What does First B Jackson teach about what to think about?
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 what to think about centers on Philippians 4:8, the verse where Paul lists eight qualities worth meditating on: whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. Ray and Pastor Blake have both worked through this passage carefully, and both make the same point: these are not exclusively religious categories but things any person already recognizes as genuinely good. The claim is that what you habitually dwell on shapes who you become, and that you get to choose what you dwell on.
The list in verse 8 does not stand alone. Both Ray and Pastor Blake connect it directly to the verses just before it, where Paul tells the church to bring anxiety to God in honest, grateful prayer rather than lying awake running through everything they cannot fix. The peace that follows that kind of prayer, the teaching says, is the kind that does not make logical sense but is genuinely real. Verse 8 is the next step: once anxiety is handed to God, here is what fills the mind in its place. Ray was direct about what taking that choice seriously looked like in his own life, sharing that he deleted social media because of what it was doing to his temperament, not as a rule for everyone but as a concrete example of the decision Paul is describing.
Pastor Blake slowed the list down and asked the congregation to do their own word association with each term, modeling what personal meditation on scripture actually looks like rather than just handing them definitions to receive. The word Paul uses for "meditate" is a Greek word meaning to think deeply, to get down to the bottom of something. The teaching at First B Jackson is that this kind of deliberate setting of the mind is how the peace of God guards hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and it is available to anyone willing to make that choice.
Taught from Philippians 4:8 · Philippians 4:6-7 · Philippians 4:9 · Colossians 3:1-4 · Psalm 92
The passage taught · John 17
1 Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
4 I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 28, 2018 Meditate on These Things The pastor walks through Philippians 4:8-9, exploring eight things Paul calls us to set our minds on, from truth and purity to what is lovely and praiseworthy.
- January 28, 2018 Meditate on These Things Pastor Blake walks through Philippians 4:8, calling his church to intentionally fill their minds with what is true, noble, pure, and praiseworthy in a distracted age.
Mentioned along the way
- August 30, 2026 Saddling Up Anyway A sermon on Philippians 4:4-9 about rejoicing, gentleness, prayer, and training your mind to dwell on what is true, honorable, pure, and good.
- January 25, 2026 Rejoice in the Lord Always Pastor Eric walks through Philippians 4:4-14, exploring what it means to choose joy, pray through anxiety, and fix your mind on what is true, noble, and pure.
- January 25, 2026 Rejoice in the Lord Always Philippians 4 shows how joy, prayer, and gratitude work together to overcome anxiety, and why context changes everything about the verses you thought you already knew.