What does First B Jackson teach about grief and loss?
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 Baptist Jackson, the teaching on grief starts with the person of Jesus rather than with principles for coping. When Pastor Jason preached from John 11 on the death and raising of Lazarus, he spent real time on two words: 'Jesus wept.' He pointed out that the Greek word used for Jesus in that moment is different from the word used for Mary, Martha, and the mourners around them. Their grief is loud and convulsive. His is a quiet, controlled shedding of tears, and it is the only place that particular word appears anywhere in the New Testament. The point was not that Jesus managed his emotions well, but that He entered fully into the sorrow of the people He loved, even knowing what He was about to do. Grief, in that reading, is not a failure of faith. It is something Jesus himself did.
Pastor Ray's teaching from John 14 adds another layer. Jesus speaks that chapter into a moment of genuine crisis, hours before his arrest, with his disciples about to scatter. The comfort he offers does not wait for the storm to pass. 'Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in me.' Pastor Ray was honest that he holds more questions than answers about what comes after death, but he kept returning to one certainty: Jesus will be there, and that is enough reason to want to go. The peace Jesus promises in that chapter, Pastor Ray stressed, does not arrive after the trials are over. It operates inside them.
Taken together, what First Baptist Jackson teaches about grief is this: sorrow is real, Jesus does not ask people to skip it, and the comfort He offers is not a distraction from pain but a presence within it. The miracle at Lazarus's tomb did not undo the tears on the way there. And the rooms Jesus promised his disciples in John 14 were spoken into the darkest night of their lives, not after it cleared.
Taught from John 11:1-44 · John 11:35 · John 14 · Romans 12:15 · Hebrews 4:15
The passage taught · 1 Peter 5:8
8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- December 7, 2021 God With Us John 14 opens with "Don't let your hearts be troubled." Pastor Ray walks through Jesus' promises of eternal life, the Holy Spirit, and a peace the world cannot give.
- February 3, 2013 The Raising of Lazarus, Morning Praise (3) A Wyoming pastor reflects on "Jesus wept," the Bible's shortest verse, exploring what Christ's tears reveal about His humility, humanity, and holiness.
Mentioned along the way
- July 20, 2025 Acts 20: The Book of Acts Paul races toward Jerusalem, says goodbye to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, and leaves them with a charge to guard the flock and trust God's grace.
- 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.
- January 13, 2019 Retain, Guard, Be Strong, Entrust, Suffer Pastor Jonathan preaches through 2 Timothy, drawing on five commands Paul gave Timothy about holding fast to the gospel of grace and enduring hardship for Christ.