Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 3:14-4:9, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson “Remembering God’s Works” for June 21, 2026.

Posted on 2026/06/13 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Can you share about a picture/memento you have in your home that reminds you of something special to you?”

(Now, don’t unsubscribe from me for this, college football fans, but the first thing I thought of is a Sunday newspaper I had framed after the 2000 OU/Nebraska game, with the headline “#1 Again.”  

OU had been national champions and in the top 10 most of my adult life, but from 1996-1998 they had several really bad years for them. But with this win, they climbed their way back to #1 again — and ended up winning the National Championship that year. So to me that headline is more than just a memento of an OU win; it’s a symbol that you can make a comeback: that a person who’s been “down” can get back up again; that a church that’s experienced a difficult stretch can get revived and grow again. It’s a continual reminder to me that a comeback is always possible!)

You/your group can share about your own “mementos” and their special meanings to you. Then share that in this morning’s lesson in Joshua, we see how God delivered His people, and He told them to remember it with a very particular kind of memorial.

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 2:4-21, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Amazing Grace,” for June 14, 2026.

Posted on 2026/06/06 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

ILLUSTRATION:

John Newton, the former slave trader who got saved and wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” once wrote to the Rev. Joshua Symonds and said:   “Well, when we have said all we can of the aboundings of sin in us, grace still more abounds in Jesus. We cannot be so evil as He is good.” (Letters of John Newton, Josiah Bull, ed., p. 176)

Sometimes it can be hard for us to really fathom just how abundant God’s grace is towards us. Our passage for today gives us a concrete example of the grace of God in action, which helps us to see just how amazing the grace of God really is. The example comes from what many would consider a very unlikely person: a Canaanite prostitute who came to faith in God!

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Teacher’s Overview of Joshua 1:1-11, 16-18, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson: “Strong & Courageous” for 6/07/26

Posted on 2026/05/30 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, illustrations you can use, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Can you share a time in your life when you or someone you know, needed courage?” 

(OR you could ask them: “Share some time when you personally saw courage demonstrated.”)

(For example, my wife Cheryl had memorized “be strong and courageous” from Joshua 1 here, before her stroke. But during her stroke rehab, these verses became particularly meaningful to her. She shares how at the first rehab session, when she was almost totally crippled on her left side, the therapist said to her: “I want you to take this staff and stand and walk.” Cheryl looked at this man and his shiny bald head and thought: “You don’t look anything like Jesus — telling me to rise and walk!” And she was very fearful about even attempting to stand, much less to try to take steps. She said it was the most scary thing she had ever done, to stand up and try to take that first step. But relying on Joshua 1 and God’s Spirit in her, she did!

You/your group can share your own experiences and stories, then transition: in today’s lesson from Joshua 1, we read how the Lord commanded Joshua to be “Strong & Courageous” — and how He commands us as His followers to to do the same thing!

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 27:27-31, 45-54, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Our Savior,” for 5/31/26

Posted on 2026/05/23 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this preview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“What is your favorite song about Jesus’ death on the cross?”

(There are so many, aren’t there? Mine might be either the great hymn “At Calvary” — one of the first songs I loved as a child: “Mercy there was great, and grace was free …” — or “At The Cross” by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir: “At the cross my debt was paid, All my sins were washed away, Just for me, amazing grace, At the cross”)

You/your group can share your favorites, then transition to the lesson: Today we’re going to study the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins, in Matthew 27.

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 26:17-30, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Our Atonement,” for 5/24/26

Posted on 2026/05/16 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, illustrations you can use, discussion questions you can share, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION/ILLUSTRATION

“Caesar awoke on the famous day, the Ides of March, 44 BCE, not feeling well. His wife had a bad dream, in which he had been murdered. She begged him to stay home. He sent word to the Senate that he was ill and would not be in attendance at the day’s meeting. He was scheduled to embark on a military campaign the next The Senators panicked; this was to be the day they struck Caesar down. Miss this day and Caesar would march off on campaign, and cloak himself in more martial glory. This was their last chance. 

Desperate, they sent someone Caesar would trust: Decimus Brutus, a distant cousin of Caesar, as well as the famous Marcus Brutus, one of Caesar’s trusted lieutenants. Caesar’s patronage had brought Decimus military appointments and political offices alike. Caesar loved Decimus like a son, and said so in public on many occasions. When Decimus arrived to talk Caesar into attendance at the Senate meeting, Caesar listened. Off they went, arm in arm.”

