“The Greatest Verse in the Bible?” (John 3:16 sermon)

Posted on 2022/10/31 by Shawn Thomas

People often enjoy discussing who or what “the greatest” is in different areas of life. A new acronym has arisen in light of that: “GOAT,” which stands for “Greatest of All Time.” The first time I saw that, it was attributed to Tom Brady, who has continued to play into his mid-40s, and has won more Super Bowls than any other quarterback in history, so he has been labeled “The GOAT”: “The greatest of all time.” And others have been called “the greatest” of this or that, in many different fields. 

But what about the Bible? We are reading through the Bible together this year. What might be the greatest verse in the Bible? What would you say that it is? Poll after poll, survey after survey, consistently say that ONE verse is considered to be the “the greatest verse of scripture” in the Bible: John 3:16. Is it really the greatest verse? Well, greatness, like beauty, may be in the eye of the beholder, but I think you can certainly make a case that it could be the greatest verse. Why? Let’s look at it.  John 3:16 may possibly the greatest verse in all the Bible because it shows us:

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Lifeway Explore the Bible: Hosea 14:1-9 “The Restoration Promised”

Posted on 2022/10/30 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for Sunday, November 6, 2022, “The Restoration Promised, from Hosea 14:1-9. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? You could start off by asking your class to share:

“What is a decision you made in your life, that you are very happy that you decided to make?”

(For example, about 12 years ago I decided to have LASIK surgery on my eyes; that was a VERY good decision for me; it has been a real blessing not to have to wear glasses all the time.

Or the decision I made to accept the call to our church in Angleton 4 years ago; we love it here and are so grateful we decided to come.

There are MANY examples that you/your group can share.)

Then I would say: today in our study of Hosea God is asking us to make a decision to come to HIM. If we do, it will be THE best decision we ever made!

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“A Good Servant & The Word” (I Timothy 4:6 sermon)

Posted on 2022/10/24 by Shawn Thomas

Years ago Winston Churchill, who was for many years prime minister of Britain, had just published a collection of his magazine articles under the title Thoughts and Adventures (Amid These Storms). In Churchill’s biography, William Manchester writes: “As usual, (Churchill) … sent copies to friends and acquaintances in high places. Opening an envelope bearing the royal crest, (Churchill) read aloud an acknowledgment from the Duke: ‘Dear Winston. Thank you for your new book. I have put it on the shelf with the others.’” (William Manchester, The Last Lion, Vol. II, p. 19) I guess we know what the Duke of Gloucester thought about Churchill’s new book!

As servants of God, what are we to do with our Master’s Book? One thing we know: we are NOT just to “put it on the shelf with all the others”! But what DOES God want us to do with it? Our verse for today, I Timothy 4:6 tells us.

I Timothy 4 opens with a warning against false teachers and their heretical teachings. We are living right now in days just like these verses describe: many falling away from the faith, “deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” — that is, doctrines that demons inspire to deceive people with, and turn them away from the Biblical faith.  But God says in verse 6: here is what I want YOU to do. YOU be a “good servant of Christ Jesus” in these times, “nourished on the words of the faith …”, “which YOU have been following,” and “pointing out these things to the brethren.”  Notice there are at least three ways this verse teaches us that the good servant of God will respond to His word: 

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Teachers’ Overview of Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson: Hosea 10:5-15 “The Sin Harvested”

Posted on 2022/10/23 by Shawn Thomas

A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible Study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for Sunday, October 30, 2022. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? You might ask your class something like: “Did you ever plant anything that you wished you hadn’t?”  I immediately think of a wisteria plant Cheryl & I had on the side of our house in Tulsa. It had some pretty blooms, and we thought, “Oh this is nice! But that thing exploded and took over, and starting choking out power lines and cables and fences and everything in sight! I started calling it the “demon vine” — and vowed never to have one again!

Our former pastor Rod Masteller moved to our home town, Harrah, Oklahoma, as a city boy, and thought he’d like to grow some okra. But he got tired of it, because it was growing so fast, so he decided to “just plow it all under.” One of the deacons told him: “Rod, you just THOUGHT you had a lot of okra this year! Wait till next year!” He’s gonna reap what he just sowed! 

Many of us have planted something we wished we hadn’t, for one reason or another. This week’s lesson in Hosea 10 speaks about sowing and reaping. Just like Galatians 6 says: “Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.” This week’s lesson tells of how Israel sowed seeds of sin and ungodliness, and as a consequence, reaped a great judgment. But even in the midst of that, God expresses His mercy and grace, as we will see shortly.

If you’re having some difficulty with this lesson, I understand that. This is not the easiest text we’ve had! There are references to several historical people and places that most of us aren’t familiar with: “Beth-aven,” “King Jareb,”“Gibeah,” and “Shalman and Beth-arbel” that we need to know, to be able to explain and apply this lesson. We will touch on all of those in this overview.

And we’ll hit some of the highlights of the text; there are some real “gems” in this passage. Many of you have said you like to use an outline to teach from, if so, you could follow one like this:

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“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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