Teacher’s Preview of Psalm 139, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson for Aug. 17, 2025, “God’s Greatness”

Posted on 2025/08/09 by Shawn Thomas

A lesson overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 139, for Sunday, August 17, 2025, with the title, “God’s Greatness.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

(From the 1982 BBC series “The Barchester Chronicles”)

Mr. Harding, an Anglican minister in Barchester England, finishes playing for his daughter Eleanor and her sister in law Mary, a new anthem he has composed for his cello. 

Eleanor: “That’s beautiful.”

Harding: “It’s a new anthem.”

Mary: “To celebrate something special?”

Harding: “Yes.”

(long pause)

Eleanor: “Mary obviously hopes you will tell her what the music is going to celebrate, Father!”

Harding: “God. Everything I write celebrates God: I know of no other compelling reason to make music.”

One might say that like Mr. Harding, all of the Psalms we are studying celebrate God, in one sense or another. That is certainly true of our Psalm for today, Psalm 139. In several important ways, it conveys to us the message of “God’s Greatness.”

AND/OR INTRODUCTION:

??? You might ask your group: “What is your favorite quality of God”???

(Of course there are countless qualities they might mention: His holiness, love, faithfulness, provision, etc.)

Then after everyone has shared you can say: “In this morning’s lesson we are going to look at three specific qualities of God, that demonstrate His greatness, from Psalm 139 …”.

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 23, “God’s Care,” Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson for August 10, 2025

Posted on 2025/08/02 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 23, for Sunday, August 10, 2025, with the title, “God’s Care.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

Early in my pastorate at Beggs, Oklahoma I went to church one day and said to a group of our folks in the foyer: “Wow, that view from the hill is so amazing!” They said, “What view?” I said, “The view from the top of the hill, just past the parsonage. When you crest that hill, there is the most amazing view of the whole valley!” They shrugged like they didn’t know what I was talking about. The fact is, every one of those people had been on that hill probably thousands of times, and seen that view, but I guess they had seen it so often, they just took it for granted. 

??? What is something that is so familiar to us that we might be tempted to take it for granted???

(Scenery we get used to, like that one in Beggs. Our health — until we lose it!  Same thing with our material blessings. Or the freedoms we experience in America …

You/your group can share any number of things. Then make the transition: This morning we are going to look at a Scripture that many of us are so familiar with, that we often take it for granted — but we shouldn’t, because its message is so powerful and needed: Psalm 23!

(You might also consider using the Discussion Question for Point I as an alternate Introduction to the lesson. See below)

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An Overview for Teachers of Psalm 32:1-11, “God’s Forgiveness,” Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson for 8/03/25

Posted on 2025/07/26 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for August 3, 2025, Psalm 32:1-11, “God’s Forgiveness.” Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline & highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

You could open (or close!) this week’s lesson with this story:

“’Irresistible’ is the very word an Iranian student used when telling (John R.W. Stott) of his conversion to Christ. Brought up to read the Koran, say his prayers and lead a good life, he nevertheless knew that he was separated from God by his sins. When Christian friends brought him to church and encouraged him to read the Bible, he learnt that Jesus Christ had died for his forgiveness. ‘For me the offer was irresistible and heaven-sent,’ he said, and he cried to God to have mercy on him through Christ. Almost immediately ‘the burden of my past life was lifted. I felt as if a huge weight … had gone. With the relief and sense of lightness came incredible joy. At last it had happened. I was free of my past. I knew that God had forgiven me, and I felt clean. I wanted to shout, and tell everybody. It was through the cross that the character of God came clearly into focus for him, and that he found Islam’s missing dimension, ‘the intimate fatherhood of God and the deep assurance of sins forgiven’.”

(John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 42)

Then share how in today’s lesson in Psalm 32, we see how OUR sins too can be forgiven, if we will confess them to the Lord.

