Only by faith in Jesus Christ, continuing repentance, and keeping covenants are we able to claim the lasting happiness we all yearn to experience and retain.’

Why do we need this counsel today?

In a remarkable way, the Lord’s prophet is drawing us closer to our Savior, including through sacred temple ordinances and covenants coming closer to us in more places. We have a profound opportunity and gift to discover new spiritual understanding, love, repentance, and forgiveness with each other and our families, in time and eternity.

How do you feel that President Nelson is drawing us closer to our Saviour?

Elder Gong then shared ‘two sacred, unusually spiritually direct experiences told by friends about Jesus Christ uniting families by healing even intergenerational conflict.’

What did you learn from the two experiences that Elder Gong shared?

Elder Gong then shared five doctrinal principles.

First: Central in God’s plan of redemption and happiness, Jesus Christ, through His Atonement, promises to unite our spirit and body, “never again to be divided, that [we] might receive a fulness of joy.”

This is a reference to D&C 138:17

Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy.

Why do our spirit and body have to be reunited for us to receive a fulness of joy?

Second: Atonement—at-one-ment in Christ—comes as we exercise faith and bring forth fruits unto repentance. As in mortality, so in immortality. Temple ordinances do not of themselves change us or those in the spirit world. But these divine ordinances enable sanctifying covenants with the Lord, which can bring harmony with Him and each other.

“I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom. The answer is no. The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely satisfying the law of justice. For that reason, paying for our sins will not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins. Justice is a law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his. But if we decline the Savior’s invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance. Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life” (Bruce C Hafen, The Broken Heart: Applying the Atonement to Life’s Experiences [1989], 7–8).

What do you understand by ‘fruits unto repentance’?

Third: God knows and loves us perfectly. “God is not mocked,” nor can He be deceived. With perfect mercy and justice, He encircles in His arms of safety the humble and penitent.

What do you understand by the phrase ‘He encircles in His arms of safety’?

Fourth: The Lord gives us divine opportunity to become more like Him as we offer proxy saving temple ordinances others need but cannot do for themselves. We become more complete and perfected as we become “saviours … on mount Zion.” As we serve others, the Holy Spirit of Promise can ratify the ordinances and sanctify both giver and receiver. Both giver and receiver can make and deepen transforming covenants, over time receiving the blessings promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

How does it make you feel to consider that in performing proxy ordinances we become saviours on mount Zion?

Finally, fifth: As the Golden Rule teaches, a sanctifying symmetry in repentance and forgiveness invites us each to offer others that which we ourselves need and desire.

What is Elder Gong teaching us here?

Dear brothers and sisters, God our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son live. They offer peace, joy, and healing to every kindred and tongue, to each of us. The Lord’s prophet is leading the way. Latter-day revelation continues. May we draw closer to our Savior in the holy house of the Lord, and may He draw us closer to God and each other as we knit our hearts together in Christ-given compassion, truth, and mercy in all our generations—in time and eternity, happy and forever. In Jesus Christ, it is possible; in Jesus Christ, it is true. I so witness, in His holy name, Jesus Christ, amen.

What are the main principles you will take away from Elder Gong’s talk?