Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson: Jeremiah 7:1-15, “Personal”

Posted on 2023/06/10 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Jeremiah 7:1-15, for Sunday, June 18, 2023, with the title, “Personal.”

(A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  In 1870, France was at war with Prussia (what we know as Germany today). The Germans had the better of it early, and their army advanced all the way to Paris. But the Parisians were “cheerful,” one observer said. They thought their city was invulnerable to enemy armies. The entire city was surrounded by a wall 30 feet high, and there was a moat in front of that. There were 16 fortresses in the walls that made a 60-mile ring around the city, with 500,000 soldiers guarding it. The Bois de Bologne, the huge “Central Park” of Paris, had 100,000 sheep and 80,000 cattle to feed the people in a siege. They were not worried; they trusted their defenses. Their city would not fall. Victor Hugo, the famous French author of “Les Miserables” said “There has been an Athens, there has been a Rome (but) Paris will conquer.”

But on Monday afternoon, September 19, 1870 the Prussians cut off all roads to Paris, and the city was under siege. It went on for months. The Prussians began shooting artillery into the city, and the food began to run out. Soon they were eating horses and pets. People were dying, and starving — and on January 27, 1871, about four months after the siege began, Paris surrendered. Their trust that Paris could not fall, was misplaced. (David McCullough, The Greater Journey, pp. 268-301)

The people of Judah and Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day found themselves in a similar position. They trusted that because they had “the Temple of the Lord” with them there in Jerusalem, they would be delivered from their enemies — but God told them through Jeremiah this was NOT so, if they didn’t get their lives right with Him.  

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“The Church That Looked Better Than It Really Was” (Revelation 3:1-6 sermon)

Posted on 2023/06/05 by Shawn Thomas

In 2010, Cheryl & our youngest son Michael & I visited England, and one the top things on my list to see was the Metropolitan Tabernacle Church in London: once the “megachurch” of the 1800s, where Charles Spurgeon, perhaps the greatest preacher of all time, had been pastor. The  church held over 5000 people — in the 1800s! They said there were times that 8000 people crammed into it. I couldn’t wait to see it. We arrived at the front of it, and it had an impressive front edifice, with great columns, as you can see. (This picture really doesn’t do it justice.)  But I was dismayed to discover that the impressive front of the church was just a FACADE! Most of the rest of the building besides the front burned down after Spurgeon died, in 1898, and when they rebuilt it, they kept the imposing facade, but behind it is a much smaller, unimpressive 1950s building that doesn’t hold anywhere near as many people. From the outside, Spurgeon’s Tabernacle today looks much more impressive than it really is inside. 

That is something like how it was with the church at Sardis that Jesus addresses here in the opening verses of Revelation 3. He said to them: “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” They appeared to be a better church than they really were.  Unfortunately, many churches today are just like that: they appear outwardly to be a “great church” — but the reality is far different — especially in the eyes of the Lord.  And many of us as individual Christians are the same way too: we may “appear” to many people to be “great Christians” — but Jesus knows the truth — and again, the reality is far different!  Let’s look at how Jesus says this church at Sardis “Looked Better Than It Really Was.” 

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Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson: Jeremiah 2:1-13 “Judges”

Posted on 2023/06/03 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” series lesson of Jeremiah 2:1-13 for Sunday, June 11, 2023, with the title “Judges.”

(A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: Ask your group:  ??? “Is there something in your life that you USED to do, that you wish you were still doing now”???  

(Maybe a habit, an exercise, a hobby. EX: I was swimming 45 minutes a day at the Angleton Rec Center until COVID hit and the gym closed, and I’ve never gotten back to it.)

You/your group can discuss that for a while, then I’d say: in today’s lesson we’ll see how God’s people in Judah used to follow Him, but they were not doing it any longer.

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Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Jeremiah 1:4-19, “Prepares”

Posted on 2023/05/27 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers & Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Jeremiah 1:4-19, for Sunday, June 4, 2023, with the title, “Prepares.”

