Lesson 12: Seek Ye for the Kingdom of God – Scriptures and Quotes

Jacob 7:26

Reading 1 – Jacob 1:1-4

Reading 2 – Jacob 1:17-19

Reading 3 - President Hugh B. Brown wrote: "President John Taylor said on one occasion... 'If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those you might have saved, had you done your duty.' This is a challenging statement. If by reason of sins of commission or omission lose what I might have had in the hereafter, I myself must suffer and doubtless, my loved ones with me. But...if any of us fail to teach, lead, direct, and help to save those under our direction..., then the Lord will hold us responsible if they are lost as a result of our failure." (The Abundant Life, p37)

Reading 4 - Elder B. H. Roberts wrote: There was a priesthood that administered the ordinances of [the] gospel, and as the gospel was a higher law than the law of Moses, it is reasonable to conclude that the priesthood which administered in those ordinances was a higher order of priesthood than that conferred upon Aaron and the tribe of Levi, and undoubtedly the higher priesthood could, on occasion, administer in the ordinances of the inferior law. It was, doubtless, this higher order of Priesthood that such characters as Abraham, Melchizedek, and other prophets in Israel held, and by which they administered in sacred things. It was this order of priesthood that was held by Lehi and Nephi, and which the latter conferred upon his brothers, Jacob, and Joseph. The former referring to his priesthood says, that he had been “ordained after the manner of this (the Lord’s) holy order,” that being the way in which this higher priesthood, of which I am speaking, is designated throughout the Book of Mormon. Called also a priesthood “after the order of the Son of God.” It was this priesthood, therefore, that was conferred upon the Nephites—not the Aaronic priesthood—and by which they officiated in sacred things; of things pertaining to the gospel as well as to the law given of Moses. The justification for administering in the things of the law by this priesthood consist in the fact that the superior authority includes all the rights and powers of the inferior authority, and certainly possesses the power to do what the inferior authority could do. (B. H. Roberts, New Witnesses for God, Vol.3, p.469, emphasis added)

Reading 5 – Jacob 2:3-5

Reading 6 – Jacob 2:12-13

Reading 7 - President Spencer W. Kimball wrote: “The possession of riches does not necessarily constitute sin. But sin may arise in the acquisition and use of wealth. … ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.’ (1 Tim. 6:10–11.)

“Book of Mormon history eloquently reveals the corrosive effect of the passion for wealth. … Had the people used their wealth for good purposes they could have enjoyed a continuing prosperity. But they seemed unable for a sustained period to be simultaneously wealthy and righteous” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 47–48).

Reading 8 – Jacob 2:23-24,27-28