shawnethomas

2020 Family Gingerbread House Contest!

Posted on 2020/12/28 by Shawn Thomas

It’s “the most wonderful time of the year” — tie for our annual family Gingerbread House contest! Thank you for being an essential part of the contest: the judges! Look over the entries below and vote for your favorite in the poll at the end. Judging will end in about 2 days, on Dec. 30, when we’ll announce the winner, with all the ensuing family bragging rights!

(EDIT: ok, as of 12/30/20, the names of the contestants are now listed by the titles of the houses). The overall winner was: Paul Thomas, for “French Country Christmas!

#1 “French Country Christmas” by Paul Thomas

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Posted in Home & Family Life, Uncategorized | Tagged 2020 gingerbread house contest, Christmas gingerbread houses, gingerbread house contest, gingerbread houses, Thomas family gingerbread house contest | 5 Comments

“The Room Where It Happens: The Presence of God” (Luke 1:19 sermon)

Posted on 2020/12/07 by Shawn Thomas

One of the most-visited tourist sites in London, England is the Churchill War Rooms. The rooms are in an underground bunker built just before World War II, right in the heart of the city, not far from Parliament or Buckingham Palace. It was reinforced by steel and concrete, and had its own ventilation and communication systems. When Churchill was appointed Prime Minister, he visited it in May 1940 and declared: “This is the room from which I will direct the war.” And he did. Today you can see the map they used to follow troop movements, where they held the meetings that directed the war effort, and the place where Churchill made at least 4 of his famous speeches. Millions have visited the Churchill War Rooms, as they wanted to see “the room where it all happened”!

I thought it was very significant here in Luke 1, the way that the angel Gabriel introduced himself to Zacharias. Verse 19 says that when Gabriel appeared to Zacharias, he said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.” What a way to describe himself!

I think it is revealing that THIS was the way he chose to identify himself; and not in some other way.

— He did NOT say “I am Gabriel, the greatest of the angels.”

— He did NOT say “I am Gabriel, whom God gives His most important messages to men.”

— He did NOT say, “I am Gabriel, who can call fire down from heaven to consume a whole city!”

Instead he described himself as he “who stands in the presence of God.” THAT is the great thing he wanted to be identified by: that he had access to the very presence of God.

I think this says a lot to us today, too, about what is really important, both in life, and in eternity. If there is really a God — and there is — then surely THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THERE IS! There is no greater privilege for us than to be able, like Gabriel, to stand in the presence of God, in “the room where it happens.”

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Posted in Sermons, Uncategorized, worship | Tagged "The Room Where It Happens", C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis correspondence, C.S. Lewis on nursing homes, Christ will be there, church, church new builidng, church presence of God, church worship, Churchill War Rooms, corporate worship, daily quiet time, daily worship, Ephesians 3:12, eternity, experience His presence, foretaste of His glory, Gabriel, garden of Eden, glory, God, God made us: invented us, God sovereignty, Hamilton musical, heaven, I Corinthians 14:25, I stand in the presence of God, Isaiah 59:2, Isaiah 6:1-3, Jesus, Luke 1:19, oval office, presence, presence of God, Psalm 139, Psalm 147, Psalm 16:11, Psalm 17:15, purpose, Revelation 21:3, Revelation 4:8, salvation, satisfaction, what will we do in heaven, worship, worship services, Zacharias and Elizabeth | 3 Comments

“The Purpose For Our Blessings” (Psalm 67 sermon)

Posted on 2020/11/30 by Shawn Thomas

In 1940, Great Britain was involved in a desperate struggle for survival in the war against Nazi Germany, and they appealed to the United States for help. Many Americans, remembering World War I, did not want to get involved. But U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt told the American people that we had a responsibility to help the democracies of the world against the fascist aggressors. We had a blessed nation, the most prosperous nation in the world, and with that, comes a great responsibility. Roosevelt told the country: “We must be the great arsenal of democracy.” We had not been blessed for nothing; we had been blessed for the purpose of helping to save the world from evil.

