What does First B Jackson teach about loving enemies?
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 loving enemies begins with honest acknowledgment that the command runs against every natural instinct. When Ray preached from Jeremiah 29, he set the command alongside Psalm 137, which records the raw rage of exiles wishing destruction on their captors, so the congregation could feel just how large the gap was between what the people wanted and what God was asking. Into that gap comes God's own word through Jeremiah: seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf. That is not a gentle suggestion but a direct command, given to people who had every human reason to want nothing to do with Babylon.
Pastor Josh's walk through Matthew 5 made clear that Jesus intensifies rather than softens this demand. The law said love your neighbor; Jesus says love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. The point Pastor Josh pressed is that the people around us who do not know God cannot be expected to act like they do. It is hard enough for those who know Jesus to act like Him, and impossible for those who do not. That reality is meant to produce patience and prayer, not contempt.
Pastor Ray's message on Romans 12 added a personal edge to the teaching. He told his own story of carrying a years-long grudge against a boy named Dennis who had bloodied his nose in ninth grade, presenting it to others as forgiveness while quietly nursing revenge. The passage calls the church to love without hypocrisy, and Ray's point was that Christians have an amazing capacity to justify themselves while missing exactly that. Real love, he said, is inseparable from hating what is evil, but it is equally inseparable from refusing to return evil for evil, a pattern that holds only when it is grounded in Christ rather than in our own strength.
Taught from Jeremiah 29:4-7 · Matthew 5:43-45 · Psalm 137 · Romans 12:9-21
The passage taught · 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 11, 2026 Seek the Prosperity of the City Jeremiah's letter to the exiles commands God's people to seek the good of the city where He places them, a message as alive today as it was in Babylon.
- January 11, 2025 Seek the Prosperity of the City Jeremiah 29 calls God's people to seek the good of the city where He has planted them, even in exile. A timely word on faithfulness, prayer, and blooming where you are.
- May 26, 2024 Love Must Be Sincere Romans 12 calls believers to sincere, unhypocritical love. Pastor Ray walks through what that really demands, from honoring others to blessing enemies.
- January 9, 2022 Salt That Has Lost Its Saltiness Jesus intensifies the law's demands on murder, adultery, oaths and more, showing that true discipleship starts in the heart, not just outward behavior.
Mentioned along the way
- April 13, 2025 Love Your Neighbor As Yourself Jesus defines neighbor as anyone in your path, and calls us to costly, sacrificial love for every person made in God's image, both inside and outside the church.
- September 8, 2024 Love Is an Action Dave Hatfield shares how loving outcasts in a Kenyan dumpsite community led to a daily Bible church, and calls Christians to love neighbors into faith.
- May 26, 2024 The Love Without Hypocrisy Pastor Ray preaches from Romans 12 on sincere, unhypocritical love, exploring what it means to hate evil, cling to good, and forgive rather than seek revenge.
- January 28, 2024 To Sum Up, All of Y'all Pastor Carl walks through 1 Peter 2-3, calling believers to harmony, humility, and blessing others rather than returning evil for evil, following Christ's example.
- January 22, 2023 Sunday Jan 22nd. Join us in the book of Luke Chapter 10 A Wyoming pastor uses audience poll cards and Luke's Good Samaritan story to ask: can you love the people you find most offensive to the gospel?
- November 6, 2022 My Time Is Not Yet Here Sermon exploring discipleship's cost through Luke 9 and John 7, as Jesus walks toward Jerusalem and calls followers to commit fully without looking back.
- September 7, 2022 Women's Bible Study - September 7th, 2022 Deborah teaches from Exodus and 1 John on what it truly means to thrive: trusting God's narrative over the world's lies, and living as a child of God.