What does First B Jackson teach about free will?
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 free will does not try to make the tension go away. Pastor Ray's Christmas sermon worked through Luke 2:14 and came back repeatedly to the same biblical reality: God's sovereign purpose and genuine human responsibility both appear in Scripture, and collapsing one to protect the other is a mistake. Drawing on Robertson McQuilkin, a former president of his seminary, Ray pointed out that it is easier to run to a consistent logical extreme, whether open theism on one end or hard determinism on the other, than to stay in the center where Scripture actually sits. The sermon held both things at once: God acted definitively to bring peace and redemption, and people genuinely receive or do not receive what he offers.
That weight of human choice shows up in Nick Stern's 2017 message from 1 Samuel 8 as well. Israel's demand for a king was not a neutral preference. God named it as a rejection of his own kingship, and then he warned them in detail what that choice would cost. Nick did not rush past God's word to Samuel that when the people cry out for relief from the king they chose, he will not answer. He said there is real weight to our decisions, a healthy fear that comes from knowing God has a path for us and that our choices carry consequences. He made it personal with his own story of ignoring his brother, his friends, and what he believed was God's direction, and living with the result.
Taken together, the teaching here is that free will is neither an illusion nor a mechanism for earning anything. God's goodwill toward people is real and prior. His purposes hold. And the choices people make in response to those purposes are also real, with consequences that run in both directions.
Taught from Luke 2:14 · Galatians 4:4-5 · 2 Corinthians 8:9 · 1 Samuel 8:4-7 · 1 Samuel 8:19-22
The passage taught · 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
9 For God didn’t appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- December 22, 2024 Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men Pastor Ray explores the angels' Christmas declaration in Luke 2:14, tracing God's goodwill toward humanity through Greek grammar, scripture, and the tension between God's sovereignty and human responsibility.
- May 14, 2017 Who is your King Contemporary (3) Nick Stern walks through 1 Samuel 8 to ask a pointed question: when we push God aside and choose our own king, what are we really trading away?
Mentioned along the way
- September 28, 2022 Women's Bible Study - September 28th, 2022 Deborah teaches on God's four divine institutions, free will, marriage, family, and nationhood, and why knowing God's truth guards us against deception and fear.