What does First B Jackson teach about grace?
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 grace starts with what grace actually is. Pastor Ray described it as a leaning forward, putting oneself in peril to extend unmerited favor. God is leaning toward us. We do not deserve it, and the moment we think we do, we have already missed it. That definition sits at the center of the church's preaching on Hebrews 13, where the text says it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by religious practice or effort. The consistent point across multiple messages is that grace is not a starting point that later gets supplemented by performance. It is the whole thing, from beginning to end.
The teaching has been equally insistent about the two ways grace gets distorted. Legalism adds requirements God never placed on grace, demanding that people perform religion in exactly the right way to be accepted. Licentiousness strips away holiness and tells people nothing matters because Jesus paid for it. Pastor Ray and Pastor Mark have both named those two ditches plainly, and both have said the gospel is neither one. The warnings that run through nearly every book of the New Testament, from Matthew through Jude, exist because the church has never had the luxury of assuming the gospel will stay in place on its own. Every generation has to hold it.
The Colossians series carried the same thread from a different angle. Pastor Scott opened that study by stating that Christ is completely sufficient, that nothing needs to be added to what He has done, and that a gospel mixed with anything else is no longer the gospel. Pastor Ray, preaching later in the same letter, pressed the same point: just as believers received Christ, by grace through faith, that is exactly how they are to keep walking in Him. The command is continuous and active, not a one-time event. You were not established in the faith by what you did, and you do not stay there by what you do either.
Taught from Hebrews 13:9-16 · Colossians 2:6-7 · Ephesians 2:8-9 · Galatians 1:6-9 · Hebrews 13:18-25
The passage taught · 1 Timothy 4
1 But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;
3 forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- December 28, 2025 Jesus Is Better Than All of These Things Hebrews 13 calls Christians to hold fast to grace, resist strange teachings, and offer God the sacrifice of praise, generosity, and care for one another.
- December 28, 2025 Jesus Man Pastor Adam preaches from Hebrews 13 on staying grounded in grace, not being carried away by false teaching, and offering God continual praise as the new year begins.
- March 15, 2020 Grace Be With You All Pastor Ray finishes Hebrews with a call to prayer, a Christ-centered benediction, and the simple closing word that holds the whole letter together: grace.
- March 15, 2020 Grace Be With You All Pastor Ray closes Hebrews with a look at prayer, peace, and grace from the letter's final verses, preached during an unusual Sunday as the church gathered online amid COVID-19.
- March 1, 2020 Do Not Be Carried Away Pastor Ray walks through Hebrews 13, warning against false teaching, calling believers to rest in God's grace and follow Jesus outside the comfort of the camp.
- March 1, 2020 Do Not Be Carried Away Hebrews 13 sermon on staying rooted in God's grace, resisting false teaching, and going outside the camp to follow Christ wherever He leads.
- February 11, 2018 The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ Be With You All The pastor closes Philippians with a look at grace, unity in Christ, and how every book of the New Testament begins and ends with the same gift.
- February 19, 2017 Shooting for the Center Colossians 2:1-15 sermon on Christ as the perfect center of faith, and why our only hope of hitting that mark is trusting what He has already done.
- January 22, 2017 The Sufficiency of Christ Paul's letter to the Colossians opens with a case for Christ's total sufficiency against competing worldviews, a grateful prayer, and a petition for growing in God's will.
Mentioned along the way
- August 9, 2021 No Part of Human Existence Left Untouched Pastor Carl closes out Colossians with a look at prayer, grace-filled conversation with unbelievers, and the friendships God builds among His people.
- August 12, 2018 Paying Attention to People Pastor A walks through Titus 3, tracing real people in Paul's letters and calling the church to slow down, notice others, and devote themselves to good works.
- April 22, 2018 A Tree That Cannot Be Cut Down Jesus heals a bent woman on the Sabbath, then describes God's kingdom as a mustard seed: small in its beginnings, growing until every person finds shelter in its branches.
- 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.
- July 9, 2017 Doing Follows Being Walking through Ephesians 1-3, the pastor shows how God's grace transforms dead sinners into one body, calling the church to be what it already is before doing anything.
- June 18, 2017 But God Acted Ephesians 2 shows how Christ tore down every wall of hostility between people, and why Christians have no room to hold onto racism, fear, or division.
- April 23, 2017 Stuff That Matters Closing Colossians with Paul's final greetings, the pastor explores what steadfast prayer, wise words, and grace toward outsiders and insiders alike look like in everyday life.
- January 8, 2017 The Whole Enchilada of Philemon The pastor walks through the entire book of Philemon, one chapter, exploring Paul's appeal to a slave owner to receive a runaway slave back as a brother in Christ.
- May 15, 2016 Therefore: The Results of Justification by Faith Romans 5 explores what justification by faith actually produces: peace with God, standing in grace, hope in His glory, and even joy through hardship.
- May 15, 2016 Having Been Justified by Faith Romans 5 shows that faith in Christ brings peace with God, grace, and hope even through hard times. A verse-by-verse look at what justification actually means for daily life.
- April 10, 2016 Not Even One Romans 3 shows every person stands guilty before God, yet Pastor Carl walks through how justification comes freely by grace through faith in Christ alone.
- 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.
- December 1, 2015 Monday Nights @ First B (18) Jesus says no one enters the kingdom of God unless they receive it like a child. But what does that mean? Luke 18 shows us through the stories around it.
- November 15, 2015 Thanks Be to God for His Inexpressible Gift Paul's letter to Corinth shows that receiving God's grace naturally leads to extending it to others, whether through money, forgiveness, comfort, or love.
- November 15, 2015 The Biblical Reaction to Grace Received Paul walks through 2 Corinthians 9, showing how grace received from God naturally produces generosity in every form, given freely and with a cheerful heart.
- November 8, 2015 The Biblical Reaction to Grace Received Paul shows from 2 Corinthians 8 how receiving God's grace naturally moves believers to extend that same grace to others, freely and voluntarily.
- November 8, 2015 The Biblical Reaction to Grace Received Paul shows how Macedonian Christians gave generously out of poverty because God's grace compels us to extend to others what we have freely received.
- September 16, 2015 WWW Be Right (18) Romans 5 shows that faith brings peace with God, access to Him, standing in grace, and confident hope, even through suffering that refines and strengthens us.
- September 2, 2015 WWW Be Right (20) A study of Romans 1 exploring grace, the character of God, and what happens when a culture turns away from Him. Taught at First Baptist Jackson.
- February 11, 2015 Prisoner of Christ, Not of Circumstances A pastor shares Ephesians 3 on grace, the church, and suffering, including her own grief after a tragic loss in her home, and what she learned about God's faithfulness.
- December 15, 2013 A Willing Body Mary said yes to God's grace before she understood it all. The pastor traces the word "grace" through Luke 1 to ask what willing surrender looks like for us today.
- January 20, 2013 Attitude Is Everything John 8: a woman caught in adultery, a crowd ready to stone her, and Jesus responding with understanding, compassion, and forgiveness, plus a challenge that changes everything.
- December 4, 2011 Caught in the Answer A woman caught in adultery, a crowd holding stones, and Jesus kneeling in the sand. See what grace really looks like in John 7-8.