Author Archives: Shawn Thomas

About Shawn Thomas

My blog, shawnethomas.com, features the text of my sermons, book reviews, family life experiences -- as well as a brief overview of the Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson for Southern Baptist Sunday School teachers.

Teacher’s Overview of Genesis 19:12-26, Lifeway “Explore the Bible lesson “Purged”

Posted on 2024/02/17 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 19:12-26, with the title, “Purged,” for Sunday, February 25, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at: … Continue reading →

Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged Abraham, better than I deserve, Dave Ramsey, evangelism, Explore the Bible, fire and brimstone, Genesis, Genesis 19:12-26, grace, Hebrews 12:25, hell, hurricane, intercessory prayer, Isaac's Storm, John Bunyan, Jude 1:7, judgment, lesson outline, Lifeway, lot, ministry, mission, Pearl Harbor, Pilgrim's Progress, prayer, prayer for the lost, presumptuous sins, Purged, Sodom, Sodom and Gomorrah, Sunday school lesson, warning, witness | 7 Comments

“Suffering Servant/Glorious King: The Cost and Benefits of His Atonement” (Isaiah 53:5 sermon)

Posted on 2024/02/12 by Shawn Thomas

Several years ago, the wife of a pastor friend of mine in Oklahoma went out to her car at school and found a traffic ticket on it. But when she looked at it closely, she found that the ticket was … Continue reading →

Posted in Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King | Tagged Acts India Mission, atonement, blood, chastened, chastisement, cross, crushed, forgiveness, grace, healing, healing Hosea, healing in the atonement, healing symbolic, I Corinthians 15:19, I John 1:9, II Corinthians 12:7, II Timothy 4:20, Isaiah, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 sermon, Isaiah 53:5, Jesus, Jesus death, Jonathan Edwards, Joni Earickson Tada, peace, pierced, Romans 5:1, salvation, Sanjay Charan, scourged, scourging, shalom, sin, substitutionary atonement, Yitzhak Rabin death | 2 Comments

Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 17:1-10, 15-19, “Established”

Posted on 2024/02/10 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 17:1-10 and 15-19, with the title of “Established,” for Sunday, February 18, 2024. A video version of this overview is available … Continue reading →

Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged Abraham, Abraham laughed, Abram, awe, But God, Canaan, Colossians 3:3, covenant, Explore the Bible, faith, Genesis, God, honest to God, humility, II Corinthians 5:21, Isaac, Ishmael, Israel, Jesus, Lifeway, name, name change, names meaning, Nefilat Apayim, new covenant, Palestine, salvation, Sarah, Sarai, worship | 2 Comments

“Suffering Servant/Glorious King: His Substitutionary Atonement” (Isaiah 53:4 sermon)

Posted on 2024/02/05 by Shawn Thomas

In Charles Dickens’ famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities, he writes of two men who, although they looked very similar, and both loved the same young lady, but they were very different in character. Sidney Carton was a man … Continue reading →

Posted in Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King, Sermons | Tagged bear sin, Bible, burden of sin, Charles DIckens, cross, faith, forgiveness, God, guilt, Hurricane Katrina, Isaiah, Isaiah 53:4, It Is Well, Jesus, Job, John 9, John Bunyan, judgment, leprosy, Leviticus, Leviticus 16, Mesopotamian King substitute ritual, Messiah, my sin o the bliss, nailed to the cross, Newbery Medal, Pilgrim's Progress, reward, salvation, scapegoat, Sid Fleischman, Sidney Carton, sin, substitutionary atonement, suffering, Suffering Servant, Tale of Two Cities, The Whipping Boy | Leave a comment

Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 15:1-6 & 16:1-6, “Impatience”

Posted on 2024/02/03 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 15 & 16 for Sunday, February 11, 2024, with the title, “Impatience.” A video version of this overview is available on … Continue reading →

Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged Abraham, Abram, Abram and Lot, Apollo, conflict, Explore the Bible, faith, fear, galaxy, Genesis, Genesis 15:1-6 16:1-6, Genesis 15:6, God reward, Hagar, heat shield, heaven, honest to God, I am your reward, II Corinthians 5:21, impatience, Lifeway, Martin Luther King content of character, prayer, promise, Psalm 16, R.C. Sproul Jr., reckoned righteousness, Revelation 5, reward, righteousness, Romans 4, salvation by faith, Sarah, Sarai, shield, stars, substitutionary atonement, trust | 7 Comments

“Suffering Servant/Glorious King: Man of Sorrows” (Isaiah 53:2-3 sermon)

