What does First B Jackson teach about identity in christ?
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 identity in Christ starts with a firm conviction that being precedes doing. Before any instruction about how to live, the foundation has to be clear: everything God has declared true about believers, redemption, adoption, inheritance, being seated with Christ in the heavenly places, was given without condition and without any prior merit on our part. As the series on Ephesians 4 made plain, Paul spends three full chapters establishing who believers are before he asks them to do anything at all. Position and practice are two different things, and trying to change behavior without first knowing who you are in Christ is working in the wrong order.
The teaching keeps returning to the gap between knowing facts about God and actually knowing him, and the same gap shows up in our self-understanding. Brad drew a sharp distinction between anchoring identity to things that can be taken away, a job, a role, a marriage, a team, and anchoring it to what God has declared permanent. When the temporary anchors are threatened, the reaction tends to be disproportionate, because what is really being threatened feels like the self. Matt Litzelman pressed the same point from John 15, encouraging the congregation to take the question directly to God: 'Lord, who do you say that I am?' He described how, when he surrendered the lies he believed about himself and asked that question, what he sensed in his spirit was the word 'steadfast.' That is how abiding works. Staying connected to Christ is what allows the Holy Spirit to clear away false identity, pride, and the 'not enough' voices, and to reveal who a person truly is as a new creation.
A recurring thread across these messages is that identity is not something we build or earn but something we receive and then grow into. The series Amy taught on living as a new creation put it plainly: we are not born again to become a better version of the old self, because that old nature has been spiritually circumcised off. God does not define us by what we are struggling with. He speaks our destiny over us before there is any sign of it, and He is not intimidated by failure in the process. Sanctification, as the Ephesians 4 message framed it, is the stretch of the timeline between belief and death, driven entirely by the Holy Spirit and requiring humility. Gaining ground means answering the Spirit's prompts rather than performing for an audience.
Taught from Ephesians 4:17-32 · John 15:1-8 · Colossians 3:1-17 · Romans 12:1-2 · Ephesians 1:1-14
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 1:18
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- May 3, 2026 First Be, Then Do The pastor walks through Ephesians 4, showing how who we are in Christ comes before how we live, and why being precedes doing in the Christian life.
- March 2, 2025 Made for Relationship with God Brad explores what it means to be made in God's image, why love is more than a feeling, and how to move from knowing about God to truly knowing Him.
- March 2, 2025 Made for Relationship: Loving God Brad explores what it means to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and why a right view of God's love must move from your head to your heart.
- October 30, 2022 Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing Matt Litzelman opens John 15 on abiding in Christ, bearing spiritual fruit, and what it actually looks like to follow Jesus as his disciple.
- July 3, 2022 Set Your Sights, Put Off, Put On Carl walks First Baptist Jackson through Colossians 3:1-17, calling believers to set their sights on heaven, put off the old nature, and put on Christ's love.
- February 24, 2015 Living As a New Creation - Who do You say that I am (Wk. 3) (2) A Wyoming pastor teaches on embracing your God-given identity in Christ, renewing your mind, and letting the Spirit transform how you see yourself and live.
- February 17, 2015 Living As a New Creation - Who do You say that I am (Wk. 2) (3) A women's Bible study on living as a new creation in Christ, covering identity, personality, body and soul, and how to walk out God's truth daily.
Mentioned along the way
- October 19, 2025 The Book of Philippians - Guest Speaker John Hamon A sermon on Philippians 2:5-11 exploring how Christ emptied himself of glory, went to the cross, and was exalted, and what that means for how we live.
- March 2, 2025 This week's Sermon @ First B Jackson -March 2nd A Wyoming pastor explores what it means to be made in God's image, why love is more than a feeling, and how knowing you are God's child changes everything.
- January 8, 2023 Apart From Me, You Can Do Nothing Brad Yates opens John 15:5 to show why Jesus alone is the vine, what it truly means to abide in Him, and how that rooted life produces lasting fruit.
- October 30, 2022 Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing Matt Litzelman teaches from John 15 on what it means to abide in Christ, bear fruit, and live as a disciple who loves God and loves people.
- April 3, 2022 Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 - 11am Traditional Service - Guest Speaker Florin Ion on Knowing Christ Florin shares from Philippians 3 on what it truly means to know Christ personally, not just know about Him, drawing on his Romanian upbringing and faith journey.
- August 5, 2018 Not Because of Works Done by Us Titus 3 shows that God saved us by mercy and grace, not our works, and calls believers to gentleness, good works, and unity with all people.
- January 28, 2017 Prayer on Fire #3 of 3 Contemporary Don Young closes First B Jackson's Prayer on Fire weekend with a message on the Father's love, contrasting it with the orphan spirit that robs believers of joy and freedom.
- September 14, 2016 Fall Afresh - Women's Ministry Kick Off (2) Deborah Buckingham teaches on mercy as both action and forgiveness, showing how knowing God's love for us shapes the way we value and serve one another.
- March 3, 2015 Living As a New Creation - Who do You say that I am (Wk. 4) (2) A Wyoming woman teaches her small group how to recognize God's voice through Scripture, prayer, dreams, and imagination, with stories and practical exercises.
- February 10, 2015 Living As a New Creation - Who do You say that I am (Wk. 1) (3) A sermon on discovering your true identity in Christ, exploring what God says about who you are and how believing it changes the way you live.
- August 31, 2014 Such Were Some of You The pastor walks through 1 Corinthians 6, addressing believers taking disputes to secular courts and the call to live as people who have been washed, sanctified, and justified in Christ.
- February 17, 2013 John 13, Morning Praise John 13 shows Jesus washing His disciples' feet. See what His humility, sacrifice, and servant love mean for how we live and treat the people around us.