MTP Sermon Resources

John 10:14-18 July 19, 2017 • Mount Pleasant UMC Shepherds were and are a central part of the life of Israel. It’s said that, at least in ancient times, all day long the herds of various shepherds would mingle and travel together but at night, when it came time to go home or to their sheepfold, all a shepherd had to do was to call out and that shepherd’s sheep would come running. They know and respond to the voice of their shepherd. When we were in Israel a few weeks ago, there were many times we caught a glimpse of flocks of sheep being led; they’re valuable not only for the meat but for their fleece. We also learned, however, that while sheep are not necessarily territorial, shepherds certainly can be! Along one of our long road trips in Jordan, a man who was not originally with our group asked the bus driver to stop so he could take a picture of a shepherd with his sheep. Almost as soon as he got out of the bus to do so, however, the shepherd began yelling at him in Arab

Luke 18:18-30 July 16, 2017 • Mount Pleasant UMC It’s called the “omnipotence paradox,” and its origins go back to at least the middle ages. Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas talked about it in his writings, and still today it’s a fascinating thought experiment. Basically, the paradox is usually phrased like this: Can God make a stone so heavy that even God can’t lift it? In other words, can God’s infinite power overwhelm his own infinite power? You could also ask it like this: can God beat himself in a fist fight? Or can God dream up a mathematical equation too difficult for him to solve? It’s a paradox, an impossible question, or, as one author put it, sheer nonsense. As C.S Lewis said, “Nonsense is still nonsense even when we speak it about God.” And yet, those are the sort of things people will sometimes come with as they try to challenge the faith of a believer, or even as they try to challenge the existence of God. But it’s the same sort of quandary even the disciple

2 Timothy 3:10-17 July 9, 2017 • Mount Pleasant UMC A little over a week ago, I had a conversation with a person about a social issue that they were very concerned about and over which we disagreed. In the course of the conversation, I mentioned some passages in the Bible to this person, and their response was, “Well, I interpret those verses differently.” We then talked about how people tend to pick and choose passages of Scripture that they like or that back up their viewpoint, but as we continued to talk, I realized the issue was deeper than that. This person was wiling to dismiss portions of the Bible, or maybe even the whole Bible itself, in favor of their feelings, their thoughts and their sense of what should be right and wrong. And they are not alone. There are a lot of people in this camp. Now, the particular issue we were discussing on that day is really irrelevant because the deeper problem was whether or not this Bible, this book of sacred Scripture handed down