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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Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway Explore the Bible: Amos 4:1-13, “Turn to God

Posted on 2022/09/04 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Amos 4:1-13, for Sunday, September 11, 2022, with the title, “Turn To God.”

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

INTRO: I might ask my class: Did you ever discipline a child, or an employee, to get them to stop a certain behavior?  If we think about it, most of us have:

I remember when we were at our first church in OKC, our oldest two sons were little, and we lived by a very busy street. We told them there was a line in the front yard (at a certain tree) that they were not to cross, because it took them too close to the street, where they could be hit and killed. If they crossed that line, they would get a spanking. And we made sure we observed that rule every time. It was not that we just “enjoyed” spanking them; we were trying to get them to obey us in this crucial thing. Their lives may have depended upon it! So there was a purpose in the pain were inflicting on them.  

You/your group will have stories like this that you can share. Most of us don’t just “get a kick” out of disciplining our kids, or employees, or whomever — but we do it because there is some behavior we are aiming for them to change. 

THEN I would say: this is what we see GOD doing in our passage for today.  We will see here that God sent a series of calamities upon Israel, but He was doing for a specific purpose: to get them to return to Him. (If you don’t use this in the introduction, you might use it in Pt. III below …)

OR you might open class by talking about “warnings.” 

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“What God Wants From Us” (Micah 6:8 sermon)

Posted on 2022/08/29 by Shawn Thomas

Both the public schools, and our Angleton Christian School have resumed classes now. And I’m sure as classes began, most teachers shared with their students their expectations, right from the beginning: here’s how we need you to act, in your conduct; here’s what is required of you, assignment-wise, to get a certain grade. And that’s good; it’s good to know what the expectations are, going in.

And we might say the same thing is true in our relationship with God. What does God want from us? What does He expect of me? What does He care about — and NOT care about! Maybe you’re here at First Baptist Angleton for the first time — or maybe even any church for the first time — or for the first time in a long time. Or maybe you have come today because you’re seeking God in a special way at this time in your life. As you seek to come to Him, what does He want from you? It’s good to know, right?  

Well, that’s what our passage for today shows us. Verse 6 says, “With what shall I come to the Lord?” In other words, what does God want from me? Verse 8 answers the question: “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you.” And He shows us here what He wants, both in our vertical relationship towards Him, and in our horizontal relationships with other people. So let’s look at what God’s word says He wants from us today:

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Teachers Overview of Explore the Bible Amos 2:4-16, “Listen To God”

Posted on 2022/08/28 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible Study leaders of the Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson of Amos 2:4-16, for Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022, “Listen to God.” The video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: I might spend a little time introducing: THE MINOR PROPHETS, the 12 books that finish out the Old Testament. 

I’d emphasize they are not “minor” in importance; only minor in SIZE. 

But they have a powerful message.

Unfortunately, because they are small in length, and tucked away at the end of the OT, they often don’t get their due.

ONE EXERCISE you could do at/near the beginning of this lesson:  have a handout sheet with the 12 minor prophets listed, and see what your members can write down about each of these 12: do they know what that book is about; do they have a verse memorized in it, etc? OR instead of doing it individually, you could all chip in together calling out what they know, while you write it on the Dry Erase board or whatever you have.  I think what we ‘d find is that many of us just don’t know these 12 “minor prophets” very well — maybe Jonah or another 1 or 2 — but God has a lot for us in these books. 

We are going to be looking at FOUR of these “minor prophets” this quarter: Amos, Jonah, Hosea, and Micah. Starting with Amos today.

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“The Spirit In Us” (Romans 8:9-17sermon)

Posted on 2022/08/22 by Shawn Thomas

In Acts Chapter 19, the Apostle Paul is on his way to Ephesus, and he comes across some disciples. He asked them: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him: “No, we have not even heard whether there IS a Holy Spirit.” Paul said to them: “Into what then were you baptized?” (Because Jesus commanded us to be baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) You can kind of “read between the lines” and hear the shock and surprise in Paul’s voice: “You haven’t heard about the Holy Spirit? Into what then were you BAPTIZED if you haven’t heard of the Holy Spirit!” 

Sadly, you could be in a number of churches today and not hear anything about the Holy Spirit for a long time. But it shouldn’t be that way. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith: that God exists eternally in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God with us; He is Jesus in us. He is vital to the Christian life, as we shall see, and every genuine Christian has the Holy Spirit inside of them. 

Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in all the word of God, and it was our privilege to read it this week. One of the things we saw in it as we read, is that it repeatedly refers to the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as believers. Let’s review briefly what Romans 8 tells us about the work of the Holy Spirit in us as God’s people: 

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Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson: II Kings 22:8-20

Posted on 2022/08/21 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of II Kings 22:8-20 for Sun., Aug. 28, 2022 “God Moves.” A video version of the overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  Have you ever been cleaning up, or digging through something — and come across an unusual find?

When I was a boy I traded my fleet of model ships for another friend’s baseball card collection. Years later I was digging through the attic and found those baseball cards: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Tom Seaver — and Nolan Ryan’s rookie card! What a great find — and they have just been shoved away in the attic! 

But today we are going to look at an even greater “find” — when the word of God was “found” in the Temple of God in II Kings 22!