ALTERNATE INTRODUCTION (or use elsewhere in the lesson):

Psalm 32 was the favorite of Augustine of Hippo Regis, whom many call “St. Augustine”. Augustine had lived a very sinful, profligate life before he came to Christ as an adult, famously through the tearful prayers of his mother Monica. He wrote of the message of Psalm 32: 

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 38:1-8, 18-22, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson “God’s Conviction,” for 7/27/25

Posted on 2025/07/19 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 38:1-8, 18-22, “God’s Conviction,” scheduled for Sunday, July 27, 2025. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

(If you don’t use anything else in this overview, let me encourage you to move ahead and look at the story of President Chester Arthur from Point III, which is a perfect illustration of the meaning of the Hebrew word for “confess” or “repent” in :18, one of the most important concepts in this Psalm. If I didn’t use anything else, I would use that story — though of course I hope there will be some other things here that you can use as well!)

INTRODUCTION:
???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
Can anyone share a memory of the first time you felt badly about a sin?
(For example, for me that would be when I was about 4 years old, and our family was visiting our grandparents in California. Grandma and Grandpa gave my sister and me each a big animal balloon. I can’t remember what mine was, but hers was a big red bear, and I was jealous of it; I wanted her balloon instead of mine; and in my jealousy I ended up popping it with a fork! Of course I got in trouble, and it pretty much ruined Christmas Eve. I felt badly about it — and still do to this day to be honest! But that is what happens when we sin: God convicts us of our sin.)

You/your group can share some instances like that from your own experiences, and then you can transition to the lesson by saying something like: “In today’s lesson from Psalm 38 we learn about God’s Conviction of sin in David’s life, and in ours as well.”

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 105, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “God’s Faithfulness” for July 20, 2025.

Posted on 2025/07/12 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 105:1-11, 42-45 for Sunday, July 20, 2025, with the title, “God’s Faithfulness.” A video overview of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

Mark Twain’s book A Tramp Abroad tells the story of his tour of central Europe in the 1870s. In it he writes of the beauty of Heidelberg Castle (Germany): “There is a saying that if a stranger will pass over the drawbridge and walk across the court to the castle front without saying anything, he can make a wish and it will be fulfilled. But they say that the truth of this thing has never had a chance to be proved, for the reason that before any stranger can walk from the drawbridge to the appointed place, the beauty of the palace front will extort an exclamation of delight from him.” (p. 363)

You might point out that if man-made creations like Heidelberg Castle call forth such expressions of praise, how much more does our God, the Creator of all, deserve every kind of praise we can give Him — and that’s what Psalm 105 talks about!

— And/or another way to open today’s lesson would be to ask your class to write a brief definition of what they think “praise” is — then have a few volunteers share. Or you could just ask them to call out what they think “praise” means.

Then you can transition to the lesson by saying: in today’s lesson from Psalm 105, we’ll see some ways the Bible instructs us to praise God — and why!

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“Deepening Your Spiritual Life Through the Psalms”

Posted on 2025/07/07 by Shawn Thomas

(Shared at Trinity Baptist Church, Norman, Sunday night, July 6, 2025)

Many of you know that while I was serving at the First Baptist Church of Angleton, Texas, last August, my wife Cheryl experienced a devastating stroke which left her unable to use her left side. Cheryl & I are very grateful for your pastors, who have encouraged us, and for the prayers this whole church has prayed for us as we’ve gone through this time, and we are so thankful to be back at Trinity. Some of you know us from when we were here ten years ago, from 2013-2015, when I had an illness which had caused me to step down from the pastorate for a couple of years, and this church ministered to us in such a great way then as well. Trinity truly is our home church, and we are so thankful to be back here with you all! 

While Cheryl was in the hospital that first week after her stroke, she told one of the doctors: I am so shocked and so disappointed this happened. She said, I was walking 3 miles every morning; why did that not prevent me from getting a stroke? The doctor told her: “The kind of stroke you had should have either killed you, or left you in a coma. Your walking saved your life.” Cheryl immediately called all her walking friends, and said, “Don’t stop!”  

But upon further reflection, Cheryl later said: “The doctor said my walking saved my life, but God’s word saved me from the darkness” of those horrific months after her stroke. And when she says “God’s word” much of what she is referring to is specifically the Book of Psalms. 

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 18:16-29, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “God’s Deliverance” for 7/13/25.

Posted on 2025/07/05 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 18;16-29, “God’s Deliverance,” scheduled for Sunday, July 13, 2025. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO

???DISCUSSION QUESTION??? 

