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. 

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 19:16-30, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “Eternal Life” for 4/12/26

Posted on 2026/04/04 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:

“In 1513 … Juan Ponce de Leon set out to find the Fountain of Youth. Peter Martyr, (a) trusted authority of the Renaissance, described the Fountain of Youth as “a spring of running water of such marvelous virtue that the water thereof being drunk, perhaps with some diet, makes old men young again.” According to tradition, the fountain was located on the island of Bimini, in the Bahamas. On the strength of his reputation as a soldier, nobleman, and participant in Columbus’s second voyage to the New World, Ponce de Leon received a commission from King Ferdinand to claim Bimini for Spain. In a fruitless search, Ponce de Leon explored the Bahamas and Puerto Rico, but his failure to find the Fountain of Youth did not put the myth to rest. As late as 1601, the respected Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote confidently about the fountain’s great efficacy in restoring youth and potency to aging men.” (Laurence Bergreen, Over the Edge of the World, pp. 75-76)

Diane de Poitiers was a beautiful mistress to the King of France in the 1500s, renowned for her beauty, but she was afraid of losing it. So she drank a daily mixture of gold chloride and diethyl ether to maintain her youth and beauty — but the mixture, far from giving her eternal life, killed her through chronic poisoning!

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“What are some ways that people today mistakenly seek for eternal life?”

(Answers might include trying to clone one’s self, cryonics (preserving the body through freezing in hopes that a future technology can make it last forever), false religions of all kinds, and so on.)

In today’s lesson we see a man who thought he might gain eternal life, but like these others, he was looking for it the wrong way. As we will see, there is only one way to eternal life: through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20, “Our Task,” Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson for 4/05/26

Posted on 2026/03/28 by Shawn Thomas

For teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 28 for April 5, 2026. Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, discussion questions for your group, illustrations you can share, 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 when you visited a grave — either of a loved one, or perhaps some famous person?”

(In England in 2010, Cheryl & our son Michael & I visited the grave of C.S. Lewis in Oxford, England. It’s in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church in Oxford, which we had gone into, and sat in Lewis’ pew. It was neat to sit right there where Lewis had sat for worship (and complained about the hymns!). Lewis’ grave is shared with his brother Warnie, and it has a quote from Shakespeare, “Men must endure their going hence.”)

You/your group can share your own experiences, and then transition by saying: In today’s lesson from Matthew 28, we’ll see how two of Jesus’ followers went to visit HIS grave — but it went far differently than they expected, as we celebrate this Easter Sunday! 

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 18:21-35, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson, “Forgiveness,” for 3/29/26

Posted on 2026/03/21 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, 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:

OPENING QUOTE: (and/or you may choose to close with it)  C.S. Lewis wrote:

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable (in others), because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”   

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

Can anyone share a time when you or someone you know, forgave someone when it was very difficult to do so?

(For example, I think of how Erika Kirk, how at her husband Charlie’s memorial service, she said of the young man who shot her husband, “I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did. . . . The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”

Whatever example of forgiveness you use, you might then say that as difficult as it can be sometimes to forgive, it is what the Lord has called us to — and if we don’t forgive, it may demonstrate that we really don’t understand what Jesus did for us — as we see in our passage for today from Matthew 18. 

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 17:1-13, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Glory,” for 3/22/26

Posted on 2026/03/14 by Shawn Thomas

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

INTRODUCTION: You could begin with this illustration/quote and then a followup discussion question — or one or the other: 

ILLUSTRATION

One of the highlights of Mark Twain’s trip to Europe and the Holy Land in 1867 was seeing the Cathedral in Milan, Italy. He wrote, “We were dying to see the renowned Cathedral.” He was not disappointed:

“It was a vision! —a miracle! — an anthem sung in stone, a poem wrought in marble! Howsoever you look at the great Cathedral, it is noble, it is beautiful. Wherever you stand in Milan, or within seven miles of Milan, it is visible—and when it is visible, no other object can chain your attention. Leave your eyes unfettered by your will but a single instant, and they will surely turn to seek it. It is the first thing you look for when you rise in the morning, and the last your lingering gaze rests upon at night.  Surely, it must be the princeliest creation that ever brain of man conceived.”

(Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, pp. 144-147)

So Mark Twain was absolutely smitten by the glory of the Cathedral of Milan. 

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“What would you say is the most ‘glorious’ thing you have personally seen in your lifetime?”

(For me it’s probably the Grand Canyon. We stopped there on way the back from the SBC in Phoenix a few years ago, and it was just magnificent! No picture I could take could convey the view you have when you’re standing there just off the rim of that canyon. It is absolutely glorious!)

All these things we can mention are glorious — but there is a greater glory than any of these! As the hymn says: “Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast”! In our lesson for today three of Jesus’ disciples get a glimpse of His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, reminding us that our ultimate destination, through the gospel, is to experience that glory forever!

