What does First B Jackson teach about christian identity?
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 Baptist Jackson, the teaching on Christian identity starts with a question: do you actually know who you are, and are you living like it? Brad Yates has preached from 1 Peter 2:9-10 that when God saved us, He gave us a real and concrete identity, chosen people, royal priesthood, holy nation, and people for God's own possession. Brad's consistent point is that if a person cannot answer the question of who they are simply and clearly, Satan will answer it for them. That is not a small warning. It shapes everything else about how a believer thinks, makes decisions, and relates to the people around them.
The teaching presses hard on the order of things. Grace comes first, then faith, then works. Pastor Brad Yates walked through this using Ephesians 2:8-10, and the same logic runs through the identity sermons: you do not earn your place in God's family, you receive it. Peter denied Jesus three times and still led the early church. Paul killed Christians before God redeemed him. The point Brad returns to is that there is no sin so large that it puts someone outside the reach of that grace, and no amount of good behavior that earns what has already been given freely. Christian identity is not something you construct, it is something you wake up to, the way the prodigal son came to his senses and remembered he had a father.
The practical weight of all this is that the church, understood rightly, is meant to be visibly different from the culture around it, not because Christians follow a stricter code, but because they belong to something genuinely new. Brad was equally clear that this identity has no borders, no ethnicity, and no political allegiance. The holy nation Peter describes is made up of Christians scattered across the world, and patriotism, while healthy, must sit below identity in Christ. Knowing who you are in Christ is not an abstract doctrine. It is the foundation from which everything else in the Christian life flows.
Taught from 1 Peter 2:9-10 · Ephesians 2:8-10 · Galatians 2:20 · Romans 6:23 · 1 John 2
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 5
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
2 You are puffed up, and didn’t rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.
3 For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- June 1, 2025 By Grace, Through Faith A Wyoming pastor walks through Ephesians 2:8-10, showing why salvation comes by grace through faith alone and how genuine good works flow from that gift.
- December 3, 2023 You Are a Chosen People Brad Yates teaches First Peter 2:9-10, showing how God calls believers out of darkness into a shared identity as a chosen people, royal priesthood, and holy nation.
- December 3, 2023 You Are God's Own Possession Brad Yates opens 1 Peter 2:9-10 to show what it means to be chosen, holy, and God's own people, and why that identity calls us to proclaim Christ together.
Mentioned along the way
- September 25, 2022 But You, Who Do You Say That I Am Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is. Pastor Carl explores what that question means for us today, and what it costs to truly follow him.
- July 3, 2022 Set Your Sights, Put Off, Put On Colossians 3 calls believers to set their sights on heaven, put off the old sinful nature, and put on Christ's love, mercy, and peace as their new identity.