What does First B Jackson teach about obedience 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 B Jackson, the teaching on obedience to God tends to start with a very practical observation: what does it actually look like in the moment? When Pastor Mark walked through Philip's response to the angel's instruction in Acts 8, one thing he kept coming back to was the plain fact that the text does not say Philip packed, or prayed about it, or thought it over. He started out. That immediacy was not treated as a minor detail. It was the thread running through the whole sermon, a picture of what obedience looks like when it is genuine rather than conditional.
Nick Stern, First Baptist's technology and communications director, brought the same question down to earth from a different angle when he taught from 1 Samuel 15:22. He described pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago hiking great distances as acts of penance or sacrifice, and pointed out that people in Jackson can write a check, but neither is what God is actually asking for. What God asks for, Nick said, is our hearts, our attention, and our obedience, and when we give that, we get to know Him in a way that sacrifice alone never produces.
Taken together, the teaching here does not frame obedience as a burden or a performance. It frames obedience as the thing that opens a deeper knowledge of God, and it tends to be illustrated not with abstract principles but with people in the Bible and in real life who simply moved when God said move.
Taught from Acts 8:26-40 · 1 Samuel 15:22 · Isaiah 53:7-8 · Romans 10:14
The passage taught · Acts 8:26-40
26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”
27 He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.
28 He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 19, 2025 This week's Sermon from First B Jackson January 19th Philip dropped everything when God said go, and ended up baptizing an Ethiopian official on a desert road. What happens when you actually want the ball?
- July 23, 2023 As You Are Going Nick Stern shares stories from hiking the Camino de Santiago and how conversations along the trail opened doors to share the gospel with strangers from around the world.
Mentioned along the way
- June 2, 2024 Believer or Disciple? Mike challenges believers at First Baptist Jackson to fix their eyes on eternity rather than comfort, and to pursue obedience to God as disciples, not just believers.
- January 1, 2023 Here Is Water, What Hinders You A New Year's Day sermon on baptism, tracing Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, followed by an invitation to be baptized and the Lord's Supper.