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“Gratitude: Your First Step Towards God” (Romans 1:21 sermon)

Posted on 2022/08/15 by Shawn Thomas

When John F. Kennedy was president, he was at a dinner one evening when an assistant defense secretary’s wife told him that every night when her husband comes home, she says to him: “How can they say those things about you? Aren’t they all awful!” — referring to the news of the day. Kennedy said to her, “You don’t say that to your husband when he comes home, do you?  That’s not what you should do. Find one GOOD thing they say, say, ‘Isn’t that great?’” He said: I know I don’t want to rehash all that negative stuff when I get home; let me hear something positive that I can be grateful for. (Dallek, Camelot’s Court, p. 124)

That’s a good word not only for a husband or a wife, in their relationship, but for ALL of us, ALL the time. It’s so easy with all that’s going on in our lives, and in our world today, to focus on the negative things around us, and if we do, we just get dragged down by it. But a better course is to focus on we we have to thankful for. Being grateful will make a huge difference not only in our daily attitude, but also in the whole direction of our lives. And as Romans 1 shows us, if we are NOT grateful, it will take us down the worst of roads, and to the worst of destinations.

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“Explore the Bible” Lesson Overview: II Kings 19:10-19, 32-34, “God Hears”

Posted on 2022/08/14 by Shawn Thomas

(A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of II Kings 19, for Sunday, August 21, 2022. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  Ask your group to share some of the most dramatic, or important, or unexpected answers to prayer that they have ever experienced. (You may want to send this question to them in an email earlier in the week, to give them some time to think about it. The contact will also encourage them to be present Sunday.) It might help if you can start off by sharing a significant answer to prayer that you have had.  

I’ll share one: last February I was scrolling down Facebook and saw the picture of a man who lives in North Carolina, who I had been praying for, for his salvation, for the last 7-8 years — and I had kept praying for him every week even after we left that church and moved here to Texas. But that day as I looked on Facebook I saw a picture of this man I had been praying for — being baptized at that church! I was delightedly shocked: WOW! God heard and answered that prayer! 

God is a God who hears and and answers prayers. In fact, I have had some pretty substantial prayers answered even this week! I know we can’t share every answered prayer, because some of them involve other people — but think of a good answered prayer you can share, and encourage your class members to do the same. 

Just sharing the answers to prayer God has given you and others, may be the best thing you do in class that day — and hearing about all these answers will encourage all of you to pray with even more faithfulness, faith, and fervor.

So after you share these answered prayers, you can say something like: our lesson today is about a famous answered prayer God gave King Hezekiah, in II Kings 19.  

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“For All Of Us” (Isaiah 53:6 sermon)

Posted on 2022/08/08 by Shawn Thomas

I remember when I was a boy, growing up at the First Baptist Church of Harrah, Oklahoma, our pastor (Hoyt Aduddell) had just preached one of those messages that sticks with you for some reason. The reason this particular message stuck with us, is that throughout the sermon, which was on greed, he continually used the phrase, “Gimme, gimme, gimme.” “Gimme, gimme, gimme” he said, and that phrase was drilled into our minds repeatedly throughout the message. On the way out, feeling quite spiritually mature as an 8-year-old, I remember saying to my dad on the way out: “‘Gimme, gimme, gimme.’ That sounds just like the girls to me.” (I have three younger sisters.)  But I’ll never forget: Dad looked over at me and said, “Sounds like all four of you to me!” Dad really put me in my place that day — and I needed it. It’s not just that my sisters were all greedy sinners and I wasn’t. We ALL are greedy sinners, and I needed to include myself in that number too.

The old Puritans said that one of the devil’s strategies is to get us to think that we are an exception. That the things that God has said in His word apply to “other” people, but not us. Somehow we are special. We are an exception to the rule. Other people are sinners but we are not. Or others’ sins are unacceptable, but we have good excuses for ours. Or others’ sins can be forgiven, but not ours — ours are too great. In one way or another, he wants us to think that we are an exception to the rule — which cuts us off from God’s word, and from His grace.

But our verse for today, Isaiah 53:6 reminds us of that none of us are “an exception to the rule,” we are ALL “in the same boat.” All of us have sinned, without exception. And what Jesus did, He did “for ALL of us” — YOU included. But there’s also something you have to do about it, if you want what Jesus did, to be applied to your life. 

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Lifeway “Explore the Bible” II Kings 17:7-20 teachers’ overview: “God Judges”

Posted on 2022/08/07 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for Sunday, August 14, 2022, “God Judges.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  You could ask your class: “What is something that used to be acceptable in society, but is not acceptable today?” (Or vice-versa, that used to be unacceptable, but IS today.)

— For example: smoking in public places used to be acceptable, but is not today (funny to see old movies where they’re smoking in restaurants, offices, etc.)

— I was reading a biography the other day, and it described how restrooms, and buses, and water fountains used to be segregated between blacks and whites, but of course that is not acceptable, or even legal, today.

You/your group can come up with many examples of how what is “right” or “acceptable” in society might have changed over the years.

But then I would make the point: many things in society change over the years, but GOD does not change in His view of right and wrong. In Malachi 3:6 God says, “I the Lord, do not change.” God’s moral standards of right and wrong do not change. What was wrong morally in Bible times is still wrong today. The sins God judged Israel for in their day, God will still judge today — which leads us to our focus passage in II Kings 17, “God Judges.”  

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