“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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“The Real Thing: A Different Kind of Love”

Posted on 2011/09/25 by Shawn Thomas

     There is an obscure people group in Northern Europe, in northern Finland, Norway, and Russia, called the Sami People.  They live not far from the arctic circle and, of course, have much more exposure to ice and snow than we do here in south Louisiana.  As a result, whereas we have only a couple of words, “ice” or “snow” – and hardly ever use them! — the Sami have hundreds of different words which describe various colors, textures, and uses, among other things, for frozen water.  Thus, if we were to translate a Sami word for “snow”, we might be thinking of one general thing, but they a very different and specific thing altogether. 

     That is always a potential issue when you are dealing with a word which was written in one language, and has been translated into another.  You may know that it is so with scripture: the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and we have translated it into English.  This is very applicable as we address the topic of “love” in the Bible, because, as some of you know, there are several different Greek words, all of which we in English might translate “love”, but which have greatly differing meanings.  Thus before we get into the description of love which we find in I Corinthians 13:4 and following, we need to stop at the very first word: “Love.”  We need to stop right there, because that very first word is a difference maker!  We need to take some time to examine the real meaning of this word, because when we read the word “love”, we may be thinking of one thing, when the Bible word has an entirely different meaning altogether.  So let’s read this great chapter together again, and then come back and look at the meaning of the word “love” which is used here to describe: “The Real Thing: A Different Kind of Love.” Continue reading →

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“The Priority of Love” (I Cor. 13:1-3)

Posted on 2011/09/19 by Shawn Thomas

I Corinthians 13:1-3   “The Real Thing: The Priority of Love”    9-18-11

 You may remember the Olympic marksman in 2004 who had just one shot to go win the gold medal, and who lined up his shot and hit the bull’s eye – but the bull’s eye he hit was on the wrong target!  He lost the gold medal, because although he hit what he was shooting at, he was aiming at the wrong target.  That marksman is representative of so many people today who are doing the same thing with their priorities.  Perhaps you are considered to be “successful” – by yourself, or by others.  But the truth is, as successful as you are considered to be, just like that Olympic marksman, you have hit the wrong target. 

     Last week we saw that there are many cheap substitutes for Biblical love.  But many of us have also substituted entirely different things for love – especially in the church.  Today, as we begin the exposition of I Corinthians 13, we will see that this is a huge mistake.  Nothing can take the place of love in your life; it is absolutely God’s highest priority for you! Continue reading →

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Eros Gets A Bad Name?

Posted on 2011/09/17 by Shawn Thomas

I would wager that most people who have heard of the different Greek words for “love” have understood them something like this:

  • “Agape” is God’s kind of selfless, giving love
  • “Phileo” is brotherly love
  • “Eros” is sexual love

I have attended church my whole life, and have heard these words repeatedly categorized in such ways. Perhaps you have too. But in C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, the Oxford don puts a different “spin” on the terms.
Continue reading →

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Not This Time!

Posted on 2011/09/16 by Shawn Thomas

I’m writing as I am just back in from the Sam Houston High School football game at Westlake.  I have been sick all week, and did not feel much like going tonight.  I really only did so for one reason: I get to pray with the team after they finish the pre-game warm-up, and I do not like to miss that opportunity.  I’m glad I didn’t tonight!  Continue reading →

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Michael Goes To College

Posted on 2011/09/15 by Shawn Thomas

Our son Michael went to college this week.  Yeah, I know, he’s only in the 7th grade!  He didn’t enroll or anything; he just went  to Louisiana College for a visit.  But it was a very memorable and I believe formative visit for him.  Here’s the story: Continue reading →

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“The Real Thing”

Posted on 2011/09/12 by Shawn Thomas

Introduction  to I Corinthians 13        “The Real Thing”            9-11-11 a.m.

 Last year investigators tested the federal “Energy Star” program by submitting 20 fake products as energy-efficient – and only TWO of them were rejected!  The other fake products, including a gasoline-powered alarm clock, and a product billed as a “room air cleaner” – which was actually a space heater with a feather duster attached to it – passed the Energy Star certification! 

     There are certainly a lot of frauds in our world today – but perhaps nothing is imitated in a more widespread way, or replaced with more cheap substitutions, than love.  Surely love must be the most talked about, most sung about – and yet truly the least understood – thing in our whole world.  And it also happens to be the most important!  The Great Commandment is to love God.  Like unto it is to love your neighbor as yourself.  I Corinthians 13 ends with the famous words: “Now abide faith, hope, love, these 3, but the greatest of these is love.”  Love truly IS the most important thing – and yet most people have only a vague idea of what it really is.  Surely among the worst portrayals of love is that which is promulgated in Hollywood movies, based on some vague sense of physical attraction, and where the couple always ends up in bed together before the 2-hour movie is up.  That is what goes for “love” in many circles, and yet it is not remotely “love” at all.    

     But where can we find a definition of genuine love?  Many of you already know the answer to that: in the Bible, in I Corinthians 13.  God has given us there a most marvelous, in-depth description of what love truly is.  Beginning next week, we are going to be studying this chapter together, so that we can see what “The Real Thing” looks like.  Today, I want to introduce this chapter, by looking at 3 important things we need to understand before we delve into the chapter together –then next week we will begin looking at the specifics. Continue reading →

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