First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi

Christ, The First Fruits

The Corinthians were asking, “What if the dead are not raised? Would it really make that much of a difference to us?” So Paul teases out the disastrous consequences of rejecting the doctrine of resurrection. And then in verses 20 through 28, he deals with an “In fact.” So, “What if?” -12 through 19; 20 through 28, “In fact.” In fact, Christ has been raised, and so he goes on to tease out for us the implications of that glorious fact.

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #15

Three Crosses

We’re going to focus on the three crosses that we see in the passage, these three figures on Calvary, because each of them shows something to us, something important about how we respond to Jesus and about what Jesus offers to us. Hanged upon the first cross is an unrepentant thief. The first cross shows us the tragedy of a resistant heart. The tragedy of a resistant heart. Hanged on the second cross is a thief who turns from his sin, who seeks for mercy. The second cross reminds us of the n...

Stories of Faithfulness Episode #3

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #14

Social Media: Who Sets the Agenda

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #13

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #12

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #11

Good Questions, Bible Answers

Well tonight we’re doing something a little different from the usual sermon that we have. It is going to be a message, a sermon from God’s Word, but rather than the regular exposition of a single text, we invited you over the last several weeks to submit questions about theology or the Christian life or about the Bible or about the present crisis. 

Peace to All of You

Would you look at the passage with me again for a moment? First of all, Peter reminds us there is grace in the Word of God, verse 12. There’s grace for you in the Word. Secondly, he says there is love in the Church of Jesus Christ. That really comes out in all three verses, though it’s explicit in verse 14. There’s grace for you in the Word. There’s love for you in the Church. And finally in verse 14, there is peace in Jesus Christ. There is peace for you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #10

Stories of Faithfulness Episode #2

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #9

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #8

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #7

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #6

Humble Yourselves

Well do please take your copy of God’s Word in hand and turn with me to 1 Peter. We’re working our way through 1 Peter on Sunday mornings. This is the penultimate message from 1 Peter, so we’re in chapter 5 and we’re looking at the second half of verse 5 through verse 11. Peter has said a few words to elders, to shepherds of the flock. We saw that last time in the first five verses. Now, he has a word for the whole congregation; how we are to treat one another and live under God’s hand in ch...

The God Who Sleeps

Well we’re going to look at another miracle that Jesus performs in Matthew chapter 8. Five short verses in 23-27. It’s a short story, it’s a great story, and it has an enormous point. And that is found by answering the question, really the question of all the gospels, the question at the center of all of Christianity. And it’s what the disciples ask in verse 27. They say, “What sort of a man is this?” And during the time that we’re living in of coronavirus, of isolation, of fear, it is impor...

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #5

Stories of Faithfulness Episode #1

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #4

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #3

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #2

Life Toward God - A Daily Devotional #1

In His Shepherding Care

Shepherding the Flock of God

We’re going to think about it under four headings. We’ll think first about the elder’s office. In our contemporary scene, not every church has elders. You may even never have been in a church that has elders before, so is this just a quirk of Presbyterian churches like ours or is it a Biblical office? So we’ll think briefly about the office of the elder. Then, we’ll think about the elder’s work. What is it that they are supposed to be doing? If this is a Biblical office, what is the task ent...

God is King: Remembering God's Providence in Scary Times

I Have Seen Your Tears

We could sum up the themes of our passage this way then. We could say it is first of all about responding to suffering. Responding to suffering. Then secondly, it’s about remembering sovereignty. Responding to suffering. Remembering sovereignty; the sovereignty of God amidst our trials. And thirdly, it’s about resting on the Savior. Responding to suffering. Remembering sovereignty. Resting on the Savior. Actually, I would argue those three themes together provide us a kind of tool kit to fac...

Resurrection and Mission

Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always, and Forever Love

The Fuel for Mission

The same God who condescended to redeem us in Christ, the One who has promised and told us in Scripture that He prepares a home for us, He is the same one who calls and who burdens and who sends His church - local congregations, ordinary men and women in local congregations - into the world to bear witness to His grace, making the Gospel of Christ clear and compelling to those who have not yet heard this good news. And what we’re going to see in these verses as we look at verses 9 through 12...

