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.
-
Top Posts & Pages
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 2:1-12, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Worship the King," for 12/21/25
- “Immanuel: God With Us” (Matthew 1:23 sermon)
- "The Example of Joseph" (Matthew 1:18-25 sermon)
- "He Will Save His People From Their Sins" (Matthew 1:21 Sermon)
- "The Greatest Verse in the Bible?" (John 3:16 sermon)
- "Your Response to Christmas" (Matthew 2:1-12 Sermon)
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- "A 'Real Life' Christmas" (Luke 2:1-11 sermon)
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 4:12-25, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson "Invitation," for 12/14/25
- "God's Purpose For Your Life" (I Peter 2:4-5 sermon)
Categories
- "The Disciple's Character" series (Beatitudes Mt. 5:3-12)
- "The Disciplines of Disciples" series
- "This Is My Story" sermon series
- Beatitudes Series 2020 FBCA
- Book of James Sermons: What Real Faith Looks Like
- COVID-19 crisis assorted messages
- Current Events
- Devotions/Bible Studies
- Discipleship
- Discovering FBCA Membership class lessons
- Doctrine/Theology
- Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews
- Explore the Bible Sunday School lessons
- Habakkuk "Find Us Faithful" series messages
- History
- Home & Family Life
- I Peter sermons
- India Mission Trip 2011
- Isaiah 53 sermon series Suffering Servant Glorious King
- John 3:16 sermon series
- Luke 10:38-42 Mary & Martha series
- Luke 2 Christmas series
- Matthew sermons
- Ministry
- missions
- Music
- Philippians sermons
- POTS (dysautonomia) articles
- Psalms studies and messages
- Revelation sermon series
- Reviews
- Sermon Illustrations
- Sermons
- The Model Prayer Series
- The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020)
- This Week In Paradise (pastors family blog)
- Travel
- Uncategorized
- worship
Tag Archives: Bible
“Fear Not, I Am With You” (Isaiah 41:10 sermon)
On the occasion of the announcement of my retirement from full-time ministry, Sunday January 5, 2025. I really wrestled and prayed about how to do this service today; and this is what I felt led to do:— First, I want … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged anxiety, Bible, C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis old folks homes, Cheryl Thomas, Christianity, do not anxiously look about you, faith, fear not, First Baptist Angleton Texas, For I am with you, God, How Firm A Foundation, Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 6, Jesus, King Uzziah, ministry, Mr. Rogers, pastor, pastor resignation, providence, Psalm 23, resignation, retirement, Shawn Thomas, stroke, trust
15 Comments
“Trusting Providence In A Fallen World” (“Trust & Obey”) Matthew 2:13-23 sermon
(Preached at First Baptist Church, Angleton, TX, December 29, 2024.) I hope that you are among those who had a Merry Christmas — but honestly I know that not everyone did. Our lives are often very difficult, and maybe you’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged A.W. Tozer, Bethlehem, Bible, Christianity, Christmas, creation, depravity, Egypt, faith, God, God's provision, God's providence, Holy family, importance of obedience, Jesus, Joseph, Joseph's obedience, King Herod, man's nature, massacre of innocents Bethlehem, Matthew, Matthew 2, miracle vs providence, nature, obedience, post-Christmas sermon, prophecy, providence, provision, Romans 8:19-22, Romans 8:22, sermon, sovereignty, sovereignty of God, The Knowledge of the Holy, tragedy, Trust & Obey
Leave a comment
Teacher’s Overview of Exodus 16 & 17, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson for January 5, 2025
An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Exodus 16:11-19, 17:1-6, “Provision Given,” for Sunday, January 5, 2025. A video version of this overview, that you can watch/listen to, is available … Continue reading
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews
Tagged Bible, Bible study, daily bread, do all things without grumbling, Exodus, Exodus 16 and 17, Exodus 16:11-19 17:1-6, Exodus from Egypt, Explore the Bible, financial provision, God, gospel, grumbling, Jehovah Jireh, Jesus, Lifeway, man hu, manna, my God shall supply all your needs, needs, Philippians 2:14-16, Philippians 4:19, provision, quail in the wilderness, salvation, Sunday School, testimony, water from the rock
4 Comments
“Immanuel: God is With Us” (Matthew 1:23 sermon)
In David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Harry Truman, he writes about “This first Truman to reach Jackson County … Anderson Shipp Truman … was slight, gentle, soft-spoken, thirty years old, and without prospects. Nevertheless, Mary Jane Holmes, who … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged Bible, Christianity, David McCullough, depravity of man, Emmanuel, Ephesians 1:13, faith, for You are with me, Genesis 6, Genesis 6:5, God, God is with us, gospel, Harry S Truman, heaven, Hebrews 1:3, Holy Spirit, I Corinthians 6:19, II Corinthians 13:5, Immanuel, Incarnation, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 7:14, Jesus, Jesus Deity, Jesus is GOd, judgment, love, Martin Luther, Mary, Matthew 1, Matthew 1:23, peace, Psalm 23, salvation, test yourself, The Best Christmas pageant Ever, the Lord is with you, Truman, where meek hearts will receive Him still
Leave a comment
“For the Mouth of the Lord Has Spoken It” (Isaiah 40:1-8 sermon)
Emory University in Atlanta has a big collection of the writings of Martin Luther, who set off the Reformation in the early 1500s, and emphasized justification by grace alone, through faith alone. A couple of years ago, they found this … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged America judgment, atonement, Bible, Bible Reading, Christianity, Christmas, comfort, comfort comfort My people, daily Bible reading, daily devotions, daily quiet time, debt, faith, God, God's word, gospel, Handel's Messiah, History First Baptist Church College Station, II Timothy 3:16, Isaiah 40, Jesus, Jesus paid debt, judgment, King Uzziah, Larry Watson, Lord Shepherd, Malcolm Bane, Martin Luther, Martin Luther document Emory University, MasterLife, Messiah, prayer, salvation, scripture, scripture memory, sin, sin debt, Voltaire, war room prayer, word of the Lord
Leave a comment
“Give Thanks to the Lord” (Psalm 118 sermon) Thanksgiving 2024
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged 10 lepers, Bible, Bing Crosby White Christmas, Cheryl Thomas, Corrie Ten Boom, count your blessings, count your blessings instead of sheep, enter His gates with thanksgiving, faith, forgiveness, give thanks, God, gratitude, I Thessalonians 5:18, in everything give thanks, Jesus, Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick, prayer, priority of thanksgiving, Psalm 100:4, Psalm 118, Psalm 118:24, Psalms, salvation, Shawn Thomas, shawnethomas, thanks, thanks Apostle Paul, thanks Psalms, Thanksgiving, this is the day the Lord has made
1 Comment
“How God’s People Get Things Done” (James 4:1-5 sermon)
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 … Continue reading
“The Fruits of Righteousness” (James 3:13-18 sermon)
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Book of James Sermons: What Real Faith Looks Like, Discipleship
Tagged assurance of salvation, attitudes, bad fruit, Bible, blessed are the peacemakers, Christianity, Eusebius Church History, examine yourself, faith, fruit, God, good fruit, Holy Spirit, hypocrisy, hypocrite, II Corinthians 13:5, Irenaeus, James 3, James 3 sermon, James 3:13-18, jealousy, Jesus, Leo Tolstoy, Matthew 7:16, mercy, natural earthly demonic, peace, peaceable, peacemaker, Philippians 2, salvation, selfishness, test yourself, the world the flesh and the devil, trees, War and Peace, works, you will know them by their fruits
Leave a comment
shawnethomas 