Can anyone share a time when God brought you through something extremely difficult, and you celebrated when He did?

(In 2015, I had been out of ministry for two years with an illness, but the Lord had raised me back up, and called me back to serve as a full-time pastor again. We celebrated because it was like we were “coming out of the wilderness” again in a sense, and I was very thankful to God for it. He’d delivered us out of that two-year time of trial.)

You/your group can share similar times like that, then say something like: In today’s lesson, King David celebrates how God brought him through a difficult time, in this 18th Psalm.

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 110:1-7, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson: “God’s Messiah,” for 7/06/25

Posted on 2025/06/28 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 110:1-7, “God’s Messiah,” for Sunday, July 6, 2025. A video version of this lesson is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

One way to begin the lesson this week would be by asking the 

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Do you have a favorite mystery: perhaps a favorite mystery writer, or mystery tv series — or even a mystery from history of science?”

(A lot of people do have favorite mysteries: my wife Cheryl loves the Agatha Christie mysteries; I enjoy watching some of the BBC mysteries with her. 

If you want to share some famous mysteries of history/science, according to an AI search, they would include:

— The disappearance of Amelia Earhart

— The identity of Jack the Ripper

— The Bermuda Triangle

— The Mystery of Stonehenge, and others.)

Then = “Today we are going to look at Psalm 110, at what was at one time a great mystery in the Bible, but which Jesus and the New Testament, show us the conclusive answer to!”

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 132:1-14, 17-18, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “God’s Promise” for 6/29/25

Posted on 2025/06/21 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 132, for Sunday June 29, 2025, with the title, “God’s Promises.” A video version of this overview is available at:

INTRODUCTION:

??? Can you share a time someone made a promise that was important to you???

(Most of us can share something here: my dad once made a promise to me as a boy, to take me to an OU game — which he later surprised me and did; that meant a lot to me. Some might share about their wedding vows, etc.)

Then you can say: In this morning’s lesson we’re going to look at a great promise God made to us as His people, in Psalm 132. 

ALTERNATE INTRO (or use this ILLUSTRATION later in the lesson):

During a crucial vote in Congress during President Abraham Lincoln’s administration:  “Lincoln walked over to (Assistant Secretary R.H. Dana’s) office, said, ‘Dana, I am very anxious about this vote. It has got to be taken next week. The time is very short … There are three [members of Congress] that you can deal with better than anybody else, perhaps, as you know them all.’ … ‘What will they be likely to want?’ asked Dana. The President said, ‘… It makes no difference what they want. Here is the alternative, that we carry this vote, or be compelled to raise another million … men, and fight no one knows how long. … ’Well sir, what shall I say to these gentlemen?’ ‘I don’t know, but whatever promise you make to them I will perform.’ … So the extra votes needed to pass the Nevada bill through the House were gotten.” (Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and the War Years, p. 497)

President Lincoln made a big promise that day: “Whatever promise you make to them, I will perform.” This morning in Psalm 132, we see that our Heavenly Father also made some big promises — and as we know, whatever promise He makes, He WILL certainly perform! Today’s lesson reminds us of that.

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Teacher’s Overview of Psalm 96:1-13, “God’s Reign,” Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson for June 22, 2025

Posted on 2025/06/14 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 96:1-13, for Sunday, June 22, 2025, with the title ‘God’s Reign.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

??? What’s your favorite worship song/hymn???

(There are so many fantastic worship songs, it’s hard to say I have one. One of my favorite new songs is “All My Hope Is In Jesus,” by the Gettys; one of my favorite hymns is “O Worship the King, all glorious above …”.

You/your group can share your, and then transition to today’s lesson by saying something like: our Psalm for today opens with a 3-fold command to “Sing … sing … sing” to the Lord!

ALTERNATE INTRODUCTION:
After Constantine had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 300s A.D., he died, and his nephew Julian became emperor — but Julian “reversed course” and tried to re-establish paganism. “The church historians of that period tell us that the psalm commonly sung by Christians during the reign of Julian was the 96th.” I think we will see today why they might have chosen Psalm 96 during this time, as it points to how God is the King and Judge of the whole earth! 

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