“The Glorious Habitation”

Posted on 2012/05/27 by Shawn Thomas

The other day someone asked me how I was doing.  I wish I had given this answer from Charles Spurgeon’s sermon on Psalm 90:1.  Whether I am sick or well, preaching or homebound, joyous or depressed, prognosis better or worse, I am as rich in God as I have ever been – He never changes!  This paragraph has been a comfort to me this past week – and perhaps it will be for you too.

 “’Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place throughout all generations.’  The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich today and poor tomorrow; he may be sickly today and well tomorrow; he may be in happiness today, tomorrow he may be distressed; but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God.  If He loved me yesterday He loves me today.  I am neither better nor worse in God than I ever was.  Let prospects be blighted, let hopes be blasted, let joy be withered, let mildews destroy everything, I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort.  The Christian never becomes poorer, and never grows richer with regard to God. ‘Here’, he can say, ‘’is a thing that can never pass away or change.’”

(From Charles Spurgeon’s sermon on Psalm 90:1, “The Glorious Habitation”)

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“Thy Thoughts To Me, O God” (Psalm 139:17-18)

Posted on 2012/05/25 by Shawn Thomas

I received a call from my doctor’s office yesterday, and his assistant began the conversation by saying, “The doctor said he was thinking about your situation all night last night, and …” – and quite frankly, it really doesn’t matter how the conversation ended; what the doctor specifically thought and recommended, etc.   We can talk about those medical details another time.  What struck me were those opening words: “The doctor … was thinking about your situation …”.  I replayed them over and over in my mind after the call.  Wow.  That was really something.  Here is a VERY busy, VERY highly respected doctor in Lake Charles, and late at night, he was thinking about ME and MY situation?!  I have to say, that was special.  No “detached professional” here; this guy cares, and was thinking about my particular case in his spare moments!  That is very comforting, and very meaningful to me as a patient.

Of course, what should even be more comforting and meaningful is that there is Another who is the same way.  Not just a respected doctor, or busy professional – but the God of all the universe does the same thing — and more.  And this is not just one of those “pop religious” myths; the scripture itself tells us that God thinks countless numbers of thoughts toward us individually.  Psalm 139:17-18 says, “How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.”  Oh that we might truly grasp this idea, and stand confidently, yet humbly in the assurance it should give us.  Be sure: it is not that it indicates anything inherently deserving in US, as if we had earned or deserved such attention — but it says an awful lot about His grace and love and care, that God Almighty is thinking about me!

(Oh, and for those who are curious, my doctor is Gerry Hebert, an internal medicine doctor here in Lake Charles!)

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On Ministering While Being Homebound

Posted on 2012/05/24 by Shawn Thomas

I have not driven my car in 4 weeks.  I have not been to my office at church in that same 4 weeks.  Other than doctors’ appointments and my daughter’s graduation, I have not been “out” much in 4 weeks.  I have been basically homebound for the last month from my ministry as pastor, with an as-yet undetermined illness.  As you can imagine, there is much God has for us to learn in such times.  One has been regarding the nature of ministry even while I have been homebound.  Even though I can’t stand up for more than a minute without getting lightheaded, and having my pulse escalate dramatically, I still have a desire to do something to minister.  And I’ve found that there are ways that I can.  Let me share a couple of them – one “old school”, and one more “modern”-type ministry. Continue reading →

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On the Reading of Classic Sermons

Posted on 2012/05/22 by Shawn Thomas

One of the most enjoyable and profitable activities I can recommend is the reading of older sermons – especially classic sermons by pastors from previous generations. Following are several reasons for it, and then a listing of a few of my favorites to get you started:

Continue reading →

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“This Week in Paradise” (Version 1.3)

Posted on 2012/05/21 by Shawn Thomas

This marks my third week sick at home, and not coincidentally my third “inside look” at life in the pastor’s home, believed by many in the general public to be “Paradise”. 

 Math

Much of the goings on in “Paradise” have to do with home school, since we began teaching Michael at home last January.  Like children in public and private school, he is about to finish for the summer.

Early this week I asked Michael, for whom math is his least favorite subject: “Do you like this Saxon home school math better than the Abeka math you had at the Academy?”

Michael, after a long pause: “Uh …”

Cheryl: “I think that is like asking, ‘Do you prefer to be slapped on the left side of your face, or on your right?’ There is no good answer to it!” Continue reading →

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Faith in the Face of Death (John Chrysostom sermon review)

Posted on 2012/05/20 by Shawn Thomas

While admittedly not sporting the kind of title we would find attached to many sermons today (“Excessive Grief at the Death of Friends”!) this message by John Chrysostom is a real gem.  The text of his message is I Thessalonians 4:13, where scripture admonishes us not to grieve “like those who have no hope.” 

