What does First B Jackson teach about listening to god?
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 listening to God begins with the conviction that hearing His voice is a learned posture, not a natural instinct. Pastor Casey drew this from First Samuel 3, where Samuel lived in the temple, knew the rituals, and still did not recognize God's voice when it came. The problem, Casey said, was not ignorance of facts about God but a knowledge that had stayed in the head and never moved to the heart. That condition, he argued, describes many people in well-taught congregations. The turning point in the story is the phrase Eli gave Samuel to say: "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening." Once Samuel said it and meant it from a place of submission rather than his own agenda, God spoke with clarity and purpose, and everything God spoke through him came to pass.
The teaching from John 2 at First Baptist Jackson presses the same point into daily practice. Pastor Ray worked through the wedding at Cana to land on Mary's two instructions to the servants: listen to whatever Jesus says, and do it. The word "whatever" matters, Pastor Ray said, because Mary had no idea what Jesus would do and had made no arrangements with him in advance. She simply trusted that he would act. That open-ended trust is what faith looks like. Pastor Ray connected this to the ways Jesus speaks today, through the Bible, through the Holy Spirit in quiet moments of prayer, and through other believers gathered together.
Carl's teaching in Mark 4 added one more layer. Running through the four parables he walked through was a line Jesus kept repeating: pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding will be given. Carl said that took on new meaning for him in that study, that real listening changes how a person receives everything else the parables describe.
Taught from 1 Samuel 3 · John 2:1-12 · Mark 4:1-32 · Hebrews 10:19-25
The passage taught · Ephesians 2:8-9
8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, that no one would boast.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- December 6, 2022 Monday Night 12.5.22 The Parables of Jesus Jesus teaches four parables in Mark 4 about seeds, lamps, and growth, showing how God's kingdom spreads and what it means to truly listen and sow freely.
- October 28, 2012 Whatever He Says to You, Do It Mary's two words to the servants at Cana still speak: listen to whatever Jesus says, then do it. A simple call to faith and obedience.
- September 25, 2011 Speak Lord, Your Servant Is Listening A Wyoming pastor opens a 40-day series on love by teaching a Jackson congregation how to recognize and respond to God's voice, drawing from 1 Samuel 3.