MTP Sermon Resources

Matthew 1:1-17 April 24, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC “Selfie” Intro Video A while back, I heard a pastor suggest that every church ought to read through at least one Gospel every year together, and that was a suggestion that stuck with me. It makes sense. These Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—contain our defining story. What they tell us about Jesus ought to shape us like no other story. And so, for the next few weeks, we’re going to start that habit this year by walking together through the Gospel of Matthew. Not only will Pastor Rick and I be preaching through this Gospel, but we’re also inviting—or rather, asking—you to read along in the Gospel with us. We won’t be able to cover every passage on Sunday mornings; we’ll just be hitting the highlights and main themes, so we’re counting on you to do the suggested readings each week. We’ll be doing this reading, too, and together we will delve into what Matthew tells us about Jesus. But, as we begin, it might be helpful to

John 21:15-22 April 10, 2016 (Confirmation) • Mount Pleasant UMC Sermon Study Guide When I stop to think about it, there are, in each of our lives, several significant moments—turning points, you might want to call them, moments when you could go one way or another and your life would be significantly different depending on the choice you make. When I chose to go to Ball State, when I chose my major area of study, when I asked Cathy to marry me, when we both answered calls to our vocations, when we decided to have children…and many, many more moments when a choice one way or the other would have meant a very different life from the one we are now living. But, in the wake of each of those decisions—and you know what this feels like—there’s always this moment when you can’t help but ask, “What’s next?” I went to Ball State as a journalism major and knew by the end of my freshman year that wasn’t right, so I changed my major to speech communication. And I remember thinkin