"19 And he commanded them that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets.
20 Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people." (Mosiah 18:19-20)
Alma was one of King Noah's wicked priests. However, hearing Abinadi's words touched Alma, even to the point of Alma sticking up for Abinadi when King Noah commanded that he be put to death. This made Noah mad, and he sent people after Alma, but he was able to escape.
Alma repented, and also wrote down everything he could about what Abinadi talked about. Then he started to preach the gospel. Once he had a following, he eventually baptized them, and organized a church. He appointed priests to help lead and teach the people, and he told them what to teach.
He told them to teach people faith in Christ, as well as repentance. These are the first principles of the gospel. He gave them other directions, such as keeping the Sabbath day holy, and helping the needy, but they were to only teach about faith and repentance.
I think sometimes we get caught up in details when teaching the gospel, and this is a good reminder to stick to the basics. This is great advice, especially since he was teaching people that didn't have a lot of experience in the gospel.
This can be true of what we do today. When we think about what and how to teach, I hope it's always the basic principles.
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