What does First B Jackson teach about doubt?
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 doubt takes it seriously without treating it as a shameful failure. When Pastor Mark worked through Matthew 28, he paused carefully on the Greek word Matthew uses to describe some of the disciples wavering when they saw the risen Jesus on the mountain in Galilee. That word, he explained, describes a momentary standing at a crossroads rather than a settled, ongoing unbelief. And Jesus did not wait for it to resolve before He spoke. He walked straight up and addressed the doubters, and what He said first was that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him. Ray covered the same ground and read that same declaration as comfort aimed directly at the wavering: there is no reason to stay stuck at the crossroads, because the authority behind the resurrection is total. History, both Pastor Mark and Ray noted, records every one of those eleven dying convinced of what they had seen.
Pastor Carl brought a different angle through John the Baptist sitting in prison, sending disciples to ask Jesus whether He was really the one or whether John had gotten it wrong. Carl was careful not to read past how striking that is. John was the one who had pointed at Jesus and called Him the Lamb of God. Now, in a dark cell with no sign of the reversal he had been preaching, he was asking whether he had missed something. Carl named that kind of doubt not as faithlessness but as honest humility, the admission that a person might have misread what God was doing. Jesus answered not with a rebuke but with evidence drawn straight from Isaiah, pointing John back to what was actually happening and letting that speak for itself.
Pastor Blake pressed into the same territory from a different direction on Easter morning, working through why the people closest to Jesus were so slow to believe what He had plainly told them. The women at the tomb had heard the predictions and still brought spices expecting a body. The apostles heard the women's report and called it an idle tale. Peter ran to the tomb and went home marveling rather than believing. Blake's honest observation was that exposure to the truth and genuine belief are not the same thing, and that most people live somewhere in the gap between them. The two disciples on the Emmaus road had burning hearts during the long conversation with the stranger, but actual recognition came only when He broke the bread. The teaching consistently points the same direction: Jesus meets people in that gap, not after they have resolved it on their own.
Taught from Matthew 28:1-20 · Luke 7:18-35 · Luke 24:13-35 · Luke 24:1-12
The passage taught · Ephesians 3:16-19
16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,
19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- April 7, 2024 He Is Not Here, He Has Risen Pastor Mark walks through Matthew's resurrection account, examining the women at the tomb, the guards' bribe, the Great Commission, and what it means when believers still doubt.
- April 7, 2024 He Has Risen Just As He Said Ray preaches Matthew 28 on resurrection, doubt and the Great Commission, then leads First Baptist Jackson in communion and sends off J Zone missionaries to Zambia.
- February 27, 2022 Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest John the Baptist doubted from prison. Jesus answered with evidence, not argument. A sermon on finding rest in Christ when faith feels heavy and burdens pile up.
- April 1, 2018 Knowing and the Resurrection Easter sermon on Luke 24 and Acts 1: two disciples walk to Emmaus not yet recognizing the risen Jesus, and what it means to truly know the resurrection.
Mentioned along the way
- February 2, 2025 Transformation Is Possible Acts 9: Saul's conversion shakes Jerusalem, Peter heals the paralyzed and raises the dead. God transforms the hardest hearts and builds His church through ordinary people.
- April 14, 2024 Why Do You Seek the Living Among the Dead Luke 24 sermon on the resurrection and the road to Emmaus: why the disciples struggled to believe the good news, and what it means to be witnesses today.
- August 20, 2023 The Good Shepherd Calls You by Name Pastor Carl walks First Baptist Jackson through John 10, where Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd who gathers, protects, and lays down His life to give His sheep a rich and satisfying life.
- February 14, 2023 The Bread of Life for All Who Would Believe Mark 8 shows Jesus feeding thousands, rebuking hard hearts, and healing a blind man. Pastor Carl traces His patience with doubting disciples and with us.
- August 21, 2022 Sunday Aug 21st 11 am (Traditional Service) "Jesus Walks" Jesus walks on water, feeds thousands, and teaches that He is the bread of life. What does it mean to keep walking with Him when the crowd walks away?
- April 11, 2022 He Meets Us Right Where We Are John 20 shows Jesus meeting Mary, the disciples, and Thomas right where they were, in grief, fear, and doubt, and offering each one peace and purpose.
- January 17, 2022 Pay Close Attention to What You Hear In Mark 6, Pastor Ray walks through Jesus rejected at home, the sending of the Twelve, and John's death, tracing how faith shapes what we see God do.
- March 27, 2016 Easter Worship & Contemporary Praise (3) Ray walks through John 20 on Easter Sunday, showing how Jesus met Mary, the disciples, and Thomas with peace, purpose, and power after His resurrection.
- March 27, 2016 Peace, Purpose, and Power in the Resurrection A Wyoming pastor walks through John 20 on Easter Sunday, showing how the risen Jesus brought peace, purpose, and power to Mary Magdalene, the disciples, and Thomas.
- September 28, 2014 Remain in Me Steve Landis walks through the Gospel of John asking one question: do you truly know Jesus, or have you, like the Pharisees, learned to look right past Him?