What does First B Jackson teach about finishing well?
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 finishing well begins with a honest look at what we are actually running toward. Brad, preaching from Hebrews 12:1-2, made the case that our culture's version of the good life, built around comfort, control, and consuming as much as possible before we die, is a distraction from the race God has actually marked out for each of us. The soul needs identity, purpose, and joy, and those are found not by optimizing this life but by living in light of eternity, in relationship with the God who made us.
Brad walked through three moves the text calls the runner to make: rid, run, and look. Ridding yourself of entanglements is personal work, not a license to correct everyone around you. The text says "let us rid ourselves," and Brad was direct that the particular drift patterns worth naming, comfort, control, and craving human approval, are the kind each person has to identify for themselves. The running itself is not for a select few. The letter is addressed to the whole church, and it says run, not watch. And because each person's race is marked out individually, winning is simply finishing. Your race is a category of one.
Pastor Ray brought the same theme to Acts 20, where Paul tells the Ephesian elders he does not consider his life worth anything compared to finishing the course the Lord Jesus gave him. Pastor Ray drew a direct parallel to the moment in Luke's Gospel when Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, and called Paul's words his own version of that same surrender. Taken together, the teaching at First B on this subject is consistent: finishing well is not about achieving a certain result. It is about running your own race, keeping your eyes on Jesus, and not quitting.
Taught from Hebrews 12:1-2 · Acts 20
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 10:31
31 Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- September 14, 2025 Rid, Run, Look A sermon on Hebrews 12:1-2 calling Christians to rid themselves of sin, run their God-given race with endurance, and fix their eyes on Jesus.
- July 20, 2025 Innocent of the Blood of All People Pastor Ray walks through Acts 20, where Paul says his goodbyes, raises a boy from the dead, and charges the Ephesian elders to guard God's flock with their lives.
Mentioned along the way
- February 24, 2019 Preach the Word Pastor Aaron preaches 2 Timothy 4:1-8, calling believers to proclaim God's word faithfully in good times and bad, with patience, truth and love.
- February 24, 2019 Preach the Word: In Season and Out of Season Pastor Nathan preaches 2 Timothy 4:1-8, calling the church to proclaim God's Word faithfully in every season, with patience, courage and hope in Christ's return.