A Southern Baptist pastor for almost 35 years, I currently serve as Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Angleton, Texas, and post my weekly sermons on this site, as well as a brief overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson.
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Top Posts & Pages
- Teacher's Overview of Lifeway's "Explore the Bible" lesson: John 21:15-23 "Do You Love Me?"
- Teacher's Overview: Lifeway's "Explore the Bible" lesson of Jeremiah 1:4-19, "Prepares"
- 30 Years In Paradise
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- "God's Purpose For Your Life" (I Peter 2:4-5 sermon)
- “When You Follow Jesus” (Mark 10:29-30 sermon)
- "The Message of the Cross" (I Cor. 1:18-24 sermon)
- "Following Jesus" (Matthew 4:18-22 sermon)
- "Becoming An Acts 1:8 Church" (Acts 1:8 sermon)
- "Your Spiritual Armor" (Ephesians 6:10-20 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
- History
- Home & Family Life
- I Peter sermons
- India Mission Trip 2011
- John 3:16 sermon series
- Luke 10:38-42 Mary & Martha series
- Matthew sermons
- Ministry
- missions
- Music
- Philippians sermons
- POTS (dysautonomia) articles
- 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: POTS
“The Church That Was Tested” (Revelation 2:8-11 sermon)
Some of you know that in 2012 I went through an illness that put me out of the ministry for two years. I lost my job, my income, we had to sell our home, and many of our possessions. I … Continue reading
Posted in Revelation sermon series
Tagged abortion, be faithful, Bible, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Churches of Revelation 2-3, doctrine, don't give up, faithful, faithfulness, false religion, hate crimes, homosexuality, it was good for me that I was afflicted, Jesus only way, Jesus Satan brothers, Jonathan Edwards, Letter to Smyrna, Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain, Mormon Church, Nik Ripken, perseverance, POTS, poverty, Psalm 119, Reproductive Freedom Church, revelation, Revelation 2:8-11, Revelation sermon, Revelation Smyrna, RFC, Rich Man and Lazarus, ten days, testing, testing limits, tests, The African Queen, tribulation
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“What Are You Living For?” (I Peter 4:1-6 sermon)
Sir Winston Churchill had an amazing career as an English politician, Prime Minister and world leader – he is consistently listed by historians as one of the top 2 or 3 most important people of the 20th century. But reading … Continue reading
Posted in I Peter sermons, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged ark of salvation, Bible, Biblical values, Christian suffering, decisions, devotions, drink, dysautonomia, eat drink and be merry, feel like doing, feelings, food, gospel, heaven, holiness, homosexuality, I Corinthians 6:9-11, I John 2:16, I Peter 4:1-6 sermon, I Peter suffering, idolatry, Israel Babylonian Captivity, Jesus Christ, Jesus does not leave you as you are, John 5:14, John 8 woman, John 9 bling man, judgment, just as we are, lust, lusts of men, lusts of the world, morality, morning quiet time, motivation, POTS, Psalm 119:67, purification of suffering, purificaton, purpose, repent, repentance, salvation, Same sex marriage, sanctification, scripture, sin, sin and suffering, suffer, suffering, suffering purifies, time, will of God, Winston Churchill, wrong side of eternity, wrong side of history
2 Comments
“The Goodness of God in the Midst of Affliction” (Psalm 119:65-72 sermon)
In February 2012, I stood to lead prayer meeting at the church in Louisiana I had pastored for 12 years, but the longer I stood the sicker I became. I had to leave during the prayer time and have my … Continue reading
Posted in Sermon Illustrations, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged "Fall Apart" song, affliction, attributes of God, becoming like Christ, Christlikeness, cleansing, cocoon of a butterfly, confession, conformed to His image, dysautonomia, Ephesians 6, faith, faith testing, glory, God attributes, God goodnesss, God is good, God is good all the time, god is good and does good, God's purpose, good, grace, identification, II Corinthians 12:9, it is good for me that I was afflicted, John 17:3, knowing God, lessons, life, life purpose, Matthew 13 parable of the sower, maturity, minister, ministry, My grace is sufficient, pastor, pastor Shawn Thomas, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, POTS, prayers, priorities, Psalm 119 acrostic, Psalm 119:65-72, Psalm 119:67, purification, purpose for suffering, purpose for trials, purposes for affliction, Romans 8:28-29, Ronnie Rogers Trinity Baptist Norman, salvation, Shawn E. Thomas, sin, spiritual maturity, spiritual warfare, suffering, sword of the Spirit, test, teth, theodicy, theology, theology 101, thorn in the flesh, tob good, trials, word of God, You are good, You do good
2 Comments
“The Providence of God” (Genesis 37-50 sermon)
Christians have a different outlook than other people have. We believe in an unseen, almighty, all-wise God. So because of that, not only is our outlook different, but our vocabulary is different as well. Many people speak of “karma” or … Continue reading
Posted in Sermon Illustrations, Sermons
Tagged Carson Wentz, chance, church planting, coincidence, Corrie Ten Boom, Doug Pederson, dysautonomia, Ephesians 1:11, forgiveness, Genesis 37-50, God, Joseph story, Karma, luck, Nick Foles, OU Nebraska game of the century, Philadelphia Eagles, plan, POTS, providence, Providence of God, purpose, Romans 8:28, salvation, theology, trust, witness, workplace
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“Four Ways To Worship God” (Psalm 9:1-2 sermon)
From the remotest jungle in Africa or the Amazon, to the most isolated island in the Pacific, every culture that has ever been discovered has worshiped. They have never found a civilization in which the people didn’t worship someone or … Continue reading
Posted in Discipleship, Sermons, Uncategorized, worship
Tagged abortion, Alabama quarterback witness, audience of one, blessings, Corrie Ten Boom, Ephesians 1:3, exult in god, Habakkuk 3:16-18, Hudson Taylor, in everything give thanks, King of Bavaria sole audience, Mark Twain Tramp Abroad, POTS, praise, Psalm 100:4, Psalm 4:7, Psalm 9:1-2 sermon, singing, singing as prayer, sole audience, song, thanks, Thanksgiving, The Hiding Place, vertical singing, witnessing, worship
11 Comments
“The Goodness of God In The Midst of Affliction” Sermon on Psalm 119:65-72 preached at FBC Bethalto IL
In February 2012, I stood to lead prayer meeting at the church I had been pastoring for 12 years in Louisiana, and the longer I stood the sicker I became. I had to leave during prayer and have one of … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged affliction, C.S. Lewis, God, illness, memory verse, ministry, POTS, Psalm 119:65-72, Psalm 119:68, purpose for suffering, sovereignty, suffering, testimony, tests, trials
5 Comments
A Post From Christmas Past
Since we are involved with family worship and other activities today — as I hope you are — I thought I would share some highlights from LAST year’s Christmas which I never published: At one point during the week, the … Continue reading
“The Little Condo on the Prairie” (Sept. 19)
Both home school and football make their debut in this week’s “Little Condo”: Although Michael is a very good student, and is usually very self-motivated, sometimes he and Cheryl go ’round and ’round in their homeschooling. Here are some episodes … Continue reading
POTS update July 2013
I shared previously (see here) about my visit in June to Dr. Naeem Tahirkili in Oklahoma City, the changes he made in my medications, and how after the first few days I was already doing very well. With over a … Continue reading
A New Regimen: POTS Update, June 2013
I haven’t updated much on my bout with dysautonomia or POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) in a while, basically because I haven’t had much to report. In a previous post I shared that I had been much improved since we … Continue reading