And that is virtually the same message which Psalm 67 gives us as God’s people. Fitting for this weekend, many Bible scholars believe that Psalm 67 was written for a thanksgiving celebration of harvest. Look at :6 where it says: “the earth has yielded its produce.” So the setting of Psalm 67 is harvest time — what we might call “Thanksgiving.” So Psalm 67 is a perfect Thanksgiving Psalm — not only because it celebrates what God has given us, but also because it gets us to think about WHY God has given us the things He has. Yes, God has blessed us very much — we talked about that last week — so we should think about WHY. What is the purpose for God’s blessings that we celebrate this Thanksgiving week?

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Posted in missions, Sermons, Uncategorized | Tagged 2005 Jane Austen Pride & Prejudice, baraka, benevolence story, better than I deserve, blessings, Charity Navigator, choir, church building, deserve, earth, Ephesians 2:8-9, Esther, evangelism, Franklin D. Roosevelt arsenal of democracy, Genesis 12:2-3, gifts, giving thanks, grace, James 1:17, Joseph in Genesis, kingdom giving, Lottie Moon offering, material blessings, missions, nations, outreach, peoples, personal testimony, Psalm 67, purpose, purpose for our blessings, salvation, salvation by grace, Shawn Thomas personal testimony, Southern Baptist missions, thankgiving, tithing, using your gifts, Walt Disney brother Roy Disney | 1 Comment

“Give Thanks to the Lord” (Psalm 136:1 sermon)

Posted on 2020/11/23 by Shawn Thomas

First Baptist Church, Angleton, TX 11/22/20 First Sunday at 972 Anchor Road

When the first Pilgrims landed in the New World on November 11,1620, William Bradford, the pilgrim leader who later became their governor wrote that: “‘They fell upon their knees, and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.’” (Nathaniel Philbrick, The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World, p. 44)

In the same way, we today at First Baptist Angleton fall on our knees, and bless the God of heaven, for bringing us as a church through many “perils and miseries” of sorts, to “set OUR feet” on “OUR proper element” here in this beautiful new place! Let us officially give thanks to God for His goodness to us today!

This is a day for our church to give thanks. This is of course a week for giving thanks — Thanksgiving Day is Thursday. And we can be thankful for SO many things, can’t we?

— our new building especially today!

— for Cheryl & I this week: we give thanks for our new grand baby!

— for SO many other things — we could literally spend the entire service this morning, just giving thanks to God for all of His goodnesses to us. And that is the theme of our scripture for this morning from Psalm 136:1:

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

This is a great verse, and its content is one of the most famous and most repeated worship phrases in the whole Old Testament:

— As far as we know, it was first used by King David in a song of praise in I Chronicles 16:34 when they brought the Ark of the Covenant back up to Jerusalem. As the ark came up, David appointed Asaph and his brothers to praise God (the first “ministers of music”) and they sang these very words: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for his lovingkindness is everlasting.”

— then in I Chronicles 16:41, it says they gave the priests the duty to regularly “give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

So that was the beginning of this great worship phrase. Then we see it used again in multiple prayers and songs:

— When Solomon dedicated his temple in II Chronicles 5:13, the priests praised God using this great phrase.

— In one of its most famous occasions in scripture, when a coalition of several nations invaded Judah, God’s prophet told His people that they didn’t even need to fight — Jehoshaphat just sent out the priests singing this verse: “Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” and God went before them, and confused the enemies, who turned on each other, and they were defeated.

— In Ezra 3:11, when Israel rebuilt the foundation of the Temple, they praised and gave thanks to God, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

— Then we find this phrase is used repeatedly in different Psalms, including Psalm 118, and as we saw this morning in EVERY verse here in Psalm 136 as we just read.

