What does First B Jackson teach about thankfulness?
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 thankfulness starts with a simple claim Ray has made from Psalm 92: it is a decision, not a feeling. When he preached that psalm, he was honest that declaring God's goodness in the morning and his faithfulness at night is an act of the will, especially in hard circumstances. The psalm does not pretend that wicked people fail to prosper or that life is easy. It insists anyway that the right response is tireless praise, and Ray said that giving thanks to God in the middle of difficulty is the best counsel he knows how to offer anyone.
Carl has reinforced that same instinct from Philippians 1, pointing out that Paul wrote from prison and opened not with complaint but with grace, peace, thanksgiving, and prayer. Carl used the image of a tapestry to describe it: from the underside, the threads look like a mess, but God sees the whole design from above. Thankfulness, he said, does not make suffering disappear, but it moves suffering out of the driver's seat. He pointed to the old practice of counting your blessings not as sentimentality but as a real and practical discipline for people in the middle of a trial.
Both Ray and Carl have pushed toward the same pastoral conclusion: thankfulness is something you practice in community, in worship, and in prayer, not just something you feel when circumstances are good. Ray told the story of a worship night in the valley where people from several churches gathered simply to sing and thank God for his faithfulness, and he said that experience directly shaped the advice he was giving in counseling that same week. Find a place where you can worship, and then actually do it.
Taught from Psalm 92 · Philippians 1:1-11
The passage taught · 2 Peter 3
1 This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;
2 that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior:
3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- February 25, 2024 It Is Good to Give Thanks to the Lord Pastor Ray preaches Psalm 92, calling the congregation to tireless praise of God each morning and faithful trust in His goodness through every hard circumstance.
- November 29, 2015 God Will Finish What He Started The preacher walks through Philippians 1:1-11, showing how Paul responded to imprisonment with grace, peace, thanksgiving, and prayer, and why God cares more about our character than our comfort.
Mentioned along the way
- November 23, 2025 Slow to Anger but Just Pastor Ramon walks through the book of Nahum, showing how God's judgment on ancient Assyria reveals His justice, patience, and grace toward all who humble themselves before Him.
- July 3, 2022 Set Your Sights, Put Off, Put On Colossians 3 calls believers to set their sights on heaven, put off the old sinful nature, and put on Christ's love, mercy, and peace as their new identity.
- July 3, 2022 Set Your Sights, Put Off, Put On Carl walks First Baptist Jackson through Colossians 3:1-17, calling believers to set their sights on heaven, put off the old nature, and put on Christ's love.
- November 19, 2017 To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain A sermon on Philippians 1:18-26 asking one honest question: if you filled in the blank, "for me, to live is ___," what would your answer be?
- November 19, 2017 For To Me To Live Is Christ Philippians 1:19-26 explored through one question: how do you honestly finish the sentence "For me, to live is ___, and to die is ___"?
- April 30, 2017 By the Will of God The pastor walks through Ephesians 1:1-2 and examines what the will of God actually means for believers, from salvation and purity to suffering and submission.
- November 23, 2014 Called Out and Called Into A Wyoming pastor's rebuke of division at the Lord's Supper, drawn from 1 Corinthians 11, calls every believer to self-examination and unity at the foot of the cross.
- January 15, 2012 New Year, New Life, New Clothes A sermon on Colossians 3 calling believers to put off old habits and put on compassion, kindness, humility, patience, and love as a new life in Christ.