Tests of Salvation

Posted on 2015/06/09 by Shawn Thomas

Are you really saved? Several passages of scripture offer us tests of salvation; indicators of whether one has genuinely been converted.  One of those texts is Romans Chapter 8.  Multiple verses in the chapter describe the person for whom “There is therefore now no condemnation … in Christ Jesus”. Among them are: Continue reading →

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The Discipline of Fellowship (Hebrews 10:23-25 sermon)

Posted on 2015/06/08 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, 6-07-15)

Cheryl & I are fond of assigning “chapter titles” to different episodes of our life together, like “The Dark Year”, “Just Then It Began to Snow” or “The Girl in the Purple Bikini” (I’ll have to tell you about that one some time!) About a year and a half ago, I gave the title to a several-months-long period, “How Trinity Baptist Saved Our Lives.” As I shared last week, I had served as pastor in Southern Baptist churches for almost 30 years before stepping down from our church in Louisiana with an illness. We sold our home, 2/3 of our possessions, and moved to Norman, Oklahoma, with little hope of a future. It was a difficult time for us. But in the middle of that, we had found a church home, Trinity Baptist in Norman, where pastor, staff, and people ministered to us, and really helped us through those dark hours. I remember one particularly bad day, when I was in bed with a migraine headache, a rag over my forehead, no job or income, and I was just calling out to God for help. Just then, the phone rang, and it was the pastor of Trinity, Ronnie Rogers, calling to offer us help and prayer. And that church did help us: financially, spiritually, with friends and fellowship and so much encouragement. I later sent the staff a note and said, “If I were to entitle this chapter of my life, ‘How Trinity Baptist Saved Our Lives” it would not be far from the truth.” I have come out of this experience of my life with a greater appreciation than ever before for the important place of the church in our lives as believers. Continue reading →

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Shall We Sin?

Posted on 2015/06/08 by Shawn Thomas

It’s an old question: If “once saved always saved” is true, wouldn’t people use it as an excuse to sin?  Romans 6:15  addresses that issue: “What then, shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace?” The Apostle Paul shows us here that this question has been one which has followed justification by grace from the beginning of Christianity.   Continue reading →

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Not What You Are Here For

Posted on 2015/06/05 by Shawn Thomas

“If you have been foolish in exalting yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth …” (Proverbs 30:32)

It is surely interesting that in this verse, “if you have been foolish in exalting yourself” is paralleled with “if you have plotted evil.” Many of us would never think of “plotting evil” — but we have indeed been guilty of “exalting yourself.”  These two are evidently equally heinous before God!   Continue reading →

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Using The Model Prayer For A Specific Prayer Request  (Matt. 6:9-13 Sermon)

Posted on 2015/06/04 by Shawn Thomas

(Preaached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Wed. p.m.  6-03-15)

If you have ever prayed very long (months or years) for a special prayer request, you know that it can be easy to fall into a “rut” in the way that you pray. You can end up just saying the same things to God over and over, and it can become like the “meaningless repetition” that Jesus talked about in Matthew 6:7. So what can you do to get out of that “rut” in your prayers?  Continue reading →

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A Godly Prayer Request

Posted on 2015/06/04 by Shawn Thomas

 “Two things I have asked of You; do not refuse me before I die. Keep deception and lies far from me; give me neither poverty or riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.'” (Proverbs 30:7-9)

One of the things that stands out in this prayer request is that the petitioner’s greatest priority is NOT his need for food or money.   Continue reading →

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A Sobering Self-Deception

Posted on 2015/06/02 by Shawn Thomas

“There is a kind who is pure in his own eyes, yet is not washed from his filthiness.” (Proverbs 30:12)

This is a good reminder that just because a person “thinks” something is so, or “feels” that something is so, or “believes” something is so, does NOT make it so!   Continue reading →

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The Model Prayer: Spiritual Protection (Matthew 6:13 sermon)

Posted on 2015/06/01 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, May 27, 2015)

Much of America cheered some months ago when a Texas mother fought off three masked home invaders who came into the house where she and her little son were. With a pistol she had in her bedroom, she shot one intruder in the stomach and ran the other two off. Americans applaud — rightly so — those who do whatever they need to do to protect their family.

But as important as that is, there is a greater responsibility you have towards your family than protecting them physically, and that is protecting them spiritually. The greatest enemy your family has cannot be shot with a gun, or physically barred from your home. The greatest enemy your family has is spiritual, and must opposed by spiritual weapons/means. II Corinthians 10:3-5 says “although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, and the weapons of our warfare are not according the flesh, but are Divinely powerful …”. That is why we must learn to PRAY — and call down the power of God to protect and to work in the lives of those we love.

Tonight we continue our study on the Model Prayer, and we come to the last of the 6 major requests of the Model, Praying For Spiritual Protection. We have seen that the Model Prayer is not a “script” that we are to endlessly repeat, but is an outline of the categories of things the Lord wants us to talk about with Him when we pray. We’ve seen that we are to begin with praise, then pray for God’s Kingdom’s work next, then surrender our lives to His will — then lift up our requests, and requests for those we love, before we spend time in confession of sin and forgiveness of others. The final request, which we are studying tonight, is found in :13 and reads:
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”   Continue reading →

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“The Discipline of Scripture Memory” (Matt. 4:1-11 sermon) 

Posted on 2015/06/01 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at PRBC 5-31-15)

In the summer of 1980 I went on a mission trip with my home church, the First Baptist Church of Harrah, to Switzerland and Germany. During the trip we also took a one-day visit to Paris, but in many ways I was disappointed by the city. It was dirty, both physically and spiritually, and after half a day of visiting, I sat down on the curb of one of the city’s streets, and I could feel that I was sinking into a depression. But I had recently begun to memorize scripture, and had memorized James 1. Without anything else to do, I just began reviewing that chapter as I sat there: “James, a bondservant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes who are dispersed, Greetings! Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” The more I quoted of that chapter, the more God’s Spirit began to lift me up, until I got to :12, “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, knowing that the testing of his faith produces endurance …”. By that time, I was no longer sinking in depression, but “soaring” in the heavenly places! God’s Spirit had used His word to lift me up. This was the first of many times in which I have found scripture memory to be one of the greatest blessings of my lifetime.

Continue reading →

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Why Are You Watching?

Posted on 2015/06/01 by Shawn Thomas

While God’s stated goal for each of His followers is to become like Jesus, too many of us are troublingly more like the Pharisees whom Jesus condemned instead. Mark 3:2 says: “And they were watching Him closely, to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him.” Continue reading →

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