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  When I was first in college at Oklahoma Baptist University years ago, I was a political science major, looking to go into law or politics. But I love to sing, and I had been on a mission trip, so I felt like God might be calling me to music ministry. It was winter, and we had a heavy snow and everything was closed, and I was basically snowbound at school for a week. I had just recently begun having a daily time in God’s word & prayer, and was enjoying it, so I basically spent that whole week, snowed in, reading my Bible. I thought, “Maybe the Lord will show me whether I should continue studying law, or go into music?” One of the places I read that week was the Book of Jeremiah, 1:4 says “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” And the Lord showed me outlines of messages to share, from what I had been reading. So that by the end of the snowbound week, I knew I wasn’t going into law OR music ministry, but that the Lord had called me to preach. 

So Jeremiah 1 is a special chapter to me. God used it to call me to ministry. If you want to share that story, you are free to.
OR you might share how God called YOU to a special place of service — and ask others in your group to share their experiences of being called to serve Him as well. 

Then I’d say: Today we are going to look at the call God gave Jeremiah to serve Him in Jeremiah Chapter 1.

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Thyatira: “The Church That Tolerated The Intolerable” (Revelation 2:18-29 sermon)

Posted on 2023/05/22 by Shawn Thomas

I read a very interesting article by a Christian parent last week, who said that they asked their 15-year-old daughter: “What is a name that kids in your school do NOT want to be called? (I thought that was a pretty good question for them to ask their child!) But the answer was very revealing: his daughter said, “The worst thing you can be called at our school, is ‘Intolerant.” That says so much about where we are as a society right now, doesn’t it; that the worst thing you could be called, is “intolerant.” Call me anything else, but don’t call me intolerant!

And toleration can be a good thing; we are going to talk in just a minute how a degree of tolerance is an important ingredient in having a well-functioning, democratic society like we have in America. But you can also take tolerance too far. And when Christians begin to tolerate in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, what He has forbidden, then it has gone too far, and will bring down the judgment of God upon them. This is the message Jesus gave to the church at Thyatira — and to us, in this 4th letter to “The Church That Tolerated The Intolerable.”

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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson: John 21:15-23 “Do You Love Me?”

Posted on 2023/05/20 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers & Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of John 21:15-23, “Do You Love Me?” for Sunday, May 28, 2023.

(A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  POST FACEBOOK QUOTE:  “People don’t always say: ‘I love you.’ Sometimes it sounds like: ‘Be safe. Did you eat? Call me when you get home. I made you this.’”

I would ask my group: ??? What do you think about this quote???

Then after you hear everyone’s response, ask: ??? Besides saying “I love you,” what is something that somebody said or did for you, that showed you that they loved you???

(For example: when Cheryl & I were sick for about 10 days a couple of weeks ago, James Peterson, one of our deacons, showed up one morning and mowed & weedeated our whole lawn for us. He never SAID “I love you” that day — but he sure showed it!!)

You/your group can share examples like that for a while.

Then I’d say:  In today’s passage, Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him — but then He asks him to SHOW it with his life! He asks US to do the same thing too! Let’s look at what Jesus had to say to Peter — and to US, here in John 21 this morning:

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“The Church That Dropped The Baton” (Revelation 2:12-17 sermon)

Posted on 2023/05/15 by Shawn Thomas

In 2008, the U.S. men’s 4×100 relay team was favored to win the Olympic gold medal. They had won the world championship the year before, and they were off to a good start in the first Olympic race. They finished three legs of the race, and all they had to do was hand the baton off to Tyson Gay, perhaps the fastest man in the world, to win the race. But when he reached back his hand, the baton was not there; he kept reaching for it; he could barely touch it; but he couldn’t get a grasp on it. Finally the baton fell to the track, and favored U.S. team LOST the Olympics, because they couldn’t pass the baton. In fact, a New Yorker magazine article said, if there’s a way to blow a baton pass, the United States team has done it over the past 15 years: they’ve dropped the baton, missed the baton, been too early with the baton, too late with the baton. And the thing is, in a relay, it doesn’t matter how fast you are; if you can’t pass the baton, you can’t win. 

The Christian faith is very much a matter of “passing the baton”: of sharing the gospel of Jesus and the truth of His word with the next generation, and the next, through our churches, and our families. Many of us today are celebrating our mothers and grandmothers, who have successfully “passed the baton” of faith in Jesus to us. We need to realize how important that is. It doesn’t matter how strong our own faith and practice is — if we don’t “pass the baton” down to the next generation, our faith will soon be extinguished from the earth!   

