An overview for Sunday school workers who are teaching Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for Dec. 22, 2024, Luke 1:26-38, with the title “Delivered From Sin.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO One of my very favorite books is Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad, the story of his steamboat cruise to Europe and the Holy Land. It’s a very entertaining book, but he also shares some truly insightful things. After visiting Rome, Twain writes:
“In all seriousness—without meaning to be frivolous—without meaning to be irreverent, and more than all, without meaning to be blasphemous,—I state as my simple deduction from the things I have seen and the things I have heard, that the Holy Personages rank thus in Rome:
First — ‘The Mother of God’—otherwise the Virgin Mary.
Second—The Deity. (God)
Third — Peter.
Fourth—Some twelve or fifteen canonised Popes and martyrs.
(THEN) —Jesus Christ the Saviour—(but always as an infant in arms).
I may be wrong in this—my judgment errs often, just as is the case with other men’s—but it is my judgment, be it good or bad.”
(Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, p. 273)
??? What do you think about Mark Twain’s observation here???
(From the paintings, statues, etc. in Rome, it appears to Twain that Mary has too high a place in their regard — even over God! — and Jesus is way down on the list, almost insignificant in comparison. And of course this is misguided and imbalanced.
You could follow that up with a question like: ??? Do we see some of this today as well — have YOU seen it???
I’m sure there’s plenty of good discussion to be had about Mark Twain’s quote! But when you’re finished, then you can say: In today’s lesson we get a balanced, Biblical perspective on Mary from our focus passage in Luke 1:26-38.
OR for an alternative introduction, you might ask:
An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Exodus 12:21-32 for Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, with the title: “Delivered From Egypt.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO: I would plan to start the lesson with a story/reference to blood. For example, one of my very first memories was a 4 or 5-year-old, and I had a little choo-choo-train that I used to scoot down the sidewalk on. But one day the “cow catcher” on the front of my little train hit a storm drain lid and flipped me up in the air, and I landed on the ground, and blood was gushing out of my forehead. They took me to the ER and sewed my head up (I can still remember the white sheet over my head!). But a few days later, I remember walking down the sidewalk and seeing several drops of my blood which had stained the concrete sidewalk; I remember I just stood there looking at it. Something about seeing my blood was just so sobering. You can share my story if you’d like, or you, or another class member may have one of your own to share.
But I would point out that blood is a sobering thing. We talk of the blood of martyrs; of the blood of those who have died to preserve our freedoms. And blood is a vital element in our salvation. In Leviticus 17:11 God tells Israel: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls.” And of course I John 1:7 tells us “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
In our lesson for today from Exodus 12, God introduces His people to this idea of blood bringing deliverance — which foreshadows our ultimate salvation through the blood of Jesus.
An overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for December 8, 2024, from Exodus 5:1-4, and 6:2-9, entitled “Freedom Promised.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO: “On a trip to China, (U.S. President Ronald) Reagan made a speech on Chinese television. However, the Chinese government didn’t want the Chinese people to hear everything he had to say and blocked out some parts of his address. We in the press corps came rushing over to get his reaction. How was he going to stand for such censorship? How could he allow this to happen — his full message not getting through to the Chinese people?
Reagan just smiled at all of us and replied, ‘Oh, it didn’t bother me at all. You guys do it all the time.’”
(Helen Thomas, Thanks For The Memories, Mr. President, p. 130)
In our passage from Exodus for today we see how Moses WAS a faithful messenger, sharing with Pharaoh all that God told him.
In Nathaniel Philbrick’s book, The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World, he writes that when the Pilgrims first landed in America on November 11, 1620, Governor William Bradford wrote: “‘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.’” (p. 44)
That’s what the first Thanksgiving was all about: giving thanks to God for His blessings of safety and provision in bringing them and sustaining them in the New World. And OUR Thanksgivings should be about that too. Many of us enjoy a lot of things about our Thanksgiving week: time off, time with family, good food, hopefully cooler weather!, football, shopping — and most of those things are good. But our primary emphasis should be what the Pilgrims’ was: giving thanks to God for His blessings and provision for US.
That’s why this Sunday before Thanksgiving, I felt led to share a special Thanksgiving message from God’s word. I’ve shared before that Psalm 118 is a scripture the Lord used to minister to me while Cheryl & I were in the hospital and rehab after her stroke. I had just finished memorizing Psalm 118 when the stroke came, and so every morning I would quote Psalm 118 (or Psalm 116) on the couch in the hospital to begin my day. And significantly, it begins with a word of thanksgiving: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Every day I would start with this word: “Give thanks to the Lord.” Let’s look at some things that Psalm 118 and other scriptures tell us about giving thanks to the Lord:
An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Exodus 2 & for December 1, 2024 with the title, “Seen & Heard.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO: ??? Can you share a time in your life when you desperately called out to God for help???