(Phillip Barlag, The History of Rome in 12 Buildings, p. 54-55)

(You could also choose to include the question on betrayal from later Point II in the introduction)

The betrayal and assassination of Julius Caesar is one of the most famous in history — surpassed only by the one we will study in today’s lesson in Matthew 26, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas after the Last Supper.

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 25:31-46, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson “Active Faith” for May 17, 2026

Posted on 2026/05/09 by Shawn Thomas

We have a sample introduction to the lesson for you, as well as a suggested outline of this week’s text, with some teaching highlights, some illustrations you can share, some potential discussion questions you can ask your group — and especially spiritual life applications you can make from this passage. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

Have your members discuss what they think about this quote from English writer Samuel Johnson:

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” 

Then transition to the lesson by saying that today in Matthew 25, Jesus shows us just how important the way we treat “the least of these” really is!

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 24:36-51, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “Alert” for May 10, 2026

Posted on 2026/05/02 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications to make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Can you share something in your life that it felt like you waited so long for — and it finally came?”

(Some might say they just couldn’t wait until they got their first car, or until they graduated, or until they were finally able to marry that person they had waited for, or for retirement, or to have their first grandchild. Or maybe that upcoming Disney trip or other vacation they’ve been counting the days for, for so long, or for something to come in the mail. We all know that feeling of waiting and waiting — and then finally it comes!)

There is a sense in which all of us as Christians should feel this way about the return of Christ. Many of us have heard about it all our lives — and sometimes we might be tempted to think “it will never come!” But Jesus promised that it will, and we need to be faithful to Him and what He’s called us to do in the meantime. 

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 22:15-22, 34-40, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “Honor” for 5/03/26

Posted on 2026/04/25 by Shawn Thomas

For teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 22 for May 3, 2026. Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

I like one of the activities the Leader’s Guide suggests — they don’t have it as an introduction, but I think it would work well for one.  Have each class member look at a quarter (or better yet, maybe a dollar bill — it’s easier to read! It really could be almost any U.S. coin or bill). Ask them what they see. They will likely point out that there are symbols of the United States government on it — as well as the words “In God We Trust.” So both our national government, and our God, are referred to on this coin. 

Then you might point out that sometimes it can be difficult to navigate our allegiance between both God and country — especially when their commands conflict — but in our passage for today, Jesus shows us how He wants us as His followers to navigate those situations.

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 21:23-32, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Authority,” for 4/26/26.

Posted on 2026/04/18 by Shawn Thomas

For teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 21 for April 26, 2026. Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this preview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

You could make a small handout sheet with a list of different authorities in our society today, and ask your group members to rate their trust in each of them on a scale from 1-10. Some could include:

— your local police

— your doctor

— The U.S. President

— The U.S. Supreme Court

— your Governor

— national news media

— your local newspaper

— the CDC (Center for Disease Control)

— The IRS

— your local school superintendent

— NBA referees

— your kids’ Little League ump, and so on. 

Then ask: “Would anyone share who you rated highest/lowest?” (You might get into some good discussions about this right off!)

(OR substitute a ???DISCUSSION QUESTION: “Can you share an authority figure today that you trust/don’t trust, and why?”)

Then transition by saying that we’re going to look at the issue of authority in our study of Matthew 21 this morning.

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Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 20:1-16, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Grace,” for 4/19, 2026

Posted on 2026/04/11 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

(Let me say off the top that our passage this week can be a very difficult one to understand and apply correctly. If you check the commentaries, interpretations are all over the place on this one! But I believe there are two keys in the Biblical context, which guide us to the correct interpretation/application, which I’ll share presently. Please don’t attempt to interpret and apply this passage without reference to these two Biblical context keys!)

INTRODUCTION

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Does anyone know what a ‘day laborer’ is? (Day laborers are workers who show up early in the parking lot of a Home Depot or other store, hoping to be selected to work for the day. It is a common practice these days — more common in California and the west than maybe in some of our communities. These often work in construction and trades, though others serve as house cleaners, and a good many work as harvesters on various farms.

You might ask if any of your class members have ever seen these outside of a Home Depot or other location, or had any experience with them. (You could reference a news story like this one in Dallas that discusses day laborers:  

https://www.keranews.org/news/2022-11-15/day-laborers-are-essential-to-the-dallas-economy-the-city-is-working-on-a-program-to-help-them  )

Then transition to the lesson by saying that in today’s lesson, Jesus tells a story about some “day laborers” just like this — and we’ll see how His message applies to us as His followers today. 

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