And that is what Jesus showed this church at Pergamum here in Revelation 2:12-17. They had some good things going for them, but in some crucial areas, they were “dropping the baton.” Let’s look at what He had to say to them, and to US, as He writes to “The Church That Dropped The Baton.”

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Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson: John 20:19-29, “Reach Out Your Hand”

Posted on 2023/05/13 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible Study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of John 20:19-29 for Sunday, May 21, 2023 with the title, “Reach Out Your Hand.”

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: ??? Can you share a time when you were surprised to see someone, somewhere???

(— When my father passed away in 2009, my Associate Pastor and a couple of our deacons from Louisiana showed up at the church in central Oklahoma for the funeral. I was very grateful to see them, but also very surprised because of the sacrifice they had made to be there that day. 

Then = today we’re going to see how Jesus surprised His disciples by suddenly appearing in the room with them after His resurrection. What He said to them, and how they responded to Him, have some great lessons for us today.

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“The Church That Was Tested” (Revelation 2:8-11 sermon)

Posted on 2023/05/08 by Shawn Thomas

Some of you know that in 2012 I went through an illness that put me out of the ministry for two years. I lost my job, my income, we had to sell our home, and many of our possessions. I also lost my ministry — and all of that tested me: would I still believe, when I was losing all the “stuff” that I was?

A couple of years later, after I had been through the “fire” of that trial, and I was on my feet again, and doing some interim preaching at a church that was between pastors, I could stand on the front porch of the little condo we were living in, in Norman Oklahoma, and look out, thinking of all we had been through — and the words of Psalm 119 came out of my mouth: “It was good for me that I was afflicted …”. I could see how so much good that came out of that trial. And ONE of the things that was good, was that through that experience, my faith was tested. I got to see that my faith in the Lord wasn’t just based on my “job,” and the benefits I received from it, but that when it was all taken away, I really did still believe in Him, and walked with Him, and my hope was in Him. So that day I could say: “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” It was good look back and see that by God’s grace I was able to pass that test!

And I know I’m not the only one who goes through trials. We ALL do. And we all need to realize that at least part of what is happening when we go through these trials is that we are being tested. In today’s letter in Revelation, Jesus says those words, “I know,” again; this time to the church at Smyrna. And what He knew about them was that they were getting ready to go through some things which would really test them. 

Trials test us. They show what we REALLY believe. You can SAY you believe something — but your trials will reveal what you REALLY believe. 

— That was true for the church at Smyrna

— That was true for me in 2012 and in my life since then

— And it’s true for YOU in your own personal trials too.

What you do, and how you respond, and what you come out with from your trials, will reveal what you REALLY believe. Let’s see what Jesus had to say to Smyrna, and to us, as He writes to “The Church That Was Tested.”

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Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson of John 19:17-30, “It Is Finished”

Posted on 2023/05/06 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of John 19:17-30, “It Is Finished,” for Sunday, May 14, 2023.

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  There’s 2 or 3 good ways to start off the lesson this week;

— The Leader’s Guide suggestion abouut the “Bucket List” is a good one. Lots of people are making “Bucket Lists” of things to do before they “kick the bucket.” Ask your group what things would be on their “bucket list.” Then after we’d talked about that, I’d point out that Jesus completely FINISHED His “bucket list.”

— OR on p. 122 of the Leader’s Guide there is a list of “famous last words” including:

— “I am bored with it all” Winston Churchill

— “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance” Union General John Sedgewick, just befor being hit by a sniper in 1864.

— “I feel something that is not of this earth” Mozart

— “I have a terrific headache” Franklin D. Roosevelt

 Then talk about how today we are going to look at some of Jesus’ last words …

OR ASK: ??? Can anybody look back on a time when you completed a big project/accomplishment in your life, and you just “breathed a big sigh of relief” and said, “I am SO glad that is FINISHED?”

(Maybe it was a college degree or job training, a Marathon, a pregnancy/labor!, etc.?

I once had someone tell me that their favorite picture of me was the smile on my face while standing at the front of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church in North Carolina the day they called me back into full-time ministry after two years of being sick and on medical leave. It was a HUGE trial, and I was SO glad that it was now over!

You/your group can share different things like that, that you were glad to have finished, and then say that today we are going to look at how Jesus finished His work, and our salvation with His death on the cross. 

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