What does First B Jackson teach about running the race?
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 running the race starts with Hebrews 12 and the weight of everything that comes before it. Pastor Carl and Pastor Mark have both spent time in this passage, and both land in the same place: the "therefore" that opens chapter twelve carries the full force of chapter eleven behind it. Every name in that hall of faith was a flawed person who trusted God and kept moving. That matters because it means the cloud of witnesses surrounding us is not made up of untouchable heroes. Their lives are evidence, testimony to what it looks like to press forward when things are hard.
Before the running comes the laying aside, and the teaching is careful to keep two things separate: encumbrances and sin. Some things that slow a person down are not sinful at all. Busyness, old habits, even certain ideas carried from childhood can become dead weight. Sin is its own category and needs to go for its own reasons, but the call is broader than a list of moral failures. The race itself is run by fixing your eyes on Jesus, the archegos, the one who pioneered the way and stayed in it as its leader, who endured the cross for the joy set before him. Considering him is what keeps a person from growing weary and losing heart.
Carl also preached this same race from Philippians 3, pressing on the point that Paul himself had a past he could have been buried under, yet he did not sit in that regret. The reason is that Paul chose to live in the present of grace rather than chain himself to what was behind him. The heavenly prize is real and concrete, and the Bible's picture of it, every tear wiped away, no more death or sorrow, is what Paul is pressing toward. The teaching at First B Jackson holds that if God is not revisiting your past sin, you shouldn't be either, and that this race, all the way to that finish line, is worth running.
Taught from Hebrews 12:1-3 · Philippians 3:10-21 · Philippians 3:14 · Hebrews 11 · Romans 8:1
The passage taught · 1 Peter 5:10
10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- January 12, 2020 Fix Your Eyes on Jesus A Wyoming pastor walks through Hebrews 12, showing how fixing your eyes on Jesus, not religion or your own efforts, is what carries you through.
- January 12, 2020 Fix Your Eyes on Jesus Hebrews 12 calls us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, and run with endurance the race set before us, laying aside sin and every encumbrance.
- February 21, 2016 Press On to the Heavenly Prize Carl preaches through Philippians 3, calling believers to press on toward heaven, live in God's forgiveness, and stop being chained to past regrets.