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.
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Top Posts & Pages
- Teacher's Preview of Matthew 10:16-20, 26-34, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson for 2/01/26, "Loyalty Tested"
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 11:1-6, 16-24, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Confronting Doubts, for 2/08/26
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 9:10-19, 23-26, Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson "Mercy Extended" for 1/25/26
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- "How To Run The Christian Race" (Hebrews 12:1-2 sermon)
- "God's Purpose For Your Life" (I Peter 2:4-5 sermon)
- "What God Wants From Us" (Micah 6:8 sermon)
- "True Religion" (Philippians 3:2-3)
- "Seeking Him First" (Matthew 6:33 sermon)
- "The Church That Left Their First Love" (Revelation 2:1-7 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: spiritual growth
Day By Day
In II Corinthians 4:16, the Apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.” We looked previously at how a Christian does not become … Continue reading
The Process
“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” (II Corinthians 4:16) The first part of this verse describes how a believer need not lose heart … Continue reading
What’s Choking Your Spiritual Life?
“… the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19) As Jesus explained The Parable of the Sower in Mark 4, … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged fruitfulness, hindrances, Mark 4:19, spiritual growth
1 Comment
Stretching Us: Waiting on God
The last little phrase of Psalm 25:21 reveals one of the most important elements of the Christian life. David prays in the verse: “Let integrity and uprightenss preserve me, for I wait on You.” “I WAIT on You” is only … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged patience, Psalm 25:21, spiritual growth, stretching us, wait on the Lord, waiting
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Older Is Not Always Wiser
You have to be careful when you are quoting Job’s friends! Just because their words are recorded in scripture does not mean that what they said is good, or correct. But in Job 32:9 the younger “friend” Elihu made a … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged chronological age, Hebrews 5:12, Job 32:9, spiritual age, spiritual growth, spiritual maturity
1 Comment
The Growth Which Is From God
In Colossians 2:19 Paul writes of those who are “not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.” THIS is … Continue reading
Book Review: Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, by Donald S. Whitney
I read Don Whitney’s Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health for a small-group class on Sunday mornings at Trinity Baptist in Norman this year. I understand that it has been used for some time by several ministers and in … Continue reading
Posted in Discipleship, Ministry, Reviews
Tagged Christian life, curriculum, discipleship, legalism, small groups, spiritual growth
2 Comments
A Key To Spiritual Growth
In Philemon :6 Paul writes to Philemon with the prayer “that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake”. Paul wrote that Philemon’s faith would be … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged knowledge, Philemon 6, Philippians 1:9, spiritual growth
4 Comments
“Seeking God In Days of Judgment”
Zephaniah 2:1-3 “Seeking God in Days of Judgment” Aug. 7th, 2011 p.m. A couple of days before we went to Houston for The Response last Saturday, I was reading in the Book of Zephaniah in my quiet time, and my reading began … Continue reading
Posted in Sermons
Tagged holiness, judgment, seeking God, spiritual growth, Zephaniah 2:1-3
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Samuel Rutherford’s Five Lessons From the Furnace
In 1636 Samuel Rutherford, pastor of the Scottish church of Anwoth, was removed from his pulpit during a time of religious persecution. Sent into exile into Aberdeen, Rutherford, at first despondent, found grace that gave him a seldom-equaled walk with … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Discipleship, Doctrine/Theology, History, Reviews
Tagged furnace, Samuel Rutherford, spiritual growth, temptations, trials
2 Comments
shawnethomas 