When the Great Commission is No More

But McQuilken asks, “How do you measure how you’re doing in mission?” And his answer is - here are the metrics - “100, 50, 10 and 5.” They’re not drawn from specific verses in the Bible; they’re drawn from the whole sweep of New Testament teaching on the spread of the Gospel. One hundred is 100% of our people are praying faithfully for the spread of the Gospel around the world. Would that be you? Fifty, 50% of all the money that comes into this church goes right back out for the spread of th...

The Burning Bush

We’re going to read this morning from Exodus chapter 3, and this is the story of the burning bush. It’s one of the great stories of the entire Bible, and especially the Old Testament. The question is, “Who is God?” and we learn two things from God here about who God is. And the first is that He is the God who comes down to find. And secondly, He is the God who comes and reveals Himself. 

The Beatitudes: Mercy

We have been working down the Beatitudes on Sunday nights. And the Beatitudes, we said the very first week, is the description of the blessed life found in Matthew chapter 5. The blessed life is a life of beauty, and a life of beauty is where truth and goodness meet together. In other words, it’s what life looks like for the citizens of the kingdom of God. It’s how the citizens of the kingdom of God act into the world; that’s the Beatitudes. It’s describing, really, just the Christian life. ...

The Beatitudes: Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

And so we’ll work this evening just section by section looking at this single verse, verse 6, and we’ll look first at our appetites, our spiritual appetites - that we are hungry and we are thirsty. Second, we’ll consider the righteousness that Jesus has in view here. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” What is Jesus talking about? And then third, we’ll close and consider what it means to be satisfied in Him. What it means to be satisfied in Him. 

Fiery Trials

Peter is offering a final word on a series of reflections we’ve been examining together for some time now on the reality of suffering in the Christian life. And as we study it together, I want to highlight four themes, really four apparent paradoxes, that describe in verses 12 through 19 the Christian’s response to and engagement with suffering in their lives. The first apparent paradox - joy in the midst of suffering. Joy in the midst of suffering. Secondly, verse 14 - blessing in the midst...

Life In This World As God's Appointed Rulers Under Christ - Session One

Life of The World To Come With Christ - Session Two

The End Is at Hand

Last time, in the first six verses, we noticed that Peter gives some instruction on how the church, Christians, are to relate to the world. And he brackets his instructions between two poles. In verse 1, he talks about Christ who suffered and provides an example that we are to imitate. But then in verse 5 and 6, he speaks about Christ’s return at the end of the age to judge. And between those two poles, here is how we are to relate to the world around us. And picking up on that note about th...

Blessed are the Meek

In terms of the Beatitudes themselves, they are the character qualities of those who are part of the kingdom of God. These are the virtues that describe all believers and all believers give evidence of all of these. They’re a whole. Through them, we really view fundamental Christian character from eight different angels. None of them points to a natural tendency. Each of these virtues is produced by grace and they are the Spirit’s work within us. This is who Jesus is making us to be.

The Beatitudes: Poor in Spirit

We’re starting a new series tonight for the next several weeks on the Beatitudes. And you can find the Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5. And tonight we’ll not only look at the first beatitude about being poor in spirit, but also the second, about a life of mourning and sorrow. You’ll find the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5; you won’t find the word “beatitude” anywhere in the Beatitudes. The word “beatitude” is a Latin term from the Latin translatio...

Membership Question 5 (week 4)

Communicant Class Part 4 2020

The Past Suffices

There simply is no way to live in obedience to Christ and in conformity to the world at the same time. And that one hard reality is very much at the forefront of Peter’s thinking as he pens the passage before us at the beginning here of 1 Peter chapter 4. He wants us to understand and to embrace the character, the cost, and the calling of Christlikeness. 

Learning Patience in the School of Providence

So I want to turn us to a passage, to a verse tonight that deals with the topic of patience, wisdom in the area of patience, from the book of Ecclesiastes; Ecclesiastes chapter 7. I want to look at this verse along three points tonight. One is - questions without answers. Two - wisdom without answers. And then three - hope without question. 

Membership Question 3 and 4 (week 3)

The Great Exchange

We’ve been working our way steadily through 1 Peter together here at First Church on Sunday mornings, and one of the major themes we’ve been considering has to do with living for Christ when doing so will bring suffering, opposition, hardship. We’re going to tackle it under four headings. First, in verse 18, we learn about Christ our substitute. Christ our substitute. Then in verses 19 and 20, in the second place, we’ll learn about Christ our preacher. Christ our preacher. Then verse 21, Chr...

Membership Question 2 (week 2)

Communicant Class Part Two 2020