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 7:15-29, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Authority Acknowledged," for 1/11/26.
- “Building Your Life On The Rock” (Matthew 7:24-27 sermon)
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 6:19-34, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, "Treasure," for 1/04/2026
- "God's Purpose For Your Life" (I Peter 2:4-5 sermon)
- "Seeking Him First" (Matthew 6:33 sermon)
- "How To Run The Christian Race" (Hebrews 12:1-2 sermon)
- "Three Christian Attitudes" (Philippians 3:12-15 sermon)
- "True Religion" (Philippians 3:2-3)
- Joshua 3:5 Sermon: "Preparing For God To Work"
- Teacher's Overview of Matthew 5:13-20, 43-48, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson: "True Righteousness," for 12/28/25.
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: works
Your Works Testify
“But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Uncategorized
Tagged assurance, John 5:36, Matthew 7:20-21, salvation, works
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Assurance For The Doubter
“Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us, … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Uncategorized
Tagged assurance of salvation, doubts, Ephesians 2:8-9, faith, feelings, I John 3:18-20, works
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Watcher or Doer?
When Jesus cried “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” in Matthew 27:46, it was a heart-rending moment. The scriptures were being fulfilled as He quoted Psalm 22:1 and died on the cross. It is also challenging to note the two kinds of … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Uncategorized
Tagged action, deeds, doer of the word, Matthew 27:46-49, words vs. actions, words vs. deeds, works
1 Comment
“That He Gave” (John 3:16 sermon)
One movie that Cheryl, Michael & I enjoy watching together is the 1960’s musical, “My Fair Lady”, in which Professor Henry Higgins takes Eliza Doolittle, a young flower girl from the streets of London and transforms her into a well-spoken … Continue reading
Posted in John 3:16 sermon series, Sermons, Uncategorized
Tagged appease, atonement, Bible, Bible one story, bronze serpent, child sacrifice, demonstrate love, evangelism, faith, forgiveness, Genesis 22, gift, He gave, heaven, human sacrifice, I Corinthians 13, I John 4:10, I Peter 2:24, Jacob & Esau, Jehovah Jireh, John 3:14-15, John 3:16, John 3:16 sermon, love, Michael O'Neill, My Fair Lady, Numbers 21, Old Testament, President Reagan assassination John Hinckley, propitiation, religion, Romans 3:20, Romans 5:8, sacrifice, sacrificial death, salvation, Secret Service, soteriology, substitutionary atonement, take the bullet, The West Wing, theology, works
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Doing The Impossible
“When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ And looking at them Jesus said to them ‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”” (Matthew 19:25-26) This conversation, … Continue reading
Good Works: To See or Not To See?
Should a person do good works that people can see, or not? One might get conflicting ideas regarding the answer to that question from a couple of scriptures in Matthew chapters 5 & 6: — “Let your light shine before … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies, Uncategorized
Tagged good deeds, hypocrisy, Matthew 5:16, Matthew 6:1, ministry, witness, works
1 Comment
“This Is My Story: The Apostle Paul” (Philippians 3:3-9 sermon)
For the last 50 years of the 20th century, Anthony Flew, professor of philosophy at Reading University in England, had been one of the world’s most influential atheists. But in December of 2004, Flew made news by announcing that “it … Continue reading
Posted in "This Is My Story" sermon series, Sermons
Tagged Acts 22:1-16, Anthony Flew, Apostle Paul, baptism, communion, confirmation, heritage, imputed righteousness, justification, Philippians 3:3-9, righteousness, rites, rituals, salvation, salvation by works, testimony, wedding clothes, wedding feast parable, works
2 Comments
“This Is My Story: Cornelius The Centurion” (Acts 10 Sermon)
When we were serving in Louisiana, our church sent a mission team to Suriname, South America, where one of our members was a missionary. The first team we sent went to teach Bible stories in a local school, and they … Continue reading
Posted in "This Is My Story" sermon series, Sermons
Tagged Acts10 sermon, Cornelius, evangelism, faith, gospel, salvation, story, testimony, works
7 Comments
The Motivation For Holiness
Why should we attempt to be holy? Many people do not realize that genuine Christians have a different motivation for holiness than most other religious groups. Romans 12:1 admonishes us: “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged grace, mercy, Romans 12:1, salvation, works
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Sincerely Wrong!
Won’t a person go to heaven no matter what they believe, just as long as they are sincere? The Apostle Paul wrote otherwise: “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with … Continue reading
Posted in Devotions/Bible Studies
Tagged faith, John 14:6, Romans 10:2, salvation, sincerity, works, zeal
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