Teacher’s Preview of Joshua 24:14-24, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson: “Vital Decision,” for July 19, 2026.

Posted on 2026/07/11 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations to share, sample group discussion questions, and spiritual life applications to make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“If you were going to give a speech to a graduating class, what’s something you’d tell them?”

(That answer will vary according to the individual, of course. You might get some interesting, insightful answers!)

In today’s lesson, Israel has in a sense “graduated” into the Promised Land. The promise God made to Abraham and all the patriarchs has come to pass. But “now what?” What are they going to do from this point forward. As we’ll see in today’s lesson in Joshua 24, the answer is very much up to them, and how committed they will be to serve God.

That question: “Now what?” is a good question for all kinds of people, isn’t it? “Now what?” What’s next for new graduates? What’s next for new retirees? What’s next for new Christians? What’s next for a church with a new pastor — or which has just lost a pastor and is in transition — on and on. “Now what?” To a great extent, just like for Israel, and for new graduates, the answer is up to us, if we will really choose to serve God, as Joshua tells Israel in our lesson in Joshua 24 today.

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“Finishing Well” (Psalm 92:12-15 message)

Posted on 2026/07/06 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Trinity Baptist Church, Norman, OK, Father’s Day, June 21, 2026)

Just a few years ago, an elderly university president in South Carolina wrote: “It’s sundown, Lord … I fear not death … But I do fear that I should end before I finish, or finish not well.” 

Not long ago, one of our church members posted on Facebook and said “I want to finish life well. What do you think it looks like, to ‘finish well’?” I thought that was a great question. Because truthfully, a LOT of people do NOT finish well. So many in scripture did not:

— King David of course comes to mind, for several reasons:

— Eli the prophet, did not finish well, as he compromised with his sons’ sin.

— The last thing we read about Noah is his naked, drunken spell. Not what you want to be remembered for!

And we see that today too, don’t we:

— I know of a pastor who’s come out with some really liberal views in his last years; it’s very disappointing.

— You may know a pastor, or church member, or a family member, or friend, who just didn’t finish well — maybe it was immorality or unethical conduct — or maybe they just kind of slowly gave up. 

I hope that it’s your heart’s desire, men, this Father’s Day, to say: “I don’t want to finish like that. I want to finish well.” Truthfully, all of us as God’s people should have that desire. But how do we do it? Psalm 92 shows us:

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 14:1-15, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Unwavering Determination” for 7/12/26

Posted on 2026/07/04 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

You might post a picture like this, and ask your group if they know what it’s from. (All you Oklahoma church members should know this is the famous “Land Run” of 1889, when Congress opened up the unassigned lands in central Oklahoma for settlement. Everyone who wanted land lined up, and at the firing of the gun/canon/bugle (depending on where you were at noon, April 22, 1889) and they all took off, racing to mark off a plot of land as “theirs.” (Some of you know that those who sneaked in early to mark off a spot were called “Sooners”!) 

But then you might transition and say that God had a less chaotic means of dividing up the Promised Land, and we’ll look at that this morning in our passage in Joshua 14.

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 7:10-23, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Sin Revealed,” for July 5, 2026.

Posted on 2026/06/27 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

You might begin this week’s lesson by posting this quote: 

You could either ask your group to discuss what means, and/or explain that Donne was expressing how none of us “stands alone” like an island; what we do personally affects many others as well. And then point out that in today’s lesson we’ll see how even one man’s sin had a devastating effect upon a whole nation!

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 6:12-25, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Winning Strategy,” for June 28, 2026.

Posted on 2026/06/20 by Shawn Thomas

Inclues a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this preview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Did you get some instructions that you didn’t understand, but you just did it anyway?”

(We all probably have: for example I am doing most of the cooking at our house since Cheryl’s stroke. I was making some fajitas, and I asked her if she wanted me to put some black beans on them. She said that sounded good, but make sure to wash them when I take them out of the can. I thought, what? Why do I need to do that? And I asked her that. She said all the recipes said to. So I just did it. And later I looked it up — and it said they’re packed in a kind of very salty “brine” that you want to wash off before you eat. So there you have it!)

You/your group can share similar things, then make the point: in today’s lesson in Joshua, we’ll see how Joshua and the people of Israel obeyed God’s instructions, when they may not have fully understood “why” on some of them — and some of them are a bit hard for some of us to understand today as well, as we will see!

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 3:14-4:9, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson “Remembering God’s Works” for June 21, 2026.

Posted on 2026/06/13 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Can you share about a picture/memento you have in your home that reminds you of something special to you?”

