Read the full chapter here: Jacob 4
Passage #1
. . . we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts . . .
Jacob 4:3
Precept #1
Receive the scriptures – particularly the Book of Mormon – with gratitude.
How do you show your gratitude for the Book of Mormon?
Passage #2
Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name.
Jacob 4:5
Precept #2
Worship God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.
What is the role Jesus plays in our worship of Heavenly Father? Why is it necessary to worship through Jesus? How do you rely on the Savior in your worship of your Heavenly Father?
Passage #3
Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.
Jacob 4:10
Precept #3
Learn how to take counsel from God instead of trying to give it to Him.
When was the last time you recognized in your prayers that you were trying to counsel God and stopped yourself so you could receive counsel from Him? What did He say in response? How did you take it and what did you do with it?
Passage #4
Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh.
Jacob 4:11
Precept #4
Be reconciled to God through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Have you found reconciliation with God? What did it require for you to receive it? Did you do it on your own – or did you rely on Christ to have it done?
Passage #5
But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
And now I, Jacob, am led on by the Spirit unto prophesying; for I perceive by the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that by the stumbling of the Jews they will reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation.
But behold, according to the scriptures, this stone shall become the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, upon which the Jews can build.
Jacob 4:14-16
Precept #5
Don’t “shoot beyond the mark.” Ask God for those things you can understand and receive. Don’t reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Savior of mankind, but build your faith, belief, and standards of living on Him and His teachings.
Is Jesus the foundation of all you believe and live by? Are you distracted by questions and ideas that don’t actually build your faith in Him even though they may be related to the gospel? Are you asking Him to help you understand things like His time relative to our time when you should in reality be asking Him to help you understand how to repent or how to exercise faith in Him or some other gospel principle?
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