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Teacher’s Preview of Matthew 16:13-26, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson: “Following Jesus” for 3/15/26

Posted on 2026/03/07 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for teachers, including a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, 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 a time when you talked with someone who had a strange/different idea about who Jesus is?”

(For example: when I was in India on mission I talked to a Hindu man who believed that Jesus was “one of the gods” and only one of many, many ways to God — but not the only way.

Some of your class members may have talked to Mormons, who believe that Jesus is the brother of Satan! Or to Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe that Jesus is “a god”— and so on.

(You may also opt to use this question in Point I below instead, in relation to :13)

Then you can share how in today’s lesson from Matthew 16, we’ll see how Jesus asked His disciples who people thought He was, and how confessing Who He really will lead us to follow Him — and how much that discipleship cost both Him and us.

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Teacher’s Preview of Matthew 15:1-11+, Lifeway “Explore the Bible” lesson for March 8, 2026, “Real Devotion”

Posted on 2026/02/28 by Shawn Thomas

Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, 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:

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote a very introspective book called Meditations, in which he reveals many of his inward thoughts as he tried to live a good life as a ruler, and not be corrupted by the evil that often surrounds leaders. In Meditations he wrote: “It is the king’s part to do good and be ill spoke of.” 

That’s almost always true, isn’t it? Leaders are in for criticism; that’s often just part of the position.

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Can you share something that you have heard a pastor, or church, or ministry, criticized for?”

(Like this is going to be hard to come up with, right? Pastors and churches and ministries get criticism all the time!  You and your group can likely think of many.)

When your group has shared some, then ask: are the criticisms we have talked about today, based on scripture? Or tradition or personal preference?

Then point out: it’s one thing to go against someone’s opinion or tradition — we all have our subjective opinions and traditions — but it’s another thing altogether to actually break the word of God; that’s ultimately more serious. 

In today’s lesson from Matthew 15, we see where Jesus was criticized — but it was because His disciples broke a TRADITION, not God’s word itself — and as He points out, the criticism came from hearts that were not really inclined towards the Lord.

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Teacher’s Preview of Matthew 14:22-33, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Courage,” for March 1, 2026.

Posted on 2026/02/21 by Shawn Thomas

For teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 14:22-33 for March 1, 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 preview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Can you share a time when you were in storm — either at home, on a boat, or maybe in an airplane — and it made you very uncomfortable or even fearful?”

(I was on a long flight on a mission trip one time, and we had the worst turbulence that I had ever experienced. It was so violent I didn’t see how the plane held up through it with no problems. I was glad I was prayed up and ready to go!)

You/your group can share your own experiences like that, and then you can transition to the lesson: Today we are going to see how Jesus’ disciples had an experience like that, and what that experience teaches us about faith and our walk with the Lord.

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Judgment Coming,” for 2/22/26.

Posted on 2026/02/14 by Shawn Thomas

For teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 13 for February 22, 2026, “Judgment Coming. 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:

??? How many of you enjoy gardening??? If you do, share what is your favorite part about gardening, and what is your least favorite/most challenging part about it.

(My wife Cheryl loves to garden, and it’s been a comfort to her after her stroke to be able to continue to garden a little bit. She currently has a whole row of seeds popping up in little pots on our big bedroom window sill. I asked her this question, and she said her favorite part about gardening is seeing the plants pop out of the ground — or the pot! — and the hope of future growth that it brings. When I asked her what’s most challenging, immediately she said the hardest part to her is weeding! If you have some gardeners in your class, I imagine several of them might mention that weeding is one of the most difficult problems they face. 

Which ties right in with our lesson for this week, which comes from what is often called “The Parable of the Weeds,” in Matthew 13! 

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Teacher’s Overview of Matthew 12:1-14, Lifeway Explore the Bible lesson, “Rejecting Legalism,” for 2/15/26.

Posted on 2026/02/07 by Shawn Thomas

An overview for teachers of Lifeway’s Explore the Bible lesson of Matthew 12 for February 15, 2026. Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, text outline and highlights, 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:

In his book Mr. Kipling’s Army, author Byron Farwell writes about some of the shortcomings of the British Army in the 1800’s. He says that “‘antiquated and useless forms of drill, blind obedience to orders, ramrod-like rigidity on parade, and similar time-honoured practices were the chief qualifications by which a regiment was judged.” And he gave a specific example: “The posting of unneeded sentries was all too common. In 1886 General Evelyn Wood found a sentry stationed at the door to a ward at the Colchester Hospital that had been set aside for military prisoners. The ward was empty — and had been for the previous three months.” (p. 87)  So they had a guard at the door, even though there were no prisoners in the hospital! Just legalistically “following rules” when it didn’t make sense.

This kind of legalistic practice is common in many organizations, and unfortunately, sometimes even the church.  In today’s scripture from Matthew 12, we’ll see how Jesus is confronted by the legalists of His day — and He shows us that loving Him, and loving people, is far more important than merely adhering to legalistic tradition and laws.

Continue reading →
Posted in Explore the Bible SS lesson overviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments