“What Real Faith Looks Like: Real Faith Works” (James 2:14-26 sermon)

Posted on 2024/08/19 by Shawn Thomas

John Wooden was one of the greatest coaches of all time. His UCLA Bruins dominated college basketball back in the 1960s-70s like no other team ever has. He won 10 national championships in 12 years, including seven in a row! The Sporting News gave him the label of the greatest coach of all time! But as successful as he was, basketball was not the most important thing for John Wooden. In his book, They Call Me Coach, he wrote: “I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior.” And then he said: “If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.”

That last statement he made is something that every one of us should consider: “If you were arrested for being a Christian, how much evidence would there be to convict you?”

This is the basically the message we find in the second part of James 2 this morning, and it’s one of the most needed messages for the church in the United States today. Because the gospel of salvation by grace through faith has been preached in our land so extensively, and for so long, many people take it for granted. And way too many trust that a very casual, unfruitful faith, will save them and take them to heaven. 

James writes to correct that here — and he does it in such a way that some people take him wrong. Martin Luther, for example, who so powerfully proclaimed salvation by faith alone, called the Book of James “an epistle of straw,” because he though it over-emphasized the role of works in salvation. But James does believes in salvation by grace through faith — but he also makes it very clear here that a “dead, non-working” faith will not save anyone. Rather, he emphasizes that “Real Faith Works.” You will see evidences of it in the life of the person who genuinely has it.

Because we all live in this same American culture today, every one of us should evaluate ourselves in light of this passage. Is YOUR faith real? Does YOUR faith work? Like John Wooden said: “Is there enough evidence to convict YOU of being a Christian?” Let’s look at what James says about that: 

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Teacher’s Overview of Acts 12:6-18, “Praying,” Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for 8/25/24

Posted on 2024/08/17 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s ‘Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 12:6-18, with the title of “Praying,” for Sunday August 25, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: During the English Civil Wars in 1643, the town of Gloucester, England was a Parliamentarian stronghold in the generally Royalist southwestern region of England. In August, the king’s army laid siege to the town. Gloucester’s small garrison entrenched itself behind the town’s ancient Roman-era walls, and the Royalist army—some thirteen thousand strong—began a fierce bombardment. The shelling continued through the warm nights of August, when cannonballs, according to one diarist, seemed to fly “through the air like stars shooting.’

Gloucester’s defenders had come perilously close to running out of supplies and ammunition, with only three barrels of gunpowder left, when town leaders called for a day of prayer and fasting (for noncombatants) on September 5. As watchmen peered over the Roman wall that day, they beheld a surprising sight : the Royalist army began burning its siege huts and retreating from the city. The king’s men had received word that a Parliamentarian army of fourteen thousand was approaching from the east, having been raised in London to relieve beleaguered Gloucester. 

The Parliamentarians ultimately defeated King Charles I, (and) following the siege, Gloucester rebuilt the damaged south gate of the city and placed an inscription upon it: ‘A city assailed by man, but saved by God.’”  (Thomas S. Kidd, George Whitefield, America’s Spiritual Founding Father, pp. 6-7)

The people of Gloucester England prayed and sought God, and He answered!

??? Anyone want to share a favorite answered prayer the Lord gave you/someone you know???

In this morning’s passage in Acts 12, we see how the Lord granted an amazing answer to prayer to the early church, which miraculously set the Apostle Peter free from prison. God still hears and answers prayers today! (?Though as we will also see, His answer is not always “yes” — or at least “our” yes; the way we expect it!)

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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 10:34-48, “Including” for 8/18/24

Posted on 2024/08/11 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 10:34-48, for Sunday, August 18, 2024, with the title, “Including.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  In 1963, during the integration crisis, when police were arresting blacks in Birmingham for attempting to break the color line in transportation, restaurants, etc., Martin Luther King “sent groups (of blacks) to worship in white churches, defying the police to seize them there. (Police Commissioner “Bull”) Connor refused to be drawn. He counted on Birmingham’s white Christians to draw the color line, and most of them did; four white churches admitted the Negroes, seventeen turned them away.” (William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream, Vol. II, p. 1196)

??? Have you ever seen someone discriminated against because of their race or nationality???

Then talk about how today’s lesson in Acts 10 shows us that the Gospel is for ALL of God’s people, all around the world. 

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Teachers’ Overview for Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson of Acts 10 pending!

Posted on 2024/08/10 by Shawn Thomas

Due to the sudden passing of my stepfather in Oklahoma, the teacher’s overview for Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Acts 10, for Sunday August 18, will be delayed. I DO PLAN TO POST A LESSON OVERVIEW EITHER SUNDAY OR MONDAY (Aug. 11-12) — it will just be a bit later than usual. I hope this delay will not greatly inconvenience your preparation for next Sunday. Please say a prayer for my mother and our family! And thank you for your participation and feedback in the lesson overviews!

Shawn Thomas

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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 9:32-43, “Healing,” for 8/11/24

Posted on 2024/08/03 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leader of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for August 8, 2024, Acts 9:32-43, with the title, “Healing.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:   J. Edwin Orr was an Irish Baptist minister who traveled the world sharing the gospel, and authored books on revival. He wrote: “Occasionally the believer’s faith is strengthened by some such providence as healing, but the skeptic nullifies the evidence by saying that the healing was psychosomatic! But it is rather odd to claim that X rays offered by an expert showing that a bone had lengthened seven millimeters after prayer confirms the notion that the healing was accomplished only in the mind.” Orr explains in a footnote: “My wife’s doctor, Viola Fryman, a surgeon, showed X rays on TV of the growth—after prayer—of a femur by more than two inches.”

(J. Edwin Orr, The Faith That Persuades, pp. 89, footnote p. 142)

??? Have you or someone you know ever experienced a miraculous healing???

In today’s lesson from Acts 9, we see how the Lord used two particular miraculous healings to bring people to Himself. 

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“What Real Faith Looks Like: The King’s Laws” (James 2:5-13)

Posted on 2024/07/29 by Shawn Thomas

In Leo Tolstoy’s War & Peace, he writes about how during Napoleon’s War with Russia he commanded a group of his soldiers to go downstream and find a good place to ford the river, and go to the other side. When the officer in charge received the command, he asked if he and his men could have the privilege of NOT looking for an easy place to cross, but to swim across right where they were, in the presence of the Emperor. And so they did. Thirty of his men drowned in the attempt, but the officer and a few others made it to the other side — and stood there, proudly exhibiting their to serve their Emperor!

Sometimes I think that we as Christians could learn a thing or two from the world — among them that our King deserves our radical obedience. If a MAN, like a Napoleon, can receives such fanatical obedience from his followers, then what does the true King, the Lord Jesus, deserve from us?

In our passage for today we see a couple of “The King’s Laws” that He would have us obey, to His honor and glory. 

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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 9:3-16, “Calling” for 8/04/24.

Posted on 2024/07/27 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Acts 9:3-16 for Sunday, August 4th, 2024, with text highlights, suggested outline, illustrations, discussion questions, and life applications for your group. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  In 1997, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield was a liberal, lesbian college professor who was researching the Bible to write an article against the religious right. After she published the article, she got a lot of mail, pro and con, but one stuck out to her, from a local pastor, Ken Smith, who asked her some sincere questions about her presuppositions about the Bible. He invited her to have dinner with him and his wife, and they began a long process of loving her, ministering to her, answering questions — and to make a long story short, two years later she gave her life to Jesus as her Lord & Savior, and she is now the wife of a Presbyterian Pastor in North Carolina! She wrote an amazing book about the process of her conversion — I consider it one of the best books I’ve read, because it is so insightful regarding the thought processes of a person God’s working in, and how He spoke to her and changed her. The title of her book? The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert”!  Rosaria Butterfield, liberal lesbian college professor, was definitely an “unlikely convert”! 

??? Can you share the story of another “unlikely convert” that you know, or heard/read about, who came to the Lord? 

(There are so many famous ones, including Chuck Colson, C.S. Lewis, Anthony Flew (atheist debater who famously became a believer in God and possibly a Christian and wrote the book, There Is A God — and others of your own experience.)

Then say something like: today we are going to look at the story of one of the most unlikely men who was ever saved: Saul of Tarsus, who had actually been persecuting Christians, but whom God dramatically saved and changed.

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“What Real Faith Looks Like: No Partiality” (James 2:1-4 sermon)

Posted on 2024/07/22 by Shawn Thomas

At one point during the U.S. Civil War, Northern General Ulysses S.Grant gave President Abraham Lincoln and the Secretary of War a list of 8 major generals and 33 brigadier generals whose service he said “the Government ‘could dispense with to advantage.’” President Lincoln looked at the list and told him: “Why, I find that lots of officers on this list are very close friends of yours. Do you want them all dropped?’ General Grant responded: “That’s very true Mr. President. But my personal friends are not always good generals, and I think it is but just to adhere to my recommendations.’” (Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years, p. 629)

Ulysses S. Grant was a very unusual general, and a very extraordinary man. His desire was to show no partiality in something as important as the U.S. Civil War that was going on. The kind of impartiality he demonstrated is very rare. But it should be more common — especially among the people of God, James tells us here. Our passage for today shows us that “What Real Faith Looks Like” is that it demonstrates “No Partiality”! 

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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 8:26-39, “Baptizing”

Posted on 2024/07/20 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 8:26-39, for Sunday, July 28, with the title, “Baptizing.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:   ??? What was the most exciting/interesting/special baptism you have seen???

— Beach baptisms are fun; we did several at a nearby river at one of our previous churches; some churches here by the Gulf of Mexico have baptized down at Surfside Beach. 

— We just attended our two grand daughters’ baptisms in North Carolina in May. Our older grand daughter had actually led the younger one to the Lord after she was saved, so that was neat for us. I said I wasn’t missing that baptism for anything! 

— I once heard a pastor tell of how a young boy was baptized, but he exited the baptistry to the opposite side – the women’s side. He didn’t know what to do, so he decided to just wait there, and swim underwater to the other side as the service progressed, so no one could see him while he got over to the men’s side. He didn’t realize, however, that the baptistry of their church had a glass front, so when he looked over, the whole church could see him swimming across! 

— AND I actually had the privilege of baptizing my own WIFE, who was the pastor’s wife at our first church in Oklahoma City. As I shared once before, she had made a profession of faith when she was 6 and was baptized, but really came to know Christ when she was 16. This had always bothered her, so one Sunday she came down to the front — as a pastor’s wife — and said she needed to be baptized. And we did!

You/your group can share some baptism stories — yours/others — that were special to you. Then talk about how today’s lesson is from Acts 8, where Philip baptizes the Ethiopian treasurer.

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“Don’t Waste A Good Crisis” (Hurricane Beryl message, July 2024, Psalm 46)

Posted on 2024/07/15 by Shawn Thomas

Just before the dark days of the Second World War, English Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously said: “Never let a good crisis go to waste”! 

His statement has been adopted and re-quoted by many politicians in recent years: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” If there’s a mass murder, they use it to further their gun control program. If there’s crime committed against a homosexual, they use it to further hate crime legislation, and so on. “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” they say. In other words, their philosophy is that you can always use a situation to advance your political position.

Now, while we may not agree with that politically, there is a legitimate application that we can make to that spiritually. We all WILL experience various crises in our lives — Jesus said “in this world you will have tribulation” — and when we do, we really should not “waste” those experiences. What do I mean “waste”? I mean that God always has some purpose for what we go through; there is something good He wants to accomplish; some lesson for us to learn through it. So whenever we go through something hard, we need to make sure that we don’t waste that: “Never waste a good crisis.” Make sure you learn, and do, what God wants you to through it. 

And … WE have been through a crisis this week, haven’t we? Do you think any one of us will ever say again: “Oh it’s just a CAT 1” hurricane?! That “CAT 1” hit us pretty hard here:  No power/water for many of us; no air conditioning in this South Texas heat!; many are like our neighbor across the street, with a tree crashed onto the roof of their house. We have a pastor friend in Freeport who is recuperating from foot surgery in his home; his wife is battling cancer — and they had a tree branch crash through their ceiling — it literally rained through into their house the other day! It’s been a crisis week for many of us: no electricity, no water, no refrigerator/freezer, no food, no work, no tv, no comfort, no rest. 

Yet in all of that, God has a purpose. He has things for us to learn; He has things for us to do. “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” I do believe that is true spiritually. So what are some things we can learn through this “Hurricane Beryl Crisis”? I want us to focus on three things this morning:

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