What does First B Jackson teach about 12 steps?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on the twelve steps begins with a simple and serious claim: these steps are not borrowed from secular culture but are thoroughly biblical, tracing back to the Sermon on the Mount, the Ten Commandments, the book of James, and the letters of Paul. Pastor Nathan, Pastor Josh, Pastor Carl, Pastor Ray, and others have each taught through them as a sequential framework for what the Christian life actually looks like in practice, not just in doctrine. The steps are presented as a path available to anyone carrying any besetting sin or long-standing struggle, not only those dealing with addiction.
The series moves through the steps in order. Steps one through three are about honest diagnosis and surrender: admitting powerlessness, coming to believe God can restore, and deciding to hand over your will and your life to His care. Steps four and five press into honest self-examination and confession, first to God, then to yourself, then to another person, a practice grounded in James 5:16 and 1 John 1:9. Steps six and seven ask whether a person is genuinely ready to have God remove the defects that inventory uncovered, and humbly asking Him to do it. Jesus' question to the man at the pool of Bethesda, "do you want to get well?", is held up as the heart of those two steps. Steps eight and nine turn outward, making a list of people harmed and pursuing direct amends wherever possible, with the warning that the closer the relationship, the more damage sin can do. Steps ten and eleven are the daily maintenance of that whole posture, keeping a short account with God and seeking His will through prayer.
Step twelve, having had a spiritual awakening, is where the movement turns fully outward. The teaching draws on Acts, Romans, and Second Corinthians to show that receiving the Spirit produces witnesses, and that those witnesses carry a message they have actually lived. The principles behind all twelve steps keep appearing across Scripture, the teachers note, because they keep showing up wherever God is genuinely at work in a person's life.
Taught from James 5:16 · 1 John 1:9 · John 5:1-18 · Galatians 5:19-23 · Acts 1:8
The passage taught · 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- October 20, 2024 Having Had a Spiritual Awakening Pastor Ray walks through all 12 steps, then Stoney Vance shares how recovery from alcoholism and cancer brought him back to God and his family.
- September 29, 2024 Good News for the Sinners in This Room A pastor walks through Step 10 of recovery: taking daily personal inventory, promptly admitting wrong, and trusting God to complete the work He began in us.
- September 29, 2024 Good News for the Sinners in This Room Step 10 of the 12 steps: continuing daily inventory and promptly admitting wrong. A Wyoming pastor connects recovery principles to Paul, James, and communion.
- September 22, 2024 First Be Reconciled to Your Brother Step 9 of the 12 Steps calls us to make direct amends. A pastor and peacemaker Ken Sandy share why reconciling broken relationships can't wait.
- September 15, 2024 Love Must Have an Object The pastor walks through steps one through eight of a biblical framework for freedom from sin, focusing on willingness to make amends and pursuing peace with God and others.
- September 1, 2024 The Ones Who Looked Lived A Wyoming pastor walks through Steps 6 and 7 of the 12 steps, grounding them in Numbers 21 and John 3: sin, sorrow, and the salvation God makes possible by looking up.
- September 1, 2024 Anyone Who Looked, Lived A Wyoming pastor walks through steps six and seven of recovery, connecting Moses lifting up the bronze snake in Numbers 21 to Jesus and the new birth in John 3.
- August 25, 2024 Rise, Take Up Your Pallet, Walk The pastor walks through steps 6 and 7 of the 12 steps alongside John 5, asking the same question Jesus asked a paralyzed man: are you ready to be made well?
- August 25, 2024 Rise, Take Up Your Bed, and Walk Ray walks through Steps 6 and 7 of the 12 Steps alongside John 5, asking one question: are you truly ready for God to remove what holds you back?
- August 18, 2024 Admitting It to God, Yourself, and One Other Person The pastor returns from dropping his daughter at college to walk First B Jackson through Step 5 of the 12 steps, grounded in James 5 and the power of honest confession.
- August 18, 2024 Deflation at Depth A Wyoming pastor walks through Steps 4 and 5 of the 12 Steps, showing how honest confession to God, yourself, and another person leads to real freedom from guilt.
- July 21, 2024 Searching and Fearless A Wyoming pastor walks through Step 4 of the 12 Steps, a searching moral inventory, showing how Scripture's vice lists point us toward honest self-examination and God's grace.
- July 21, 2024 Search Me and Know My Heart A Wyoming pastor walks through Step 4 of the 12 Steps, showing how a fearless moral inventory of ourselves is deeply rooted in Scripture and leads to healing.
- July 14, 2024 Turn Over Your Will A Wyoming pastor walks through Step 3 of the 12 steps alongside 1 Thessalonians 5, showing how surrendering your will to God is at the heart of both recovery and faith.
- July 7, 2024 A Problem I Can't Do Anything About The pastor opens a series on the 12 steps, showing how admitting powerlessness and trusting God are thoroughly biblical foundations for freedom from sin.
- July 7, 2024 Steady As We Go A Wyoming pastor shares how the 12 steps align with Scripture and the Roman Road, showing why admitting powerlessness is where real change begins.