What does First B Jackson teach about spreading the gospel?
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 spreading the gospel starts with the conviction that God's purpose has always been for his blessing to move outward, not to stop with the people who first receive it. Pastor Ray preached from Psalm 67 that the Aaronic blessing the psalmist echoes is not being asked for so it can be hoarded. The reason given in verse two is that God's way would be known on the earth and his salvation among all nations. Pastor Jason made the same point from the same psalm, tracing the structure back to God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, where the blessing was always aimed beyond Abraham himself toward all the families of the earth. The spreading circle, as both pastors named it, is not a New Testament invention. It runs through the whole of Scripture.
The sermon Pastor Josh preached from Acts 8 shows what that outward movement looks like on the ground. Persecution scattered the Jerusalem believers, and rather than going silent they carried the message with them. Pastor Josh described this as the gospel spreading primarily through ordinary witness, one person telling another where bread can be found. Philip ended up in Samaria, a place Jews and Samaritans had no use for one another, and the gospel took root there. The contrast at the center of that text is between Philip, whose message lifted up Jesus, and Simon the sorcerer, whose message had always lifted up Simon. The direction a person's witness points, toward Christ or toward themselves, is not a small detail in the story.
Taken together, the teaching at First B Jackson is that every person who has placed faith in Jesus has been drawn into the same circle that started with Abraham. The resources, the harvest, the blessing, as Pastor Jason put it from Psalm 67:6, are already there. What the church is called to do is let that blessing move.
Taught from Psalm 67 · Acts 8:1-25 · Genesis 12:1-3 · Acts 1:8 · Numbers 6:24-26
The passage taught · Acts 1:8
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 12, 2025 Scattered to Spread the Good News Philip preaches in Samaria, a sorcerer believes but reveals a corrupt heart, and Peter confronts the sin of seeking God's power for personal gain.
- February 19, 2023 The Spreading Circle Psalm 67's "spreading circle" shows how God's blessing flows from Abraham through us to every nation, rooted in faith and the call to carry the gospel outward.
- February 19, 2023 The Spreading Circle Psalm 67 shows God blesses His people not as an end in itself, but so His grace spreads outward to every nation, people, and tongue on earth.
Mentioned along the way
- October 9, 2016 The Seed and the Soil A Romanian missionary shares how the gospel survived communism and spread worldwide, preaching on the parable of the sower from Mark 4.