MTP Sermon Resources

Matthew 3:13-17 July 31, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC I want you to think for a moment how many times throughout the day you use water. Many of you, hopefully, used water to shower this morning or perhaps last night. I know I don’t really function well in the morning until I’ve had my shower. You use water to brush your teeth, to wash your face—to do many things to “get ready” in the morning. Throughout the day, you might reach for a glass or a bottle of water to quench your thirst, or you go to wash your hands after you’ve been in the middle of something messy. Some of you may have spent part of this summer surrounded by water, swimming and otherwise playing with water. I’ve seen the pictures on Facebook of some of you visiting large bodies of water this summer and relaxing on the beach. In the evening, you might use water to cook with, and you certainly use water to clean up the dishes and wash our clothes. I always have to have a drink of water before I go to bed, so in...

Romans 12:1-2 July 24, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC Opening Video Sermon Study Guide If you’re anything like me, you find yourself from time to time saying things like, “Well, in a perfect world…” or, “If I ran the world…” Of course, we say those things because we know we don’t live in a perfect world. As we talked about the last two weeks, we don’t live in a world where God’s will always and forever happens, and if you don’t believe that, then you must not have had the news on for the last couple of weeks. I cannot wrap my mind around a worldview that says violence is the way to combat violence, but after shootings in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas, it seems that worldview has come to the forefront. This is the world in which we live: a world where truck bombs kill people in a patriotic celebration in France, a world where human life is cheap and purpose seems a question many would rather not deal with. Fifty-nine years after they were spoken, we’ve still not learn...

Job 2:1-13 July 10, 2016 • Mount Pleasant UMC The Holey Artisan Bakery began life two years ago, born from a wife's longing for “real bread” and a husband who made it happen. Their prices were not cheap, but after all, the bakery was in an affluent neighborhood and those who lived there didn’t mind the prices. Its walled garden offered a beautiful view and it quickly became a popular destination for people from many different countries. That is, until 9 p.m. local time on July 1 when a group of gunmen burst into the cafe. At the time, this Bangladeshi hot spot was full of employees and many foreign visitors. By the time the siege was over, twenty foreign visitors were dead, including Americans, Italians and Japanese. ISIS had claimed responsibility, despite the protestations of the Bangladeshi government. Just three weeks before that, early on a Sunday morning, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American security guard, burst into Pulse, an Orlando, Florida gay nightclub, k...