So this is one of THE most significant phrases in all of the word of God,”Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” It must be important for God to have His people use it so much. So we need to know it, and understand what it is saying to us:

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Posted in Discipleship, Doctrine/Theology, Sermons, Uncategorized, worship | Tagged Astronomer Fred Hoyle, building dedication, chesed, creation, election, enter His gates with thanksgiving, eternal security, Ezra 3:11, faith and science, First Baptist Church Angleton TX, for His lovingkindness is everlasting, for the Lord is good, Fred, George Eliot Middlemarch, give thanks, give thanks to the Lord for He is good, giving thanks, God is good, grace, gratitude, I Chronicles 16:34, I Thessalonians 5:18, II Chronicles 5:13, importance of giving thanks, ingratitude, ingratitude and sin, James 1:17, Job, Jonn 10:28, Masters golfer hole in one, mercy, Mr. Farebrother, new building, new facility, once saved always saved, pilgrims, predestination, Psalm 100:4, Psalm 136, Psalm 136:1, Richard E. Simmons III Reflections on the Existence of God, Romans 1 they did not give thanks, Romans 8:31-32, science and God, Shirley Temple "Bright Eyes", thanks to God, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, they will never perish, we will never perish | Leave a comment

“On The Move For The Glory Of God” (Joshua 1:1-9 Sermon)

Posted on 2020/11/16 by Shawn Thomas

In June of 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower had an important decision to make. All the men and material were ready for the momentous D-Day invasion of German-occupied France, but there were some reasons for hesitation. One of Eisenhower’s top aides came to him and said he didn’t think the airborne segment of the invasion would work, that they might have 90% casualties, and not be able to hold the vital bridges that would prevent German reinforcement. And then there was the weather. It was blustery and stormy — it looked like it “might” clear up some the next day, but it was uncertain. But if they didn’t go now, the tides — which were crucial to get around some of the obstacles the Germans had placed on the beach — would not be in perfect sync with the invasion plans again for some weeks. So after much consultation and deliberation, Eisenhower turned to his men and said: “OK, let’s go.”

Well had a big decision to make last week here at First Baptist as well. We have the keys to the building. We have a certificate of occupancy. There is no legal obstacle to our move. But we don’t have some of the acoustic panels – they will not arrive for another few weeks. The new chairs we ordered have been delayed time and time again, and may not be in for another month. But everything else is ready. After prayer and consideration our staff made the decision: “Let’s go!” We’re “anchoring up” at 972 Anchor Road next Sunday!

But we need to remember that this is not all about buildings and chairs; we need to keep in mind the spiritual aspects of what we are doing. Our passage for this morning speaks about how Joshua and the people of Israel were on the move into Promised Land, and God had this message for them. I believe this is His word for US today, too, as another people who are “on the move.” Let’s see what God said to them, and what He is saying to us today as well:

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Posted in Sermons, Uncategorized | Tagged Anchor Up, Baptist Faith & Message 2000, Bible, church, church building, church moving, COVID-19 pandemic, doctrine of the Bible, Dwight Eisenhower D-Day decision, fear not the lions for they are chained, First Baptist Church Angleton Texas, glory God, I am with you, I Corinthians 3:6, I Kings 13, II Kings 22:8 lost the word of God, Isaiah 42:8, John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress, Joshua 1:1-9 sermon, Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20, moving, Promised Land, Ron & Pat Owens Touch Not The Glory, touch not the glory for it belongs to God, word of God, zeal | Leave a comment

“The Model Prayer: Spiritual Protection” (Matthew 6:13 sermon)

Posted on 2020/10/26 by Shawn Thomas

Many Americans cheered several years ago, when a Texas mother fought off three masked men who invaded the home where she and her little son lived. Using a pistol she had in her bedroom, she shot one intruder in the stomach and ran the other two off. Most Americans applaud — and rightly so — those who do whatever they have to do to protect their family.

But we also need to understand that there is a greater responsibility than just protecting our family physically — and that is protecting them spiritually. The greatest enemy your family has cannot be shot with a gun, or physically barred from your home. The greatest enemy your family has is spiritual, and must opposed by spiritual weapons. That is why we must learn to pray prayers of spiritual protection which call down the power of God to protect and to work in the lives of those we love.