A brief word on Chrysostom.  His name literally means “John of the Golden Tongue”.  He lived from 347-407 A.D.  He was baptized at age 21, and spent 6 years as a hermit in the desert.  It is said that he memorized the entire word of God.  Although he subsequently had a primary ministry of only 6 consecutive years, he is remembered as one of the greatest preachers of all time.  We may gain some lessons from his life: a lengthy time of preparation, spent in giving one’s self to intimate acquaintance with the word of God, is not wasted – we need look no further than the life of Jesus to validate that truth. 

I read this particular sermon on “Excessive Grief” from Treasury of the World’s Great Sermons (Warren Wiersbe, ed.).   It is a valuable word in several ways:  Continue reading →

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It’s NOT the Economy, Stupid!

Posted on 2012/05/18 by Shawn Thomas

Dwight McKissic is a black Southern Baptist pastor in Arlington, Texas, and I applaud his boldness and courage in speaking out against the first black President of the United States– who now also carries the sad distinction of being the first sitting president to endorse homosexual marriage.  McKissic’s response (copied below from his blog, dwightmckissic.wordpress.com) helps make it clear that this is not just a political issue; it is not a racial issue; rather this is a moral issue, and a defining one at that.  The upcoming presidential election is NOT about “the economy, stupid” as so many are fond of saying.  Rather it is the basic morality of our nation which is at stake.  President Obama has endorsed a compromise of the most fundamental standards of biblical morality, and should be replaced in November.  Following is McKissic’s statement: Continue reading →

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Bonhoeffer on Some “Different” Church Ministries

Posted on 2012/05/18 by Shawn Thomas

If you’ve had trouble finding your ministry in the church, what about “The Ministry of Holding Your Tongue”?!  In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together, he lists some “ministries” in the church body that you may not have considered. 

Due to my current illness, I have not been able to do much “heavy” reading the past few weeks.  But I have greatly profited from reading snippets as I have been able from Bonhoeffer’s classic little book (122 pages) on church life.  And in his chapter on ministries in the church, one finds some “ministries” that vary from the typical “preaching”, “song-leading”, etc. that one might expect.  Indeed, the titles of some the ministries themselves are cause for raised eyebrows, including the above-mentioned “Ministry of Holding Your Tongue”; also “The Ministry of Listening” and “The Ministry of Helpfulness”, and more.  Following are some highlights: Continue reading →

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“Most of them” are WRONG! (Mark 9:26)

Posted on 2012/05/15 by Shawn Thomas

     “Most of them said, ‘He is dead.’”  Only, he wasn’t!  This came from my Bible reading today in Mark 9, when Jesus cast the demon out of the man’s son.  It says after the demon went out that “the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’”  But “most of them” were WRONG!

     This is a needed corrective today, when SO much weight is given to what the majority thinks.  Everyone looks to polls for the answers to contemporary problems: “such and such a percentage support gay marriage”, or “this many agree with this policy” – as if popular opinion were to somehow to be equated with whether something is inherently true or false.  It isn’t.  “Most of them” here in Mark 9 thought the boy was dead – and they were WRONG!  “Most of them” very often are.  When we look in scripture, it is often NOT the majority who gets it right.  More often than not, it was only the two spies, not the majority, who would act in faith.  It was the one man of insight who knew the mind of God, not the many; the one “contrary”, weeping prophet who had the truth, not the horde of positive-thinking proclaimers. 

     So this is a good reminder for us –  in our “democratic” nation, where so much is decided on the basis of a popular vote.  And in numerous Baptist (and other congregational) churches as well, where “majority rule” is often equated with the will of God.  We need to beware leaning too much on what “everybody thinks.”  Especially when it comes to the things of God – “most of them” don’t have a clue.  When it comes time to choose your path or make your decision, make sure you don’t merely rely on majority opinion; instead, seek the mind of God, and “trust in the Lord and do good.” (Psalm 37:3)  And don’t be influenced by the fact that it may not correspond with what “most of them” think.  As in this passage in Mark, “most of them” are usually wrong!

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Overheard at Graduation

Posted on 2012/05/14 by Shawn Thomas

Walking through the buffet line at Ryans before our daughter Libby & our daughter-in-law Ashley’s graduation, I overheard the woman behind me speaking to her son: “Son stop touching the food … hey, get your face out of that salad … “. I didn’t look, but I thought to myself, “This is why I don’t like these buffets …”  That kid was behind me in line — but how many just like him had been there before I arrived?  :/ Continue reading →

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