The Real Thing: Love is Kind

Posted on 2011/10/23 by Shawn Thomas

I Corinthians 13:4    

     Several years ago, in the weeks leading up to Valentines Day, 2nd graders in the Lake Charles area were asked, “What is love?”  One wrote: “Love is when you are in love.  When you are in it, somebody loves you.”  Another said: “Love is good.  I love love.  Do you love love?”  (Unfortunately a lot of adults don’t do much better than those definitions!)  Some were pretty insightful: one wrote: “love makes your heart sing!”  And another said, “Love is kindness.”  Well, as we return to our study of Biblical love I Corinthians 13 today, we see that last one is right on target, for I Cor. 13:4 indeed says: “Love is kind.” Continue reading →

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God’s Help In Wicked Days

Posted on 2011/10/23 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 94

       The other day, Michael said, “Dad, Sunday morning is kind of your ‘main sermon’, isn’t it?”  I said, “Yeah, it really is; I think it is the most important thing I do each week.”  He said, “So Sunday night is kind of like a ‘side sermon’?”  I laughed, because to me it sounded like a “side salad” or something!   But there is some truth in what he said.  The Sunday morning messages are for a wider audience, and in our evening messages I usually try to address more of a Christian audience, with some word that might help us to live for the Lord in the coming week.  I hope that tonight’s message will do that.  It is found in Psalm 94, and I’ve entitled it, “God’s Help In Wicked Days.”  Continue reading →

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The Real Thing: Love Is Not Proud

Posted on 2011/10/23 by Shawn Thomas

I Corinthians 13:4b    

     Last year, in Santa Cruz, California, a family went on an outing together at a state park close nearby.  They made tacos, including mushrooms they had picked at the park – but unfortunately, the mushrooms were poisonous.  The family was rushed to the hospital, where fortunately a doctor had received FDA approval to try a new antidote, which had come over from Europe, and which was able to cure the family of the poisoning. 

     I think we know that not all “poisoning” comes from something you ingest; there are things that poison our hearts, and one of the greatest is the poison of pride.  But it is also a poison for which there is an ample and effective antidote, in the love of God which comes to us through Christ Jesus our Lord! 

     This morning we are continuing our study of I Corinthians 13, “The Real Thing”, a study of Biblical love.  We are in the midst of examining the 15 words which describe love in I Corinthians 13:4-8.  We have seen that agape love is patient (it has “a long fuse”) and it is kind: it actively does good even (and especially) to those who do not deserve it.  Today we are going to combine the next 3 qualities, because all three spring from the same root: the root of pride.  Verse 4 concludes: “Love … is not jealous, does not brag, and is not arrogant.” Continue reading →

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Knowledge of a Different Kind

Posted on 2011/10/18 by Shawn Thomas

I was witness to two different kinds of knowledge today – or perhaps more accurately: a display of one kind of knowledge, and the complete lack of another! 

When Michael came to my office following school this afternoon, I asked the perfunctory questions about how school had gone, etc., etc.  He mentioned that all was good – except that his lunch box was leaking.  “Leaking?” I queried, as my brow began to wrinkle.  “Yes”, he responded.  “You mean … it is leaking NOW?”, I said, with a little more urgency in my voice.  “Yes”, he said, “but don’t worry; it’s not in here — I have it sitting over the trash can in Miss Kathy’s office.”  I immediately got up and ran into my secretary’s office, just outside my own, where his lunch box was indeed perched precariously, leaking something into her trash can. Continue reading →

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Missions in the Context of Worship

Posted on 2011/10/10 by Shawn Thomas

Acts 13:2              “Missions in the Context of Worship”

 Last year, at our Saturday evening missions banquet, one of our visiting missionaries spoke of the trials of serving overseas.  Many of our hearts were touched as she shared about how they missed worshipping with the people of God in a home church, and how meaningful it would be for someone to just come and visit them, and encourage them, and worship with them.  I think it is neat that one of the mission teams we are commissioning tonight is going to the Middle East to do that very thing.  But I also think that we need to understand there is a strong connection between missions, and worship, which many of us have failed to grasp. 