(Now, don’t unsubscribe from me for this, college football fans, but the first thing I thought of is a Sunday newspaper I had framed after the 2000 OU/Nebraska game, with the headline “#1 Again.”  

OU had been national champions and in the top 10 most of my adult life, but from 1996-1998 they had several really bad years for them. But with this win, they climbed their way back to #1 again — and ended up winning the National Championship that year. So to me that headline is more than just a memento of an OU win; it’s a symbol that you can make a comeback: that a person who’s been “down” can get back up again; that a church that’s experienced a difficult stretch can get revived and grow again. It’s a continual reminder to me that a comeback is always possible!)

You/your group can share about your own “mementos” and their special meanings to you. Then share that in this morning’s lesson in Joshua, we see how God delivered His people, and He told them to remember it with a very particular kind of memorial.

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 2:4-21, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Amazing Grace,” for June 14, 2026.

Posted on 2026/06/06 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

ILLUSTRATION:

John Newton, the former slave trader who got saved and wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” once wrote to the Rev. Joshua Symonds and said:   “Well, when we have said all we can of the aboundings of sin in us, grace still more abounds in Jesus. We cannot be so evil as He is good.” (Letters of John Newton, Josiah Bull, ed., p. 176)

Sometimes it can be hard for us to really fathom just how abundant God’s grace is towards us. Our passage for today gives us a concrete example of the grace of God in action, which helps us to see just how amazing the grace of God really is. The example comes from what many would consider a very unlikely person: a Canaanite prostitute who came to faith in God!

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 1:1-11, 16-18, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson: “Strong & Courageous” for 6/07/26

Posted on 2026/05/30 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, illustrations you can use, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Can you share a time in your life when you or someone you know, needed courage?” 

(OR you could ask them: “Share some time when you personally saw courage demonstrated.”)

(For example, my wife Cheryl had memorized “be strong and courageous” from Joshua 1 here, before her stroke. But during her stroke rehab, these verses became particularly meaningful to her. She shares how at the first rehab session, when she was almost totally crippled on her left side, the therapist said to her: “I want you to take this staff and stand and walk.” Cheryl looked at this man and his shiny bald head and thought: “You don’t look anything like Jesus — telling me to rise and walk!” And she was very fearful about even attempting to stand, much less to try to take steps. She said it was the most scary thing she had ever done, to stand up and try to take that first step. But relying on Joshua 1 and God’s Spirit in her, she did!

You/your group can share your own experiences and stories, then transition: in today’s lesson from Joshua 1, we read how the Lord commanded Joshua to be “Strong & Courageous” — and how He commands us as His followers to to do the same thing!

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 27:27-31, 45-54, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Our Savior,” for 5/31/26

Posted on 2026/05/23 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this preview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“What is your favorite song about Jesus’ death on the cross?”

(There are so many, aren’t there? Mine might be either the great hymn “At Calvary” — one of the first songs I loved as a child: “Mercy there was great, and grace was free …” — or “At The Cross” by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir: “At the cross my debt was paid, All my sins were washed away, Just for me, amazing grace, At the cross”)

You/your group can share your favorites, then transition to the lesson: Today we’re going to study the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins, in Matthew 27.

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 26:17-30, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Our Atonement,” for 5/24/26

Posted on 2026/05/16 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, illustrations you can use, discussion questions you can share, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION/ILLUSTRATION

“Caesar awoke on the famous day, the Ides of March, 44 BCE, not feeling well. His wife had a bad dream, in which he had been murdered. She begged him to stay home. He sent word to the Senate that he was ill and would not be in attendance at the day’s meeting. He was scheduled to embark on a military campaign the next The Senators panicked; this was to be the day they struck Caesar down. Miss this day and Caesar would march off on campaign, and cloak himself in more martial glory. This was their last chance. 

Desperate, they sent someone Caesar would trust: Decimus Brutus, a distant cousin of Caesar, as well as the famous Marcus Brutus, one of Caesar’s trusted lieutenants. Caesar’s patronage had brought Decimus military appointments and political offices alike. Caesar loved Decimus like a son, and said so in public on many occasions. When Decimus arrived to talk Caesar into attendance at the Senate meeting, Caesar listened. Off they went, arm in arm.”

(Phillip Barlag, The History of Rome in 12 Buildings, p. 54-55)

(You could also choose to include the question on betrayal from later Point II in the introduction)

The betrayal and assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the most famous in history — surpassed only by the one we will study in today’s lesson in Matthew 26, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas after the Last Supper.

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