What does First B Jackson teach about spiritual gifts?
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 spiritual gifts starts with a conviction that every believer has received one. Not some, not the specially qualified. As 1 Peter 4:10 puts it, each one has already been given something, and the question is simply what you do with it. That conviction runs through messages from Pastor Ray, Pastor Josh, and Pastor Mark alike, and it shapes how First B thinks about the body as a whole.
The gifts themselves are not trophies or achievements but things God has wired into different people for the sake of the whole body. Pastor Josh, working through Ephesians 4:12, pressed on the Greek word behind 'equipping,' which carries the sense of fine-tuning or exact adjustment, the kind of small careful correction you make on a precision instrument. The point was that the Spirit already knows how each person is built, and equipping is fitted to that person, not pressed into a single mold. The goal of all of it is building up the body of Christ, a construction term that pictures raising a structure fit to be a home. First Corinthians 12 gets brought in regularly here, with its image of the body having many parts, none of which can be written off as unnecessary, and its reminder that what happens to one part registers everywhere else.
The practical weight the teaching keeps returning to is that gifts are meant to be used. Pastor Ray, preaching from 1 Peter 4, told a vivid story about 70 pounds of green bananas given to him as a genuine gift by people who had very little, which he hung in his backyard and then forgot, until he heard them dropping off the bunch one by one, fully rotted. The waste of something that had been a real gift was the point. Romans 12 gets taught with the same insistence: whatever God has gifted you to do, be doing it, and do it without pretending. Pastor Ray put it plainly in one message on Romans 12 that not everyone should be visiting people in the hospital, and not everyone should be preparing the meal. The gifts listed across Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4 are not interchangeable, and recognizing your own particular fit is part of faithful membership in the body.
Taught from Ephesians 4:11-12 · 1 Peter 4:10 · Romans 12:3-8 · 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 · 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
1 Now concerning spiritual things, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- April 26, 2026 Fine Tuning the Saints Ephesians 4 explored: what it means that every believer is a saint with a spiritual gift, and how ordinary work and service build up the body of Christ.
- April 26, 2026 Fine Tuning the Saints The pastor teaches Ephesians 4:11-13, showing how God equips every believer with gifts for real ministry, whether at church, at work, or in the community.
- January 21, 2024 Do Not Be Overcome by Evil Romans 12 shows us how to serve, love enemies, and discern God's will, whether to persevere together or part ways, without conforming to the world.
- January 21, 2024 Many Parts, One Body Romans 12 shows us how to live in light of God's mercy: present yourself wholly to God, renew your mind, and serve one another with your God-given gifts.
- October 14, 2018 Green Bananas and the Gifts God Gives A Wyoming pastor connects rotting green bananas to 1 Peter 4 in a sermon on spiritual gifts, urging believers to use what God has given before it goes to waste.
- October 14, 2018 Use the Green Bananas A missionary's 70 pounds of rotting bananas becomes a vivid picture of what happens when we ignore the spiritual gifts God has given us to serve one another.
- September 4, 2016 By the Mercies of God Ray McDaniel walks through Romans 12, showing how spiritual gifts like serving, teaching, giving, and mercy flow from God's mercy and call believers out of self-centered living.
- September 4, 2016 By the Mercies of God, Present Yourself Romans 12 calls every believer to present themselves as a living sacrifice. Pastor Ray walks through spiritual gifts and what faithful service looks like in the church.
Mentioned along the way
- April 19, 2026 Walk Worthy of the Calling The pastor preached through Ephesians 4:1-16, tracing Paul's call to walk worthy, maintain unity, and use God's gifts to build up the body of Christ.
- April 19, 2026 Walk Worthy of the Calling Ephesians 4 opens with a call to walk worthy of Christ, exploring unity, spiritual gifts, and what it means to grow up together as one body.
- March 2, 2025 Gospel Carriers in Word and Deed Acts 11 traces how scattered believers carried the gospel to Antioch. Pastor Carl walks through what that early church moment means for how we live and give today.
- February 23, 2025 Gospel Carriers in Word and Deed Acts 11 shows a young church carrying the gospel outward through scattering, sacrifice, and ordinary witnesses. A sermon on staying true to the Lord and joining what God is already doing.
- February 23, 2025 Stay True to the Lord A sermon from Acts 11 on how ordinary believers carried the gospel outward, and what it looks like to take, remember, rely on, encourage, and participate today.
- April 11, 2022 James Chapter 2 - 4.11.22 Faith without action is dead. James 2:14-26 shows how a real relationship with God naturally produces good deeds, and why belief alone is never enough.
- December 30, 2018 God Has Not Given Us a Spirit of Timidity The pastor opens 2 Timothy showing how God gives believers not timidity but power, love, and a sound mind to face the future boldly as the new year begins.
- December 30, 2018 Power, Love, and Discipline Paul's final letter calls believers forward with power, love, and discipline. A New Year's message on 2 Timothy 1 from First Baptist Jackson.
- November 4, 2015 WWW Be Right (33) Romans 12-13 calls believers to offer themselves fully to God, renew their minds through Scripture, use their spiritual gifts joyfully, and love others well.
- March 17, 2015 Living As a New Creation - Who do You say that I am (Wk. 5) (3) A Wyoming pastor leads a small group through the biblical foundation of prophecy, what it is, how to test it, and how God uses it to speak life into people.
- February 25, 2015 Walk Worthy of Your Calling Ephesians 4 study on walking worthy of your calling through humility, patience, love, and peacemaking, and discovering how God's gifts build unity in the church.
- January 11, 2015 The More Excellent Way Pastor Aaron walks First Baptist Jackson through 1 Corinthians 13, showing that love is indispensable, behavioral, and permanent, and asking each of us how we actually measure up.
- January 4, 2015 One Body, Many Members A sermon on 1 Corinthians 12 exploring spiritual gifts, unity in the body of Christ, and why every believer's gift matters for the common good.
- December 28, 2014 Manifestation of the Spirit First Corinthians 12 explored: every believer receives a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit, not for personal glory, but for the good of the whole church body.
- November 30, 2014 The Message of the Cross Is Where It's At A review of 1 Corinthians traces one steady theme through every chapter: the message of the cross is foolishness to some, but God's power to all who believe.
- October 12, 2014 All Things to All Men Pastor Matt preaches through 1 Corinthians 9, showing how Paul denied his own rights and became all things to all people so that some might be saved from God's wrath.
- September 7, 2014 Never Hoard the Blessing of God Pastor Ryan preaches on the five purposes of the church, calling First B Jackson to serve one another and their community as living expressions of the body of Christ.
- August 17, 2014 What Do You Have That You Did Not Receive? Pastor Ray walks through 1 Corinthians 4, showing how pride fuels division, why every gift comes from God, and what faithful, humble service actually looks like.