(For example; Cheryl & I have had several times like this: when we had graduated from seminary with a new baby, but no full-time church yet; we were so desperately needy; then in 2012 when I became sick and had to step down from ministry and began to apply for disability; and now again with my wife Cheryl’s crippling stroke this August, we have had several opportunities in our lives to desperately call out to the Lord.
The truth is, we have ALL probably had times like that, when we were under great pressure, or trial, and we called out to God for help. If so, we can understand something about the situation that Israel was in, in our passage for today in Exodus 2 & 3. It was a time of great distress for them — but the Bible says that God saw and heard, and answered their cry — and He will do the same for us today, too! (He HAS done it, in Jesus, as we will see!)
During the first years of Lyndon Johnson, before he became entangled in the Vietnam controversy, he was one of the most powerful presidents in U.S. History. Robert Caro outlines in his masterful 5 volume biography just how LBJ (as he became known) got things done, especially in the U.S. Senate and : he was master deal-maker, he was a manipulator, he could use flattery when he had to; he was an arm twister — and he would threaten. He used what became known as “The Johnson treatment”: he would lean his massive 6 foot 4 frame over you and intimidate you into voting his way. Here’s a picture someone took of him using “The Johnson Treatment” in a real-life situation:
Last year, Cheryl & I visited the LBJ museum in Austin, and she got this picture of me getting “The Johnson Treatment”!
LBJ was perhaps the greatest ever at “getting things done” in Washington. Robert Caro called him “The Master of the Senate.” So should we all study men like Lyndon Johnson to learn how to get things done? Not if you’re a follower of Jesus. Because Jesus said, I have a different way I want My followers to get things done. And we see what that way is, in our passage today in James 4:1-3
An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 27:31-44, for Sunday, November 24, 2024, with the title, “Trust.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO: Ask your group to share: ??? What was the worst storm you have ever been through: hurricane/tornado/thunderstorm/blizzard? — and what was it like for you?
(You might also ask if anyone has ever been on a boat/ship during a storm …)
For example: Cheryl & I have hunkered down through a couple of hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas. The last one was Hurricane Beryl this July. It was “only a 1” but it was a direct hit; our area was right in the eyewall. At one point I was standing in front of the big window in front of our kitchen table, watching the wind whip the big pine tree right in front of that window, back & forth. I was like, “Hang in there baby!” I did not want that thing crashing in on our house — and thankfully it didn’t. But there were some anxious hours there, and we lost power for a couple of days and had quite a bit of cleanup, as did a lot of our folks.
After everyone has shared about storms they’ve been through, then you can say: In today’s lesson in Acts 27, the Apostle Paul is a prisoner on his way to trial in Rome on a ship, when they get caught in an extremely violent storm on the Mediterranean Sea. But we will see in our focus passage today, that the Lord not only brought Paul through the storm, but also used him to witness and minister to the others who were traveling with him.
CONTEXT:
We will conclude our study of the Book of Acts today with this lesson from Acts 27. As you know, basically the second half of the Book of Acts deals with the three mission trips of the Apostle Paul, and then his arrest and imprisonment. Last time we saw in Acts 26 how he shared his testimony with King Agrippa and others, before he was taken to Rome for trial.
As we pick it up today in Chapter 27, Paul is now on his way to Rome because he has appealed to Caesar. Verse 1 says they set sail for Italy. This is a LONG journey from Palestine to Rome. I have often read Acts 27 about all the stops they made, and wondered, WHY was it taking them so long?
Of course, for one, these were ancient times and they had to rely totally upon fair winds to drive their sails — there was no engine power. And it was winter, and there were some bad storms.
But secondly, this is a HUGE journey in length. I had never really realized just how lengthy a journey this was, until I saw this MAP of the relative size of the Mediterranean Sea, compared to the United States. I just had NO IDEA the Mediterranean Sea this big. I think it might be helpful to your class’ understanding as we cover the passage today, to see just how long and arduous a trip this was that they were making:
As you can see, the Mediterranean Sea is virtually the width of the entire United States — it would stretch from North Carolina to California! I had previously imagined it as being maybe only about 1/4 of that size. So this gives us a good idea of just how far they were sailing on this trip: basically as far as from the U.S. Atlantic coast, all the way to Montana — in ancient sailing ships, and with a lot of storms and difficulties along the way.
