Not Just “Their” Sins …

Posted on 2015/05/12 by Shawn Thomas

We need to recognize the importance of a little word in Romans 1:18, where the Apostle Paul writes: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men …”.  This chapter is well-known for its condemnation of homosexuality, but we need to recognize that there is more than just one sin condemned in the passage.  It does not confine God’s wrath to any one type of transgression, but says it is against “ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.”   Continue reading →

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“The Discipline of the Model Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13 sermon) 

Posted on 2015/05/11 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, 5-10-15)

I attended a men’s retreat last year and I had the opportunity to talk to a man who shared with me that when he was a young Christian, he was challenged to spend an hour in prayer, so one day he went outside and got down on his face before God and began to pray. He said he prayed for everyone and everything he could think of, but he knew it wasn’t anywhere near an hour yet, so he prayed for them all again — and then again a THIRD time. He said then he looked down at his watch to see what time it was — and only 5 MINUTES had gone by! Some of you here today might admit to having the same problem.

I hope that this week you have taken seriously the commitment we talked about last Sunday in our “Disciplines of Disciples” study, of meeting God first thing every morning in prayer. We have seen that if we are going to be successful disciples of Christ, that we need to adopt some consistent disciplines in our lives, including spending time in “the pure milk of the word”, and in prayer first thing in the morning.  But HOW should we pray?

Jesus’ disciples could see, first-hand, the importance of the role of prayer in Jesus’ ministry, and they asked Him to teach them how to pray. Many of us are familiar with the prayer that Jesus gave us in Matthew 6:9-13 of The Sermon on the Mount, which we often call “The Lord’s Prayer.” But as we shall see, this is not really so much “The Lord’s Prayer” as it is the prayer that Jesus gave US, to teach us how to pray. Continue reading →

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THE Power For Salvation

Posted on 2015/05/11 by Shawn Thomas

Many Christians can quote Romans 1:16, but perhaps we need to hear again what it is really saying?  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes …”. Here God reminds us that He has given us only ONE thing which has His power to save: the gospel.  We might nod our heads in thoughtless agreement, but we need to consider what does NOT have God’s power to save: Continue reading →

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The Model Prayer: Praying For God’s Will (Matt. 6:10 Sermon) 

Posted on 2015/05/07 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, Wed. p.m., 5-06-15)

A few years back I read the testimony of a pastor who lived well over a hundred years ago, and who was praying for a friend of his who was very ill, to the point of death. He prayed that God would spare this friend’s life, and add years to its length.  Suddenly he felt as if God were asking him: “Would you be willing for Me to take those years from your life, in order to add them to his?”  At that question, his heart began to beat quickly, and sweat began to bead on his brow. He didn’t know how to respond. Finally he prayed the only prayer he knew how to pray: “Lord, Thy will be done.”

For the last several Wednesday nights, we have been looking together at the Model Prayer of Matthew 6:9-13. We have seen that it is not a rote prayer that we are to pray mindlessly and repeatedly, but that it is a model of the kinds of things that God wants us to speak with Him about when we pray. We have begun to look together at what those requests teach us about how we should pray, and we have studied the first two requests thus far.  We have seen from “Hallowed by Your name” that we are to begin our prayers with praise, and last week from “Thy Kingdom come” that we are to pray for the requests of God’s Kingdom first: praying for churches, pastors, staff, mission work and missionaries.

Tonight we come to the third request of the Model:  “Thy will be done.”

Continue reading →

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And He Was Teaching Them

Posted on 2015/05/07 by Shawn Thomas

Mark 2:13 says that Jesus went out by the sea again, and the crowd came out to Him. But it is instructive for us to see just what He did when they came out. It says: “And He was teaching them.”

We often think if we are going to be like Jesus, we need to heal people, or meet their physical needs — and Jesus did plenty of that for sure. But it is also significant that on this and on many other occasions, Jesus TAUGHT the crowd. Continue reading →

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“If it’s God’s will”?

Posted on 2015/05/06 by Shawn Thomas

One must admit, Paul didn’t make much of a “positive confession” in Romans 1:10, when he told the church at Rome: “if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.”

