What does First B Jackson teach about gospel?
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 the gospel starts with a clear-eyed look at the human problem. Todd Lampa, preaching from Ephesians 2:1-10, pressed the congregation to see that God is not in the business of making bad people good. The real picture, he said, is God making dead people alive. Before Christ, every person walks in spiritual death, under the influence of the prince of the power of the air, living in rebellion against God whether or not that rebellion looks dramatic from the outside. And because the wrath of God remains on those who reject the Son, the message of coming judgment is not something Christians can quietly set aside, even in a place like Jackson where people have come specifically to enjoy life.
Pastor Larry, working through Romans 3:21-25, showed the congregation how Paul pivots on two small words: "but now." Everything changes at that hinge. God's righteousness has been made known apart from the law, through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. Pastor Larry walked through three words Paul uses to describe how the gospel works: justification, the legal declaration that a guilty person is made right before God as a free gift; redemption, the liberation of someone captive or enslaved; and the propitiatory work of Christ, who absorbed the wrath that stood against us. He also noted that where a person's own faith wavers, the faithfulness of Jesus does not, which means the gospel is not fragile.
Pastor Mark, in Galatians 2:20-21, brought the gospel home to people who already believe. The gospel, he argued, is not only for those who do not yet know Jesus. It is still good news for those who do. Union with Christ in his death is what makes a life of faith possible at all, and verse 21 closes off any middle ground: if righteousness could come through the law, Christ died for nothing. You cannot add anything to the gospel and still call it good news.
Taught from Ephesians 2:1-10 · Romans 3:21-26 · Galatians 2:20-21 · John 3:36 · Romans 1:16-17
The passage taught · 1 John 5:19
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- April 8, 2018 Dead People Made Alive Ephesians 2:1-10 explored through the lens of worldview: why we were dead in sin, how God's grace made us alive, and what purpose He has prepared for us.
- April 17, 2016 But Now: Everything Changes Romans 3:21-26 unpacks three rich words, justified, redeemed, propitiated, to show how God removed guilt, enslavement, and wrath through the blood of Christ.
- January 24, 2016 God's Good News From the Very Beginning The pastor opens Romans, showing how Paul's seven-verse greeting holds the entire gospel: Jesus Christ, grace freely given, and a call every believer carries.
- January 17, 2016 Paul: A Slave of Christ Jesus Pastor Carl introduces Romans, calling it 15 pages that sparked the Reformation, converted Augustine, and warmed Wesley's heart. Come read it with us.
- August 26, 2012 Crucified With Christ and Yet I Live A verse-by-verse look at Galatians 2:20-21 showing how union with Christ's death and resurrection is the foundation for living a genuine life of faith.
Mentioned along the way
- August 28, 2022 God, Use Me Today Florian, a Romanian pastor preparing to return to missions, shares from Colossians 1 on living as a child of God and asking Him to use you each day.