And that is what they encountered. Verse 14 says “a violent wind, called ‘Euraquilo’ (Euro (east) Klydon (storm) so a “Northeaster”) rushed upon them and drove them off course. In :18 they start throwing everything overboard, and :20 says “all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.” (Do you notice the “we” again in this verse? Luke is evidently still with Paul here, and he is writing about what he experienced with him on this trip.)
So this is a hopeless situation from a human standpoint. Nobody thinks they are going to survive — nobody except Paul. He says in :23 that an angel of the Lord spoke to him, and told him that he would indeed stand before Caesar — AND that “God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.” Verse 30 says the sailors let down the ship’s little boat into the sea, hoping to escape by themselves — and that brings us to our focus passage for today, Acts 27:31-44.
I am not much of a “tree expert” at all. I know some people can just look at a tree and say, “Oh that’s a such-and-such tree …” but I have never been able to do that. I could probably identify about 3 kinds of trees; a weeping willow, a Japanese maple, and maybe an oak tree. But there IS another kind of tree I can pick out pretty well: and that is a tree that has fruit on it! Once Cheryl & I were driving to Disney World and as we were heading south down the interstate towards Orlando, all the sudden I shouted out “Orange trees!” There was a whole orchard of orange trees just off the right side of the highway. How did I know that? I didn’t pick out the shape of the leaves, or the smoothness of the bark, or anything like that: it was the fruit that gave it away. I saw these big orange circles hanging off the leaves, and it was obvious even to a novice like me, from hundreds of feet away, that those were orange trees! You could tell the tree, by its fruit.
And that’s what Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:16 isn’t it: “You will know them by their fruits”? He went on to say (:17) “Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit … (:20) so then, you will know them by their fruits.” THEN He added in :21, “Not everyone who SAYS to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who DOES the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus said, if you really belong to Him, you won’t just SAY it; you will also SHOW it with the fruit of your life — and this is just what we’ve been seeing in James 2 and 3;
— In Chapter 2 James said if you really have faith in Jesus, you’ll have some works in your life that back up that claim. And he gave 5 examples of that, including a practical example, caring for a fellow church member, the demons, Abraham, and Rahab from the Old Testament. — Then the week before Cheryl’s stroke we saw in 3:1-12 this same theme continued, only now in the context of our words. He started off with the principle that if our faith is real, it will affect the way we talk, then again he gave 5 examples of that: the horse’s bit, the rudder, and the fire, and then the tamed animals and the spring of water. So he said again: if your faith is real, you’ll show it with fruit from your life — and one of those “fruits” will be the way you speak. The way you talk should show you are a Christian. — So now this morning as we come to James 3:13-18, James continues this theme of how faith, if it is real, will have some works to validate it; and like Jesus he uses the word “fruits” — that confirm that it’s real. Let’s look at what this passage tells us about “The Fruits of Righteousness;” things that will be present in our lives if we really know the Lord:
An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 26:19-19, with the title, “Respond,” for Sunday, November 17, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO: Evangelist Billy Graham was called the “pastor to presidents.” He met with every U.S. President, from Harry Truman in the 1940s, to Donald Trump in 2016. When he met with them, Graham always sought to share the gospel with these most powerful men in the world. He is an example of one who “spoke truth to power” — which can be a very difficult thing to do!
After sharing that introduction, you could ask your class: ??? Has anyone here ever have the opportunity to “speak truth to power” — or know someone who did?
In our lesson for today from Acts 26, the Apostle Paul “speaks truth to power,” and shares the Gospel with some rulers and kings.
An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 22:6-21, with the title of “Witness” for Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:
INTRO: ??? Has anyone in our class ever been called to testify as a witness in a trial??? Then you could say: today in Acts 22 we are going to see how the Apostle Paul testified to his faith before the Jews …
OR: ??? Has the Lord given anyone an opportunity to share a witness with someone recently??? You/your group can share your experiences, then you can say, this morning in Acts 22 we see how Paul took advantage of an opportunity to share the gospel, in the midst of a very difficult situation. (Or even if none of you can share a recent opportunity, you could say: We probably DID have some opportunities, but missed them! But here in our passage in Acts 22 this week, we see how the Apostle Paul did take an opportunity to share, even in a difficult situation.)
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
shawnethomas 