What does First B Jackson teach about faith and action?
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 faith and action starts with a simple but demanding premise: real belief moves. Pastor Jason worked through two miracles in Mark 5, the bleeding woman and Jairus's daughter, and drew out the same pattern in both stories. Jairus walked to Jesus, fell at his feet, and pleaded. The woman pushed through a crowd to touch his robe. Neither of them held their faith quietly and waited to see what happened. Pastor Jason put it this way from the commentary he had been reading: belief about Jesus does not bring healing, but faith in Jesus that takes action does. The connection to James was not accidental. The elders at First B have taken that letter seriously in practice, and the teaching that evening drew that thread deliberately.
The women's Bible study through James 1, led by Deborah, pressed the same question from a different angle: what does real faith look like when life gets genuinely hard? She was careful to say that the joy James points to is not faking happiness or pretending suffering does not hurt. It is a settled sense of well-being, the ability to say "I know God is good and I know he is not finished" even when circumstances are painful. That kind of faith shows itself not in emotion alone but in choices, in how you guard your tongue, in what you trust when you are exhausted and the situation is not resolved yet.
Pastor Gary's earlier message through James 1:17-27 gave the same conviction its sharpest edge. He drew the contrast between the person who looks honestly into God's word and walks away unchanged, and the person who keeps looking and keeps acting. The Greek word James uses for looking, Gary noted, describes careful sustained observation, not a glance. And the law James calls the person to act on he called liberty, not a burden or a checklist. Metanoia, the word behind repentance, is what happens after that kind of honest looking: you see where your life does not line up, and you move.
Taught from Mark 5:21-43 · Mark 5:34 · Mark 5:36 · James 1:22-25 · James 1:19-21
The passage taught · 1 Peter 5
1 Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.
2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;
3 neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.
4 When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 24, 2024 Women's Bible Study - January 24th, 2024 - James 1 James chapter one shows that real faith thinks differently, acts boldly, and trusts a good God even when trials, temptation, and suffering press hard against us.
- January 10, 2023 Faith That Takes Action Faith is more than belief. See how two desperate people in Mark 5 acted on their trust in Jesus, and what that means for us today.
- March 16, 2014 Swift to Hear, Slow to Speak, Slow to Wrath James 1 calls us to look honestly at ourselves and act on what we see. Pastor Gary traces that mirror principle through Van Gogh's life and letters.
Mentioned along the way
- August 25, 2019 Let Us Fear, Let Us Be Diligent Hebrews 4 calls believers to fear missing God's rest, trust Christ alone, and let His living Word shape their faith before another day passes.