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 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)
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- "A 'Real Life' Christmas" (Luke 2:1-11 sermon)
- "Your Response to Christmas" (Matthew 2:1-12 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
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- missions
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- Philippians sermons
- POTS (dysautonomia) articles
- Psalms studies and messages
- Revelation sermon series
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- The Model Prayer Series
- The Model Prayer series (FBCA 2020)
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Tag Archives: temptation
“What Real Faith Looks Like: The Blame Game” (James 1:13-16 sermon)
On our trip to see our grand daughters baptized, Cheryl & I stopped to see a couple of Presidential libraries, including Jimmy Carter’s in Atlanta. I had to chuckle when we stopped there, because we have an ongoing joke in … Continue reading
Posted in Book of James Sermons: What Real Faith Looks Like, Sermons
Tagged A.T. Robertson, ABCs of salvation, accountability, Adam & Eve, alpha privative, blame, blame God, blaming God, Book of James, born this way, C.S. Lewis, Calvinism, Charles Guiteau, Clint Hill, David and Bathsheba, Dwight D. Eisenhower, excuses, first step to salvation, free will, Gary Powers, genetic predisposition, God, God author of sin, Greek grammar, habits, homosexuality, how to be saved, James, James 1, James 1:13-16 sermon, James sermons, Jesus, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, King David, lust, Mere Christianity, peirazo, President Eisenhower, Psalm 51, responsibility, Ronald Reagan, salvation, sin, temptation, temptations, The Blame Game, trials, trials vs temptations, Westminister Confession, What Real Faith Looks Like
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Teacher’s Overview of Genesis 39:7-21, Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson for May 5, 2024.
A lesson overview for Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 39:7-21 with the title “Accused,” for Sunday, Mary 5, 2024. (I might use an alternate title: “He Is With Me”!) A … Continue reading
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews
Tagged "Sovereignty of God", accountability to God, Accused, Bible study, Deuteronomy 19:15, Explore the Bible, false accusation, flee youthful lusts, Genesis, Genesis 39:7-21, George Whitefield America's Spiritual Founding Father, God judge, gospel, I am with you always, I Corinthians 14 worship, I Timothy 5:19, II Timothy 2:22, II Timothy 4:7, Jehovah, Joseph, judgment, lesson overview, lesson preview, Lifeway, Lord, Matthew 28:20, presence of God, Providence of God, Psalm 139, Psalm 23, Richard Jewell accusation, Romans 8:28, salvation, Sunday School, teacher help, temptation, the gospel, the Lord was with him, Thomas Kidd George Whitefield, two or three witnesses, Yahweh, you are with me Psalm 23
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Teacher’s Overview: Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 4:1-5, “The First Murder”
A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 4:1-15 with the title of “The First Murder” for Sun. Dec. 31, 2023. A video version of this overview is available … Continue reading
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews
Tagged A.W. Tozer, Abel, Abel sacrifice, abortion, addictions, Admiral Hyman Rickover, anger, attributes of God, Baptist Sunday school lesson, be killing sin, be killing sin or sin will be killing you, best, Bible study, blood, blood sacrifice, Cain, Cain & Abel, Cain sacrifice, children, children gift, Christ, Christmas, consequences of sin, doing your best, Explore the Bible, forgiveness, Genesis 4:1-15, grain offering, Habakkuk 3:2, Hebrews 11:4, Hebrews 9:22, in wrath remember mercy, Jesus, Jimmy Carter Why Not the Best, John Owen, judgment, lesson outline, lesson plan, Leviticus 7:37, Lifeway, Malachi 1:8, mercy, murder, My Best Jimmy Carter, parents, pornography, President Jimmy Carter, Psalm 101:3, Psalm 127:3, punishment, relationships, Romans 13:14, sacrifice, salvation, Saviior, sin, Southern Baptist, Sunday School, Sunday school lesson, Sunday school teacher help, temptation, The First Murder, The Knowledge of the Holy, why not the best, works, worship
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Teacher’s Overview of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 3:1-7, 21-24 “The First Sin”
A brief overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 3:1-7, 21-24, “The First Sin,” for Sunday, December 17, 2023. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at: … Continue reading
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews
Tagged "The First Sin", Adam and Eve, as God now is man shall become, as man now is God once was, Bible, consequences of sin, do not love the world, Explore the Bible, first sin, Genesis, Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis Bible study, Genesis Sunday school lesson, God's word, has God said?, I John 2:15-17, James Dobson, John Milton, Lifeway, lust, lust of the flesh lust of the eyes boastful pride of life, marriage, Mormonism, Paradise Lost, protevangelium, R.C. Sproul, repentance, Revelation 12:9, salvation, Satan, Satan's schemes, serpent, sin, sin is cosmic treason, Sunday school help, Sunday school lesson, Sunday school teacher help, temptation, The First Gospel, The Garden of Eden
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“Warnings From The Wilderness” (I Cor. 10 sermon)
On the coastline of Japan, there is a little village called Aneyoshi. On a certain spot in the town, there is an ancient stone tablet, engraved with a somber warning: “Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build … Continue reading
“His Grace Prevails” (Psalm 117 sermon)
Last Sunday we spent some time looking at Psalm 101:3, which gives us an important commitment towards holiness: “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not fasten … Continue reading
Posted in Doctrine/Theology, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged Advocate with the Father, all nations, all people, chesed, David and Bathsheba, David heaven, Derek Kidner, Ephesians 2 dead in sin, Ephesians 2 grace, Exodus 34:6-7, forgiveness, God’s grace, grace, grace that is greater than all our sin, hesed, His Grace Prevails, His lovingkindness is everlasting, His mercy endures forever, I John 2 sin, II Samuel 9:3, John Bunyan Grace Abounding To the Chief of Sinners, John Bunyan testimony, John Mark McMillan if grace is an ocean, John Newton Amazing Grace, love, lovingkindness, Martin Luther chesed grace, Mephibosheth, mercy, Peter grace, Psalm 107, Psalm 117, Psalm 117:2, Psalm 51 grace, racial prejudice, Revelation 7:9, temptation, the chesed of YHWH, Whoever will call, why should I let you into My heaven?
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“No Worthless Thing” (Psalm 101:3 sermon)
On this Father’s Day, we can remember one of the great “Father/Son” teams in American history, John Adams, and his son, John Quincy Adams, both of whom served as President of the United States. When he was only ten years … Continue reading
Posted in Discipleship, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged Abigail Adams, belial, Bible sword, billboards, books, Cary Grant Phillis Brooks, commercials, commitment to holiness, Daspe survey pornography, David and Bathsheba, Eve saw, family, Fathers Day, forgiveness, God, grace, grace of God, heaven, holiness, horses peripheral vision, I John 2:16, internet, internet pornography, internet search, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, lead us not into temptation, Love Later Brand Hatch Hajela, lust of the eyes, marriage, Matthew 4 temptation, model prayer, moral thread in books, No Worthless Thing, Philippians 4:8, pornography, pornography addiction, Psalm 101, Psalm 101:3, pursuit of holiness, reading, relationship with God, salvation, sanctification, Satan, scripture memory, sons of belial, surfing the internet, television, temptation, the lamp of the body is the eye, trap, tv watching, warning, word of God
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