What does First B Jackson teach about sovereignty of 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 God's sovereignty starts from the conviction that His authority over all things is not a threat but a comfort. When Pastor Carl preached Acts 4:23-31, he paused on the word the early believers used when they addressed God in prayer: Sovereign Lord, a Greek word close in meaning to the English word "despot." The difference, he pointed out, is everything. Absolute power in a sinful person corrupts absolutely, but the same absolute authority in a God who is love, mercy, and goodness is a different thing entirely. That is the God the early church ran to when they were threatened, and that is the God this church returns to as a foundation.
Pastor Mark has come at this from two directions. In his Palm Sunday message through John 18 and 19, he held together the free choices of sinful people, including Caiaphas, Pilate, and the crowd, and the unshaken purpose of God underneath all of it. Caiaphas had no idea he was announcing the plan of God when he advised that one man should die for the people. Pilate declared Jesus innocent six times and still handed Him over. Neither man was acting outside what God was doing; neither man was a puppet. The sovereignty of God does not erase human responsibility. In his later series through Acts 25, Pastor Mark applied that same conviction to Paul's situation: pressed by accusers, stalled by people-pleasing judges, and yet moving steadily toward Rome exactly as God intended. The three closing applications from that message were plain: know that God is sovereign, know the Bible, and be willing to pay any price to remain faithful to Christ.
Pastor Gary's teaching through Romans 9 brought the same theme into its most demanding territory. The hard language of election, of God choosing Jacob over Esau before either twin had done anything, of mercy given to some and withheld from others, is not softened or stepped around at First B Jackson. But it is always read with the center of Paul's argument in view: whoever believes will be saved. God's sovereign choice does not make the offer of the gospel smaller. For Pastor Gary, it is the ground that makes the offer certain.
Taught from Acts 4:23-31 · John 18:1-19:22 · Romans 9:6-13 · Acts 25:1-12 · Psalm 2:1-2
The passage taught · 1 Peter 4
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin;
2 that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
4 They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming:
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- September 21, 2025 Examining the Cast of Characters Paul stands trial before Festus in Acts 25. A Wyoming pastor draws out what integrity, God's sovereignty, and willingness to pay any price look like for followers of Jesus today.
- August 14, 2016 Not All Israel Who Are Descended from Israel Romans 9 asks a hard question: has God failed Israel? Pastor Gary works through Paul's argument on divine sovereignty, mercy, and what it truly means to believe.
- October 14, 2015 WWW Be Right (16) Romans 9 walks through election, mercy, and God's sovereignty over Israel and all people, showing that salvation by faith in Christ is open to everyone.
- June 23, 2013 Continuing Acts, Traditions (2) Peter and John face arrest for preaching resurrection, yet the early church responds not with fear but with bold prayer to a sovereign God who rules over all things.
- March 24, 2013 From John 18-19, Morning Praise (2) Palm Sunday sermon on God's sovereignty over suffering, tracing Job, Psalm 22, and Isaiah 53 to the cross of Christ, showing why Christians can still say "blessed be the name of the Lord."