“How To Run The Christian Race” (Hebrews 12:1-2 sermon)

Posted on 2022/10/17 by Shawn Thomas

For most of my adult like I ran for exercise, although I was never very fast. When we lived in Tulsa back in the 1990’s (when I was in my 30’s) I was probably in the best shape of my life and I’d still never broken a 6:00 mile. I had hovered just above it several times; I just wasn’t quite able to break six minutes. One weekend our running club was participating in a road race in Tulsa called The Cherry Street Mile, which had the advantage of a long downhill stretch to the finish line, so I was hoping to break 6:00 and set a new personal record. As we made our way towards the finish line, I could see the clock up ahead at the finish line was still in the 5:00’s, and I didn’t have much farther to go. I looked over at the crowd of people who lined the last few hundred yards to the finish line and I saw an older gentleman who was part of our club, but who wasn’t running that day. I looked up at the clock, then I looked over at him, and I raised my arms and hollered triumphantly: “I’m gonna break 6 minutes!” He pointed ahead and shouted back: “Keep your eyes on the finish line!” I did finish with a 5:45 mile, a new personal record, and barring a miracle in my old age, that will end up being the fastest mile I ever ran.

The author of Hebrews 12 is doing for us as Christians today, what that older gentleman did for me at the Cherry Street Mile that day. Only he is encouraging us to run the CHRISTIAN race. Hebrews was written to a group of Christians who were tempted to ditch their faith in Jesus due to persecution, and return to Judaism. So throughout this book, as we saw last Sunday, the author proclaims how Jesus is better Judaism, better than the Law, better than the Old Testament priests, and better than the angels some of them were worshiping. Hebrews 11 shows us “The Hall of Faith”: how Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and many others, endured sufferings, and overcome obstacles, and ran the race of faith that was set before them. Each of us has obstacles that we have to face in our lives, too. But these verses remind us that we are not the first to run the Christian race; others have gone before us, and like that gentleman I looked to that day at the Cherry Street Mile, they give us advice on “How To Run The Christian Race”:

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Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway Explore The Bible: Hosea 6:1-7:2 “The Hollow Promises”

Posted on 2022/10/16 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Hosea 6 & 7 for Sunday, October 23, 2022. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  (Following the American defeat in Brooklyn in 1776, Washington aide Joseph Reed wrote:) “When I look round, and see how few of the numbers who talked so largely of death and honor are around me, and that those who are there are those from whom it was least expected … I am lost in wonder and surprise…. Your noisy sons of liberty are, I find, the quietest in the Field …  An engagement (in battle), or even the expectation of one, gives a wonderful insight into character.” (David McCullough, 1776, p. 204-204)

(During the Theban rebellion against the young Alexander, messengers went out to try to stir up support among other Greek city/states.)

“The messengers had no better luck at Athens, where Demosthenes—in typical fashion—led a rousing vote in support of the brave Theban rebels, then did nothing.” (Philip Freeman, Alexander the Great, p. 61)

OR you/your class could share a personal experience of when someone promised you something, but they were just empty words.

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“The Incomparable Christ” (Hebrews 1:1-4 sermon)

Posted on 2022/10/10 by Shawn Thomas

The name of John Hay is not very well known today, but in the 1800s he was one of the most influential men in America. He was Secretary of State under Theodore Roosevelt, but he began his career as a personal secretary for Abraham Lincoln. Hay said that one time, when he was Lincoln’s secretary, “a man appeared in the waiting room, claiming to be the Son of God, Hay assured him that the president would be delighted to see him—but first would the caller mind providing a letter of introduction from his father?” (John Taliaferro, All The Great Prizes, p. 46)

Hay showed some good humor there in the president’s reception office, but the fact is, that is exactly what we find here in Hebrews 1: a letter of introduction of Jesus Christ, giving us His “credentials,” if you would, as to why He should be so important to us. As we have been reading together this Book of Hebrews, we have seen that the theme of the whole book is how Jesus is “a better hope” as Hebrews 7:19 tells us; He’s better than Judaism; He’s better than the old priests and sacrifices; He’s better than the angels. The whole book is about the superiority of Christ. And this passage may be the best one in the book; it’s one of my personal favorites. It lays out the “credentials” of Jesus so clearly and powerfully; and shows us how He is “The Incomparable Christ.” 

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SS Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson:  Hosea 1:2-9, 3:1-5

Posted on 2022/10/09 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of the Lifeway “Explore the Bible” for Sunday, October 16, 2022. A video version of this overview is available at:

INTRO: One way to introduce this lesson would be to ask your group to share: “What’s one of the hardest things God ever called you to do?” 

(I can think of several difficult mission trips I’ve been on; a couple of hard evangelistic visits I needed to make; one time Tom Elliff was scheduled to preach a big mission conference at our church, and he called the Saturday afternoon before and said, “Shawn, God’s giving you a great opportunity today: I’m sick and won’t be able to be there. You’re going to need to preach it!” You and your group members will have experiences you can share: hard things God asked you to do, to go, to say to someone, etc. 

THEN you can say: today we’re looking at the story of a man that God asked some very difficult things of, in order to convey a strong message to His people.

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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway “Explore the Bible” Sunday School lesson: Jonah 4

Posted on 2022/10/02 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of a potential lesson plan for teaching Jonah Chapter 4:1-11 from the Lifeway “Explore the Bible” material for Sunday October 9, 2022. A video version of this overview is available at:

SAMPLE INTRODUCTION:  “What’s something in your life that you probably care TOO much about, that you really shouldn’t?”

