I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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Top Posts & Pages
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 24:36-51, Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, "Alert" for May 10, 2026
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 22:15-22, 34-40, Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, "Honor" for 5/03/26
- "How To Run The Christian Race" (Hebrews 12:1-2 sermon)
- "God's Purpose For Your Life" (I Peter 2:4-5 sermon)
- "The Lord Our Provider" (Philippians 4:15-23 sermon)
- "This Is My Story: The Philippian Jailer" (Acts 16:25-34 sermon)
- "The Gift That Is An Insult" (I Kings 9:10-14)
- "Seeking Him First" (Matthew 6:33 sermon)
- "True Religion" (Philippians 3:2-3)
Categories
- "The Disciple's Character" series (Beatitudes Mt. 5:3-12)
- "The Disciplines of Disciples" series
- "This Is My Story" sermon series
- Beatitudes Series 2020 FBCA
- Book of James Sermons: What Real Faith Looks Like
- COVID-19 crisis assorted messages
- Current Events
- Devotions/Bible Studies
- Discipleship
- Discovering FBCA Membership class lessons
- Doctrine/Theology
- Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews
- Explore the Bible Sunday School lessons
- Habakkuk "Find Us Faithful" series messages
- History
- Home & Family Life
- I Peter sermons
- India Mission Trip 2011
- Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King
- John 3:16 sermon series
- Luke 10:38-42 Mary & Martha series
- Luke 2 Christmas series
- Matthew sermons
- Ministry
- missions
- Music
- Philippians sermons
- POTS (dysautonomia) articles
- Psalms studies and messages
- Revelation sermon series
- Reviews
- Sermon Illustrations
- Sermons
- The Model Prayer Series
- The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020)
- This Week In Paradise (pastors family blog)
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- worship
Author Archives: Shawn Thomas
A Spring Saturday
In his classic comedy film, “The Awful Truth”, Cary Grant twists the old adage and says: “In the spring, a young man’s thoughts turn to … what he has been thinking about all winter!” There is probably a lot of … Continue reading
Posted in Home & Family Life
1 Comment
Truth Matters More
Below you will find the opening lines from an article by John Dwyer on the Christianity Today website, entitled: “Not Many of You Should Presume to Be Bloggers”. It is a response to the proliferation of blogs and Facebook posts … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
The Glory of God in Christ: A Sermon Review
As a pastor who preaches three messages a week, I have a love and appreciation for sermons, hopefully not just as an “art form” but rather for their value to me personally and to the Church of God as a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
3 Comments
Simple Pleasures
A few days ago, the preschoolers from the First Baptist Academy were going out to the playground, which is just behind my office. As it had recently rained, when they came through the gate and entered the playground, one of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
“A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste!”
“A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste” — I couldn’t help but think of that old college fund commercial the other day. I was at my office at church, just getting ready to go home, and I saw C.S. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
Let God speak TO you, not just THROUGH you
I started reading through the book of Hosea the other morning in my devotional time, and something jumped out at me right off the bat. The first chapter opens by saying in :2, “When the Lord first spoke THROUGH Hosea, the Lord said TO Hosea …” and … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
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Basebaal Strikes Out
Did you catch the sad interview on the news the other evening, when former Philadelphia Phillies baseball manager Dallas Green was asked about the death of his granddaughter in the recent Tucson shooting rampage? The multiple deaths were, of course, tragic in and of themselves. … Continue reading
Posted in Current Events
2 Comments
Minor Emergency Clinic
“Wow!” the nurse practitioner exclaimed as she listened to my lungs. I was actually somewhat gratified to get some kind of response — you know, that it was truly worthy of a trip to the clinic at 10:30 at night! I mentioned … Continue reading
Posted in India Mission Trip 2011
2 Comments
Jet Lag
Some assorted notes while I am up with jet lag … Pretty much all of the team had jet lag while we were over in India, waking up at 3:00 or 4:00 every morning, being up for a couple of … Continue reading
Posted in India Mission Trip 2011
2 Comments
The Conference
For a one word summary, I guess “wow” would do … We had the most incredible day at the Pastors & Leaders Conference hosted by our partner pastor in India, Sanjay Charan. When all the ladies in the hall left early for lunch, … Continue reading
Posted in India Mission Trip 2011
4 Comments
shawnethomas 