This morning we come to the last of the 6 major requests of the Model Prayer. We have seen that the Model Prayer is not a “script” that we are to endlessly repeat word-for-word, but it is an outline of the things God wants us to talk with Him about when we pray. We’ve seen that we are to begin our prayers with praise, then pray for God’s Kingdom’s work, then surrender our lives to His will; and then lift up our own requests, and requests for those we love, before we spend time confessing our own sin and granting forgiveness to others. The final request of the prayer is found in :13 and reads:

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

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Posted in Discipleship, Sermons, The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020) | Tagged angels, asking forgiveness, battle in prayer, confession, daily prayer, daily quiet time, deliver us from evil, devotions, Ephesians 6 spiritual warfare, evil, family, get up, get up and pray, hedge of protection, home, II Corinthians 2:11, J. Frank Dobie Tales of Old Time Texas, Jesus temptation, John 17, John 17:12, keeping them in Thy name, lead us not into temptation, Matthew 26 temptation, Matthew 4, Matthew 6:13, morning prayer, ounce of prevention, prayer, praying for forgiveness, praying for your children, praying for your husband, praying for your spouse, praying for your wife, praying the Model Prayer, Sam Shafer and Queenie, sin, Sun Tzu win first, temptation, The Lord's Prayer, The Model Prayer | Leave a comment

“The Model Prayer: Receiving & Giving Forgiveness” (Matthew 6:12 sermon)

Posted on 2020/10/19 by Shawn Thomas

In 2012 a book was published with the title: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. It became a New York Times Bestseller, and was regarded by many as a “pretty cool” book on prayer; how a lot of our prayers can be summarized as “wow”, look at all the “neat” things around us; “thanks”, obviously being grateful for what we have; and “help” for when we need it. Pretty neat stuff, many thought. But Tim Keller, whose commitment with his wife to prayer I mentioned last week, pointed out: “It is striking, though, that the book leaves out one of the most crucial categories of prayer, namely confession and repentance.” (Timothy Keller, Prayer, p. 60-61) It’s not too surprising to me, though, that a book that would be popular with the world would leave out confession and repentance. Those things just aren’t “popular.”

The truth is, a lot of us would rather “leave out” confession and repentance, because that is certainly not the most “fun” part of prayer, but as we all know, there are a lot of things in life that may not be “fun” but they are necessary. Jesus knew that we NEEDED this category of prayer, and so He included it as one of the 6 petitions of His Model Prayer.

We have seen over the last weeks that Jesus gave us this Model Prayer not as a “script” to be recited, but as a model outline to follow. He gave us at least 6 categories in this prayer of things that God wants us to talk with Him about when we pray — especially those longer prayers that we should pray to begin our day. So this morning we come to the 5th Request, which deals with forgiveness: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

There are two parts to this 5th request, both of which deal with forgiveness: the first deals with the forgiveness we RECEIVE from God, and the second, with the forgiveness which we are to GIVE to others: Both of these are important, and necessary, and BOTH of these phrases should play an important role in our prayer time every day.

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Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Discipleship, Matthew sermons, Sermons, The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020), Uncategorized | Tagged C.S. Lewis, confessing sin, confession, daily prayer, daily quiet time, devotions, forgive the inexcusable, forgiveness, giving forgiveness, granting forgiveness, Help Thanks Wow, I John 1:9, Jerry Bridges, Jesus, Lord's Prayer, marriage, Matthew 18, Matthew 6:12 sermon, meaning of forgiveness, model prayer, morning prayer, no condemnation, Parable of the Two Debtors, prayer, prayer outline, prayer relationship, preach the gospel to yourself, Psalm 66:18, relationship with God, repentance, Romans 8:1, salvation, sin, sin debt, sinners prayer, song "The Lord's Prayer", Tim Keller | Leave a comment