     In a few minutes, we are going to spend some time praying for our mission teams, but before we do that, I want us to turn to Acts 13, where the Bible describes the beginning of a great mission movement: the call of Paul & Barnabas on their mission to the Gentile world.  We see there that mission comes in the context of worship:  missions is born in worship, and missions will end in worship. Continue reading →

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“The Real Thing: Love Is Patient”

Posted on 2011/10/09 by Shawn Thomas

I Corinthians 13:4 

 We often say that those who go on mission trips receive the greatest benefits of the trip, and those who teach Sunday School classes get the most from the lesson.  The same thing is surely true of those who preach sermons.  This week, as I have studied “Love is patient” from I Corinthians 13:4, I have found myself in a number of situations during the week in which those first words have flashed silently across my mind: “Love is patient!” Continue reading →

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“That’s it?!” (notes on the trip home)

Posted on 2011/10/02 by Shawn Thomas

We are on our way home from our Oklahoma weekend jaunt. The “main event” of the trip was last evening: the OU football game in Norman against Ball State. I hadn’t realized until recent years that I enjoy some of the pageantry that accompanies an OU home game, as much as the game itself. When “The Pride of Oklahoma” band, hundreds strong, takes the field playing “Oklahoma!”, it is as thrilling — or more so — than the biggest touchdown run. And though I didn’t do it myself, I smiled when most of the crowd finished the national anthem by replacing the word “brave” with a triumphant shout of “Sooners!” If you didn’t grow up with it, it may not have the same meaning to you. Perhaps just the musings of a sentimental, middle-aged man … Continue reading →

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Road Notes 9-29-11

Posted on 2011/09/29 by Shawn Thomas

(FYI I am going to begin this blog, post what I have of it, and then update and add to it for the next couple of hours — so if you are interested in following our progress you might check back periodically — or not!)
If you are reading this, you are probably pretty bored. That’s ok; that’s why I’m writing it!
Cheryl, Michael & I are on our way to Oklahoma for a weekend vacation. Libby & Josh are there already and are waiting for us. We hope to do some things for Libby’s birthday as well as go to the OU game Saturday. I broke form (for us anyway) and actually drove this trip, but Cheryl has taken over now. Like a, lot of LASIK patients, my night vision has suffered a bit. But what a benefit you are now receiving from my present leisure time! 😉
We picked up Michael from school at about 12:30 — after the core of his classes were over — and headed out on I-10 West. Looking in the rearview mirror as we left Louisiana, it appeared like it was raining behind us. Seems as though it rains every time we leave. Enough to make a person wonder … Continue reading →

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“Our Great God”

Posted on 2011/09/28 by Shawn Thomas

Last Sunday the Lord used a special song – and a special minister — to pick me up at just the right moment, give me assurance, and prepare me to share His word.  When I arrived at church that day I was still recovering from a week in which I had been sick, and had totally lost my voice.  I literally whispered small portions of a discipleship class Wednesday evening, and began to get a remnant of a voice back Friday.  I spoke only a few sentences Saturday, and went into Sunday with no small amount of trepidation about whether that voice would make it through preaching two morning messages.  But early on in those worship services, God would minister to me in a way which would remind me about how great He is! Continue reading →

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“Trouble With The Tulip”

Posted on 2011/09/27 by Shawn Thomas

Calvinism, with the TULIP acronym which inevitably accompanies it, is certainly a hot topic in the religious conversation in America today.  Frank Page, a former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and currently the President (basically the “CEO”) of the Executive Committee of the SBC, weighed in on the Calvinist/Arminian debate with his book, Trouble With The Tulip. 

Trouble With The TULIP is a brief treatment of this controversial topic – in its second edition it is only 76 pages long.  It is written in a very colloquial style; it is not an academic book.  Its strengths include some of the basic scriptural and logical arguments against the so-called “doctrines of grace”; while its weaknesses include some stereotypical arguments which no thoughtful, genuine Calvinist would espouse. Continue reading →

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