Those words “if perhaps now … by the will of God, I may succeed …” are significant. They express a humble uncertainty, and a willingness to submit to the will of God, which he admitted was unknown and uncertain to him just then.

It is also significant that Paul didn’t seem concerned with trying to make a “positive confession” by saying: “I’m claiming it; I AM going to be coming to you!” Continue reading →

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Give To Everyone You Meet

Posted on 2015/05/05 by Shawn Thomas

In Romans 1:11 the Apostle Paul writes: “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established (strengthened).” Paul wasn’t speaking of “spiritual gifts” here in the technical way that many of us have come to think of them. He didn’t want to see them so that he could give them the gift of tongues, or preaching, or administration, etc., in that sense of “spiritual gifts.”  Rather, he was saying that he wanted to be of spiritual benefit to the members of the church at Rome; to be a blessing to them; to pass along spiritual things which would be of help to them in their walk with God and in their service to Him. He makes this clear in the next verse (:12) which continues: “That is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith …”.   Continue reading →

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From A Cottage in the Foothills …

Posted on 2015/05/04 by Shawn Thomas

It’s been a busy few weeks since we hit the ground running at my new pastorate, Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church in Morganton, North Carolina. People have asked how Cheryl and Michael especially like it here, and the answer is that they absolutely LOVE it!  It would be difficult to find a prettier place — nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just a few miles off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. And you will find no sweeter, more loving and accepting people anywhere  than those at PRBC.  From our perspective, this was indeed a match made in heaven!

Here’s a picture of some of our church family at  my first-ever Easter sunrise service:


And although I have been too busy to record all of our family “antics” the past couple of whirlwind months, we have had a great time settling in, and have had plenty to chuckle about:

Continue reading →

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The Old, Old Story

Posted on 2015/05/04 by Shawn Thomas

Many contemporary Christians are looking for something “new” to share from their pulpits and classes — but they are making a huge mistake. In Romans 1:15 the Apostle Paul writes: “So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” It should be instructive to us that many (and perhaps most) of the people to whom Paul was writing here were already Christians. But he was still going to “preach the gospel to you.” That reminds us that we never lose our need to hear the gospel. Continue reading →

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“The Discipline of Morning Prayer” (Psalm 5:3 Sermon) 

Posted on 2015/05/03 by Shawn Thomas

(Preached at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, 5-03-15

Not long ago, someone posted on Facebook that they wished they had a 30-hour day, so that they could get everything done. In the comments section, I posted a link to one of the best articles I have read, “The Tyranny of the Urgent” by Charles Hummel.  In it he writes that many people often wish for a 30-hour day. But Hummel asserts that if we had it, we would soon be filling it up with more of the things which are already squandering our present 24-hour day! His solution? Do what Jesus did, and get up early and spend time with His Heavenly Father in prayer to begin the day. Get HIS direction and priorities, and then follow that. But the whole plan hinges on spending time with God before you get into your day.

A couple of weeks ago we started a series of messages which have I entitled: “The Disciplines of Disciples.” Last Sunday we saw the importance of spending time every day in what I Peter 2:2 calls “the pure milk of the word” — just you, your Bible, and the Holy Spirit of God speaking to your heart each day, and you writing down what you learn in that time. I hope you’ve been exercising that discipline this week. Today we are going to look at another discipline, closely related to it, and that is the discipline of morning prayer. Psalm 5:3 will be our text:
“In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice. In the morning I will order my prayer to You, and eagerly watch.”

To give this a little context, David is in a difficult spot in this Psalm, reflected in :1, “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my groaning.” He is “groaning” about something bad which is going on. We may not know exactly what it is, but we get hints of it later in the Psalm, where it says in :5, “the boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity”; and :6 “YHWH abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit”; :9, “there is nothing reliable in what they say”, etc. So evidently some wicked people had arisen who were proud, and who were slandering David. He responds by calling out to God in prayer.  Notice the special commitment of his prayer in :3, and what it teaches us about the discipline of morning prayer:

Continue reading →

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