“The Model Prayer: Our Requests” (Matthew 6:11 sermon)

Posted on 2020/10/12 by Shawn Thomas

During the Second World War, Corrie Ten Boom and her family helped Jews escape from Nazi persecution and hid them in her home. In her book, The Hiding Place, she shares about growing up in that home, where her father had a watch repair shop downstairs. He was very good at what he did, and she said there weren’t too many repair problems he hadn’t encountered. But, she said: “occasionally one would come along that baffled even him. And then I would hear him say: ‘Lord, You turn the wheels of the galaxies. You know what makes the planets spin — and You know what makes this watch run’”! And he would ask God to help him with the need that he had. (Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place, p. 70)

What Corrie’s father did that day, is an example of how every Christian should constantly bring our needs to God — all through the day, just like Mr. Ten Boom did, and also during our morning prayer time. We are studying today the 4th petition of the Model Prayer. This section of the Model shows us that after we praise God, and pray for His kingdom and His will, then we are then also to bring Him our requests: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Let’s look at what we can learn about bringing our requests to God, from what Jesus taught us here:

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Posted in Discipleship, Sermons, The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020), Uncategorized | Tagged Bill Elliff prayer, Calvin Coolidge Amity Shlaes, centre of his own world, Corrie Ten Boom, daily bread, daily devotions, daily quiet time, daily worship time, dependence on God, discipline, ego centrism, Exodus 32 Moses intercession, front burner prayer requests, George Eliot, give us this day our daily bread, God's Kingdom first, grace, High Priestly Prayer John 17, how do to prayer requests, I John 5:14, I Samuel 12:23, intercession, James 4:2, Jeremiah 33:3, Jesus intercessor, John 16:24, John 17 Lord's Prayer, manna in the morning, Matthew 16:3, Matthew 6:11, Matthew 6:11 sermon, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 7:7, Matthew 7:9, Middlemarch, model prayer, morning prayer, morning prayer time, Mr. Casaubon, order of the Model Prayer, organizing prayer requests, Paul Romans 9:3 intercessor, Philippians 4:6, poor in spirit, poverty in spirit, prayer, prayer relationship, prayer requests, Praying For Others, Psalm 81:10, relationship with God, Samuel intercessor, spiritual dependence, Tim and Kathy Keller daily prayer, Tim Keller, time of prayer | Leave a comment

“The Model Prayer: Thy Will Be Done” (Matthew 6:10 sermon)

Posted on 2020/10/05 by Shawn Thomas

What would you pray in the following situation: A few years back a pastor had for a friend of his who at the point of death. He was praying fervently that God would spare this friend’s life. In fact he prayed, “God would you add some years to the length of his time here on earth?” He said that suddenly he had the strongest impression, as if God were asking him: “Would you be willing for Me to take those years from your life, in order to add them to his?” Now gets tough, doesn’t it? How much did he really want it? This man said that his heart began to beat quickly, and sweat began to bead on his brow. He didn’t know how to respond: should he ask to take it from his own life — or not?! Finally he prayed the only prayer he knew how to pray: “Lord, Thy will be done.” That’s always a good prayer to pray!

The last several weeks we have been looking together at the Model Prayer Jesus gave us in Matthew 6:9-13. We’ve seen that it is not a “script” that we are to mindlessly repeat, but an outline of the things God wants us to speak with Him about when we pray. We’ve studied the first two requests so far, and have seen from “Hallowed be Your name” that we are to begin our prayers with praise: scripture, singing, and thanksgiving; and then last week from “Thy Kingdom come” we saw that we are then to pray requests for God’s Kingdom first: praying for churches, pastors, mission work and missionaries. So this morning we come to the third request of the Model: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Continue reading →

