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 13:24-30, 36-43, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Judgment Coming," for 2/22/26.
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 12:1-14, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Rejecting Legalism," for 2/15/26.
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- "God's Purpose For Your Life" (I Peter 2:4-5 sermon)
- "How To Run The Christian Race" (Hebrews 12:1-2 sermon)
- "Seeking Him First" (Matthew 6:33 sermon)
- "The Christian Race" (Hebrews 12:1-2 sermon)
- "How To Seek The Lord" (Isaiah 55:6-7 sermon)
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 11:1-6, 16-24, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Confronting Doubts, for 2/08/26
- "True Religion" (Philippians 3:2-3)
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: family
“Winning vs. Temptation: Jesus’ Example in Spiritual Warfare” (Matthew 4:1-11 sermon)
This last Saturday (March 18, 2017) an intruder kicked open the door of a house in Redding, California — but he picked the wrong home to invade. A California Highway Patrol Officer lived at that house, and he shot the … Continue reading
Posted in Matthew sermons, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged baby dedication, baseball, battle of the mind, Bible, Ephesians 6:10, Ephesians 6:17, family, God's word, goodness of God, home invasion, I Timothy 4:8, II Corinthians 10:5, Jesus example, Matthew 4:1-11, Matthew 4:1-11 sermon, protection, Proverbs 24:10, Psalm 119:68, scripture, scripture memory, self-defense, spiritual warfare, sports, sword of the Spirit, taking every thought captive, temptation, trials
Leave a comment
Before You Give Up Praying For Your Loved One, Try This
Alexander Whyte (1836-1921) was considered by many of his contemporaries to be the greatest preacher in Scotland of his day. His book, Lord Teach Us To Pray, consists of a number of sermons on prayer from a variety of scripture … Continue reading
Posted in Discipleship, Home & Family Life, Ministry, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged Alexander Whyte, family, holiness, intercessory prayer, John 17:19, prayer, sanctification
2 Comments
The Family of God
“And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said: ‘Behold My mother and My brothers!’” (Matthew 12:49) This passage is just one of many in the New Testament where Jesus turns the traditional values of this world upside-down. Verse … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Uncategorized
Tagged family, family of God, Matthew 12:49
Leave a comment
The Priorities of Discipleship
After Jesus finished His great Sermon on the Mount, in which He laid forth the character and many of the standards for His disciples, He then went about ministering and actually making disciples. In Matthew 9:19 and following, we see … Continue reading
From A Little Cottage In The Foothills
Well we are just about dug out of “Snow-mageddon 2016” here in our “Little Cottage In The Foothills.” I haven’t heard the official total on how many inches of snow we received, but the rain gauge at the “Little Cottage” … Continue reading
“The Christ of Christmas: His Gifts” (John 1:1-14)
Whenever we think of Jesus, and gifts, and Christmas time, most of us probably think of the gifts that the Magi brought Jesus in Matthew 2: “gold, frankincense and myrrh.” In imitation of that, as many of you know, we … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged Christ, eternal family, eternal life, family, family of God, gifts, grace, John 1:1-14 sermon, Law, salvation, truth
1 Comment
Beloved, “Sister”, Friend
The Song of Solomon is a challenging book to study. In some ways, one feels that to attempt to analyze it is akin to A.T. Robertson’s analogy of “dissecting a flower” by examining the individual characteristics of love in I … Continue reading
From A Cottage in the Foothills … (June 2015)
The past couple of weeks have been busy at “the cottage”; with all of the kids and grandkids coming in. We had a lot to celebrate — and then to recover from! ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Adding to the typical … Continue reading
shawnethomas 