Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, August 3, 2007, said:
“Jesus provided His own definitions of the gospel. . . .As he taught the people of ancient America, He declared: “I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me” (3 Nephi 27: 13-14).
Thus he equated the gospel to His mission in mortality, which was the Atonement. The gospel is the Atonement. The gospel is the glad message: immortality is reality, and eternal life is a possibility for all who would ever live. . . .
Continuing in chapter twenty-seven of 3 Nephi, we come to a second definition of the gospel, as rendered by the Lord Himself. At verse twenty-one we read, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do.” Here He describes the gospel as His example to us. His exemplary life was His ministry in mortality. He taught us how to live, how to love, how to pray, how to focus on His ordinances, how to know and teach His scriptures, and how to follow His example and endure to the end, and more. Enduring to the end includes the endowment in the temple, along with those sealing ordinances that will enable us to return to dwell with Him and with our Father in Heaven, and with our families.
His ministry among men served to provide an example for us. There is no limits to the number of people who can follow His example. We can love as He loved, we can pray as He prayed, we can focus on the ordinances as He did, we can teach from the scriptures, and we can endure to the end, as He did. (“The Gospel,” Curriculum Department Devotional, August 3, 2007) Teachings of Russell M. Nelson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018), 135-36
