The Ultimate “Wrong Side of History”: A Psalm For Our Times,

Posted on 2015/06/29 by Shawn Thomas

Christians in America have been dismayed by many recent events in our country, the Supreme Court decision regarding same-sex marriage prominent among them.  It is easy to feel overwhelmed by what seems to be an unrelenting tide of ungodliness, and to throw up one’s hands and say like the Psalmist did at one point: “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (11:3)  But all is not lost.  Psalm 2 reminds us of that. Continue reading →

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Bonhoeffer on Preaching

Posted on 2015/06/23 by Shawn Thomas


Eric Metaxas’ biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer contains a one-page description of the German pastor and theologian’s outlook and practice of preaching. It is well worth reading by anyone who preaches, who hopes to preach, or who is instructed by preaching on a regular basis:

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Draw Near To Listen

Posted on 2015/06/23 by Shawn Thomas

“Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools …” (Ecclesiastes 5:1)  

Here is a good word for many of us: when we draw near to the Lord in our devotional times, let us do it more to LISTEN, than to speak our own mind to Him.  Continue reading →

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“The Discipline of Evangelism” (Colossians 4:2-6 sermon)

Posted on 2015/06/22 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, 6-21-15)

Many of us have responded with shock and horror at the ISIS takeover of the good portions of two countries in the Middle East, with the beheadings and other atrocities they have perpetrated. But millions of us have also been praying for God to work in that region of the world like never before. And there is evidence that He is! Not long ago the Baptist Press reported that one of our missionaries ministering to the displaced peoples in the Middle East said that the refugees have come to them by the thousands, and that our workers have had the opportunity to care for them, ministering with food and other help items some of us have donate towards, and as they have cared for these people, they are having unprecedented opportunities to share the gospel with these people. In fact, the missionary said that the gospel is now moving forward among Iraqis and other groups in ways they could only have imagined before.

We see in this report from what God is doing in the Middle East, three keys to people coming to the Lord: first of all, prayer; secondly, a lifestyle or ministry that prepares hearts for a witness; and third, a verbal sharing of the gospel that people might be saved — the same three keys we find in our passage for today, Colossians 4:2-6.   Continue reading →

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Are Good Christians Always “Happy”?

Posted on 2015/06/22 by Shawn Thomas

In Romans 9:2 the Apostle Paul made a statement which might surprise many people. He wrote: “I have great sorrow, and unceasing grief in my heart.”  This is not a light or passing sentiment. Notice the two adjectives he employs: “great” sorrow, and “unceasing” grief.  It is a deep and continual pain he is describing.  What is the source of this unrelenting emotion?  Continue reading →

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Let’s Take The Long Way! 

Posted on 2015/06/20 by Shawn Thomas

The trip home from the Southern Baptist Convention in Columbus to our “little cottage” in Morganton, North Carolina could be made in 6-7 hours, but Cheryl & I decided to “take the long way” back — almost no interstates, and lots of small towns and mountain scenery. Following are some highlights:

Some time after we had gotten on to the state highway in the middle of nowhere, we saw a little sign posted on a stand on the side of the road. We squinted to try to read it: what would it say, some quaint country saying, or what? When we had passed it, Cheryl asked: “Could you read it?” “Yeah. It said ‘Like us on Facebook!'”.  We both burst out laughing

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Be With Him

Posted on 2015/06/18 by Shawn Thomas

“And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14)

When Jesus appointed His 12 Apostles in Mark 3, the Bible says He had two specific purposes in mind: 1) “so that they would be with Him”, and 2) “that He could send them out to preach.” The order of these two purposes is surely not accidental, and has something important to say to us: Continue reading →

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The Discipline of Service (I Peter 4:10 sermon)

Posted on 2015/06/15 by Shawn Thomas

In 1910 Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech in Paris, France, on the kind of people that is needed to make a great society. A paragraph from that speech has become famous:

“It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Roosevelt was saying that part of what it takes to make a society great is a people who do not merely sit back and watch what their leaders are doing, but rather who each actively serve and help make the country what it should be. The same thing is true of a church. A healthy, successful church is one where the people do not just sit back and expect the ministers to serve, but where each church member is actively using their gifts to serve God.   Continue reading →

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“Believing” Is Not Enough

Posted on 2015/06/15 by Shawn Thomas

“Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God.'” (Mark 3:11)

It is striking to read here that the demons shouted that Jesus was the Son of God. Many people take comfort in their religious condition because they have confessed a belief in Jesus as God’s Son. Perhaps their faith should be shaken, since the demons made the same confession in Jesus’ day!   Continue reading →

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From A Cottage in the Foothills … (June 2015)

Posted on 2015/06/13 by Shawn Thomas

The past couple of weeks have been busy at “the cottage”; with all of the kids and grandkids coming in. We had a lot to celebrate — and then to recover from!

ARE YOU MY MOTHER?

Adding to the typical “melee” in the household is that our family has a new little “addition” — not another grandbaby (yet) but a baby kitten that someone rescued from outside their rent house. Not long after we got her, we noticed that she loved to sit cuddled up next to the refrigerator. Was it the warmth, or the humming of the motor? Cheryl had another theory: “I always get her milk and dropper from the refrigerator whenever I feed her. I’m afraid she thinks it’s her mother!”

  Continue reading →

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