What does First B Jackson teach about telling your story?
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 Baptist Jackson, the teaching on telling your story starts with Paul's example in Acts 25 and 26. Pastor Mark and Pastor Ray have both walked through the same stretch of scripture and landed on the same conviction: Paul kept telling his story no matter who was in the room. Before governors, before a king, before military commanders and city dignitaries, he told it again. The circumstances changed. The audience changed. The story did not. That consistency is held up not as a personality trait of Paul's but as a pattern the church is called to follow.
Both Pastor Mark and Pastor Ray draw attention to how thoroughly Paul knows his own story. He starts with his upbringing, his training as a Pharisee, his violent opposition to the followers of Jesus, and his presence at Stephen's stoning. He does not skip the embarrassing parts. Then he moves to the road to Damascus, the light brighter than the sun, and the voice asking why he was persecuting Jesus. That moment, Jesus identifying himself completely with the people Paul was arresting and harming, is what stopped him. Pastor Ray connected that to Matthew 10, the idea that what is done to the least of these is done to Jesus himself. The personal story and the larger gospel story are bound together.
The setting in Acts 26 also matters to the teaching. Festus needed something to write to Caesar and had no charges to write. Agrippa understood the Jewish world in a way Festus did not. Paul was not there by accident, and he did not treat the room as a threat. He told Agrippa that Agrippa was exactly the right person to hear this. The teaching at First B Jackson holds that up as a model: the story is worth telling to powerful people, to skeptical people, to whoever is present, and the teller's job is simply to keep telling it.
Taught from Acts 25:13-26:32 · Acts 12 · Acts 1:8 · Matthew 10
The passage taught · Acts 12
1 Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.
2 He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread.
4 When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- September 28, 2025 Keep On Telling Your Story Paul stands before kings and governors in Acts 25-26, telling his story of meeting Jesus on the Damascus road. A sermon on sharing your faith without fear.
- September 28, 2025 Keep On Telling Your Story Paul stands chained before kings and governors in Acts 25-26, yet boldly tells his story. A reminder that God uses ordinary people to carry the gospel anywhere.
- February 2, 2014 Saint Paul Rescued from the Multitude Paul stands in chains before mobs, governors, and kings, yet seizes every moment to tell his story and plead with his accusers to believe in Jesus Christ.
Mentioned along the way
- December 10, 2023 Near to the Heart of God Psalm 145 points to a God who is near to all who call on Him. Pastor Ray traces that thread from David's praise through Advent, communion, and stories of God's surprising provision.
- December 10, 2023 Near to the Heart of God A Wyoming pastor shares Psalm 145 and stories of unexpected divine appointments to show that God is near to all who call on Him.