Posted in Discipleship, Matthew sermons, Sermons, The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020), Uncategorized | Tagged 3rd petition of the Model Prayer, C.S. Lewis Great Divorce Thy will, Chuck Quarles Sermon on the Mount, daily decisions, daily Gethsemane, daily prayers, decisions, false gospel, false teachers, garden of Eden, Garden of Gethsemane, George Muller, George Muller morning prayer work, God's will, Greg Laurie, Henry Blackaby Experiencing God, how to pray, Jesus only way, John 14:6, John 7:17, John Newton Amazing Grace, John Newton God's will, Lord's Prayer, make me willing, Matthew 26, Matthew 26:42, Matthew 6:10 sermon, model prayer, morning devotions, morning prayer time, name it claim it, prayer, praying for God's will, Praying For Others, praying the Model Prayer, Praying Thy will be done, prosperity gospel, Psalm 103:19, quiet time, Rosaria Butterfield Openness Unhindered, Thy will be done, your vision, Your will be done | 1 Comment

“The Model Prayer: Kingdom Praying” (Matthew 6:10 sermon)

Posted on 2020/09/28 by Shawn Thomas

William Carey was a shoemaker who lived in England in the 1700’s, but his heart went out to the people groups all around the world who had never heard the gospel. Carey kept a map of the world on the wall in front of the bench where he made and repaired shoes, and he would pray over that map all day long while he worked. One day he went to a meeting of the London Missionary Society, and at the meeting they asked the question: “Who will go down to the heathen and take them the gospel?” Carey answered: “I will go down (to India) if you will hold the rope for me.” That phrase, “hold the rope” refers to how a person might go down into a well, or into a steep ravine, to rescue someone — but they have people behind who are “holding the rope” for them to keep them steady and safe. That expression “holding the rope” has become popular over the years as a way of expressing the responsibility that Christians have to support our missionaries who are doing God’s Kingdom work, through our giving and our prayers.

This morning we are continuing our study in Jesus’ Model Prayer. We have seen over the past weeks that the Model Prayer is not just a “script” that we are to pray repeatedly back to God, but that Jesus gave it to us as a MODEL, or outline of the things that God wants us to talk with Him about when we pray. Last week we saw that the opening request of the prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name,” means that we are to begin our prayers with praise to God. We looked at 3 scriptural ways to praise, including using scripture, singing, and thanksgiving. This morning we’ll look at the second division of the Prayer, which prays: “Thy Kingdom Come,” one of the most important things a Christian can pray about every day. Here Jesus tells us that we need to talk to God daily about His Kingdom work.

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Posted in Discipleship, Sermons, The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020) | Tagged Acts 13:1-3, Apostle Paul prayer, daily prayer time, daily quiet time, devotions, fasting, force, hold the ropes, how to pray, i Kings 17, II Corinthians 10:3-5, India prayer, intercessory prayer, John 18:36, Joshua project, kingdom, kingdom of God, Kingdom praying, Luke 10, missionary, missions, missions intercessor, model prayer, morning devotions, morning prayer time, Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, Oswald Chambers, outline for prayer, pastor, pray for your pastor, prayer, prayer greater work, prayer is the greater work, praying for missions, praying for the Kingdom, praying for the lost, priority of prayer, Romans 10:1, Romans 15:30, The Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom come, time with God, William Carey, worship, Your kingdom come | Leave a comment

shawnethomas

2020 Family Gingerbread House Contest!

“The Room Where It Happens: The Presence of God” (Luke 1:19 sermon)

“The Purpose For Our Blessings” (Psalm 67 sermon)

“Give Thanks to the Lord” (Psalm 136:1 sermon)

“On The Move For The Glory Of God” (Joshua 1:1-9 Sermon)

“The Model Prayer: Spiritual Protection” (Matthew 6:13 sermon)

“The Model Prayer: Receiving & Giving Forgiveness” (Matthew 6:12 sermon)

“The Model Prayer: Our Requests” (Matthew 6:11 sermon)

“The Model Prayer: Thy Will Be Done” (Matthew 6:10 sermon)

“The Model Prayer: Kingdom Praying” (Matthew 6:10 sermon)

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