For example, I’d say one of them for me might be OU (University of Oklahoma) football. I’ve watched it since I was a boy, and I get so nervous watching the games; and really almost “live and die” by how well they do — or not! The Lord’s been teaching me some lessons about that in recent years, and I *think* I’m getting better about it. But it’s just a game. It’s not life and death. (LOL I wrote this earlier in the week, before OU’s big loss Saturday!)

Maybe you’re like that with your team, or maybe a certain food, or the stock market/your retirement fund, what other people think; maybe you care way too much how some particular thing is done, or something else. You and your class can talk about things like that, that are not REALLY that important, but that you tend to care too much about. 

And then you could say: This morning in our study of Jonah 4, we see something that Jonah cared too much about; that took too big a place in his life. God brought this to his attention, and showed him that there was something more important that he should care about!

OR, for a more “classic” introduction, you could use this:  In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities he tells of the Marquis St. Evremonde, an extremely rich man who entertained himself by racing his carriage through the narrow streets of Paris and watching the peasants dive out of the way. But while the Marquis was driving, suddenly there was a thud; the carriage stopped. People were screaming and crying. Evremonde’s carriage had hit a child. The Marquis was upset also: “Why is he making that abominable noise? How do I know what injury you have done to my horses?” He tossed out a gold coin to the child’s father, and sped away. 

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“Your Spiritual Armor” (Ephesians 6:10-20 sermon)

Posted on 2022/09/26 by Shawn Thomas

One of the things I have appreciated about living here in Angleton is the cooperation between the local police and the pastors of the town. We have regular lunches with the police and first responders and talk about various issues going on here. It’s just healthy for our community. One thing I was glad to see at a recent meeting, was that the chief said that some of the officers had just received some new body armor — and he had one of the officers stand up and show us that he had it on. 

It’s good to see that our police have that armor. They need it. They put their lives on the line for us every day — and we need to be praying God’s protection for them — as well as provide whatever physical armor we can for protection. 

The Bible also says that every Christian has a kind of “armor” available to us — not the kind of amor you can “see,” like that police officer had on — but a “spiritual armor” that we need even more than physical armor, to fight the spiritual battles we face every day. Let’s look at what Ephesians 6 tells us about Our Spiritual Armor.

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Lifeway “Explore the Bible” Jonah 1:15-2:10 “No Escape”

Posted on 2022/09/25 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Jonah 1:15-2:10 for Sunday, October 2, 2022, with the title, “No Escape.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: The Teacher’s Book actually has a pretty good introduction to this lesson, but let me give you some more specifics on it. Joe Louis, the famous boxer, faced Billy Conn in June of 1946. Conn was 25 pounds lighter than Louis, and had faced him before, so his strategy was going to be to dodge and run, and not trade punches with Louis. Sportswriters asked Louis how he would deal with Conn, and Louis famously said, “He can run, but he can’t hide.” And he was right — Louis knocked him out in the 8th round of that fight!

That wouldn’t be a bad title for this lesson: “You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide.” That is definitely true of our relationship with God. And that’s definitely something the lesson this week teaches us. Jonah could run, but he could’t hide from God — and neither can we!  

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Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson: Amos 9:5-15, “Hope in God”

Posted on 2022/09/18 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview, for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Amos 9:5-15, for Sunday, September 25, 2022 with the title: “Hope in God.”

A video version of this overview is available at:

INTRO: One way you could begin the lesson this week, would be to share the true story one of my former church members sent me a week or two ago; he said he was in the hospital for something, and the hospital chaplain had a prayer time over the public address system for all the patients. He thought that was really neat — until the chaplain prayed: “God, we know You’re doing doing the best You can …”.   When he sent me that, I was like, “Oh my.”  You could talk with your class about, “What was wrong with that prayer?” The answer, of course, God is not some “pitiful” figure who’s up there “just trying to do the best He can”! He’s Almighty God, the Lord of the Universe, and there is NOTHING too difficult for Him.  We need to better realize just Who He is, and what He can do — and that we are accountable to Him, which our lesson for this week talks about.  

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“Where’s Your Glory?” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 sermon)

Posted on 2022/09/12 by Shawn Thomas

It’s football season, and many college football fans virtually live and die on the success of their football teams. Fans wear their team’s colors on game day, and get excited when they win, and bask in the glory of that victory for a day or two — OR get really depressed when they lose. In a very real sense, it can be said that football fans “glory” in their team.

That sense of “glorying” in a football team like that, helps us to understand the heart of the meaning of Jeremiah 9:23 when it says, “let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him boasts, boast of this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD …”.

The word “boast” that is used throughout this verse is the Hebrew word “halal,” we get our word “Hallelujah” from it. It means “to praise, to glory, to boast” in something — like many people today do their favorite sports team. What you praise or glory in says a lot about what’s really important in your life. And God has a word for us here in these verses about what we SHOULD and should NOT boast or glory in: 

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Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway Explore the Bible: Amos 5:4-15

Posted on 2022/09/11 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Amos 5:4-15 for Sun. Sept 18, 2022, “Seek God.”

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

INTRO: You could ask your class: “What is something you spent a lot of time looking for, and why?” One of the “sad” stories of my childhood, is that I had a favorite little Matchbox car, and I treasured it so much, that I dug a hole in the back yard, and buried it there. But when I went back the next day, I couldn’t find again the place where I had buried it! I looked and looked and dug and searched, but I couldn’t find it! I searched diligently for it because it was my favorite, so I put a lot of time into it — though sadly I never found it.

We all have stories like that; If you have one, share it yourself, and encourage your class to share theirs too. Why they spent a lot of time seeking something, and why it was so important to them.

And then you could say: today our lesson from Amos is on Seeking GOD. HE is the most important One we can ever seek — and we need to more into seeking HIM, than into seeking anyone or anything else.  

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