Posted on 2024/01/29 by Shawn Thomas

Abraham Lincoln was not an attractive man; in fact, people described him as “homely;” he had a number of facial defects. His own cabinet secretary called him a “long-armed ape.” And yet this “unsightly man,” as some called him, is … Continue reading →

Posted in Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King, Sermons | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Acts 4:12, appearance, celebrity Christians, Christian rock star, cool Christian, cross, desert, flower crushed, gospel, Isaiah, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53:2-3, Jesus, Jesus appearance, Jesus lamb, Jesus only way, Jesus suffering, Jesus uniqueness, John 14:6, Lamb of God, man of sorrows, Mark 8:31, marred more than any man, Messiah, Old Testament, Parable of the Sower, perfume, prophecy, Proverbs 20:9, Psalm 139, resurrection plant, Revelation 5, righteousness, Romans 3:10, salvation, sin, style vs substance, substitutionary atonement, Suffering Servant, tender shoot, worthy is the Lamb | Leave a comment

Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 12:1-5, 13:11-18, “Promised”

Posted on 2024/01/27 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 12:1-5, 13:11-18, for Sunday, February 4, 2024, with the title, “Promised.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube … Continue reading →

Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged Abraham, Abram, Bible study, Blessed are the meek, blessed to be a blessing, blessing, Explore the Bible, faith, Genesis 12, Genesis Sunday school lesson, gentleness, George Washington, giving, Hebrews 11, humility, Israel, life map, Lifeway, Matthew 5:5, meekness, meekness Psalm, mission trip, missions, Numbers 12:3, obedience, Promised Land, Psalm 37, Psalm 67, rights, step of faith, Sunday School, Sunday School teacher, tithing, Trenton | 7 Comments

“Suffering Servant, Glorious King: The Message” (Isaiah 53:1 sermon)

Posted on 2024/01/22 by Shawn Thomas

In the mid-1900s, a young English college student by the name of Brown Patterson went to Oxford to study English literature. Before classes began, he went out for a walk. There he saw a middle-aged man, wearing baggy corduroy trousers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King, Sermons | Tagged Acts 10, Acts 16:31, Acts India Missiion, aim, arm of the Lord, Boswell Life of Johnson, C.S. Lewis, conviction, Ethiopian eunuch, evangelism, God, gospel, gospel message, hard heart, heaven, Holy Spirit, I Corinthians 2:14, II Corinthians 6:2, intercessory prayer, invitation, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 sermon, Isaiah 53:1, John 6:44, Matthew 16, Message, missions, Philippian jailer, power of the gospel, Psalm 16:11, relationship with God, response to gospel, Romans 10:1, Romans 1:16, salvation, salvation by grace, salvation prayer, sermon, Suffering Servant, thief on the cross, who has believed our message, works | Leave a comment

Teacher’s Overview: Genesis 11:1-9, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson for 1/28/24

Posted on 2024/01/20 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 11:1-9, “Stalled,” for January 28, 2024. A video version of this lesson is available on YouTube at: INTRODUCTION In 2011 NBC … Continue reading →

Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged anti-semitism, atheism, Babylon, Bible map, Carolyn Weber, Explore the Bible, fame, Genesis, Genesis 11:1-9, glory, Gregory Nazianzen, judgment, Kenneth Matthews NAC commentary, Lifeway, make a name for yourself, make Jesus famous, name of God, Nimrod, shem, Sunday School, Sunday school lesson help, Sunday school teacher help, Surprised by Oxford, Tower of Babel, Trinity, Triune God, Walt Disney, When I say God, Yahweh | 8 Comments

“Suffering Servant, Glorious King” Isaiah 53 sermon series Introduction

Posted on 2024/01/15 by Shawn Thomas

In 1946, a Bedouin shepherd was out looking for a lost goat, and the shepherd (or technically “goatherd”) was climbing up a steep hillside looking for it. He came across a little cave, which was dark, so he threw a … Continue reading →

Posted in Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King | Tagged all have sinned, all we like sheep, cross of Jesus, Dead Sea Scrolls, forgiveness, gospel, I Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 message, Isaiah 53 New Testament, Isaiah 53 prophecy, Isaiah 53 sermon, Isaiah 53 sermon series, Isaiah context, Isaiah scroll, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John R.W. Stott, Luke 24:27, Messiah, New Testament quote Isaiah 53, Old Testament prophecy messiah, prophecies Messiah, Ruth Graham Isaiah 53, Ruth Graham testimony, salvation, sin, substitutionary atonement, Suffering Servant | Leave a comment