MTP Sermon Resources

If Only! Exodus 16:1-3 October 27, 2019 • Mount Pleasant UMC So, I have noticed that once I turned fifty, I started having all these different sorts of meetings. My investment guy called me and asked if I wanted to have a meeting to discuss retirement strategies. My insurance agent called me and wanted to have a meeting to discuss retirement income and whether or not there was enough life insurance “for when you leave your family behind.” Wait, does she know something I don’t? And then, this week at our covenant group meeting, we were discussing what book we were going to read together next, and one of the suggestions had a subtitle that went something like, “Spirituality for the Second Half of Life.” What? I’m in the second half? When did that happen? Well, at 52 I guess I am in the second half of life unless I’m going to live past 104, and when you finally admit that, it causes you to begin to look back and maybe even rethink some of your past choices. Sometimes y...

“If Only!” Sermon Study Guide for October 27, 2019 Scripture: Exodus 16:1-3 1. Grumbling Politics Neighbors Church “We don’t resist _________________; we resist _____________.” If only… (16:3) ______ percent of the psalms are lament 2. God is Big Enough Manna - “What is it?” James 4:2-7 Matthew 6:8, 25-34 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: Do you ever grumble? What or who is the object of most of your grumbling? Respond to the idea that we most resist is loss. Have you had an “if only” moment? What was it? Recall how that felt. When have you been reluctant to complain to God? Why were you reluctant? What is God’s response to the people’s complaint? Why, do you think, does God choose to respond this way? What’s your manna? What do you most need God to provide for you this week? Scripture for the Week: Monday - Exodus 16:1-20 Tuesday - Exodus 16:21-36 Wednesday - Exodus 17:1-7 Thursday - Exodus 18:...

Conquering the Gods Exodus 12:31-42 October 20, 2019 • Mount Pleasant UMC   We arrived shortly after the revolution. In 2012, Rachel and I got the opportunity to trace some of the paths of the Exodus by traveling to Egypt and learning about Moses, the Pharaohs and the Israelites, and we arrived in Cairo on June 24, 2012. Now, I don’t blame you if that date doesn’t jump out at you. You might remember that in early 2011, a wave of democratic protests that had been sweeping through the Arab world arrived in Egypt. The media called it the “Arab Spring” but it lasted through many seasons. In Cairo, people protested in Tahrir Square for eighteen days in January and February 2011, demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, a dictator that had ruled the country for thirty years. I’m vastly oversimplifying a complicated situation here, but the short version is that Mubarak did resign and the country was allowed to engage in democratic elections. On June 24, 2012, t...

“Conquering the Gods” Sermon Study Guide for October 20, 2019 Scripture: Exodus 12:31-42 You say you want a revolution… The Plagues Hard Heart Ten Plagues 2. The gods Death of the firstborn… 3. The gods of Our Lives Matthew 6:24; Philippians 4:11-13 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: When you hear the word “revolution,” what events or ideas come to mind? What does it mean for someone to have a “hard heart”? Which of the plagues would have been hardest for you to take? At which point would you have said, “Enough!” How do the plagues counter the Egyptian gods? What, do you think, the average Egyptian would have understood about what was happening? What gods are there in our world today? What goes try to pull your first allegiance away from the one true God? What will you do this week to allow God to conquer the gods in your life? Scripture for the Week: Monday - Exodus 11:1-10 Tuesday - Exodus 12:1-...

“God’s Calling” Sermon Study Guide for October 13, 2019 Scripture: Exodus 3:1-10 1 Corinthians 10:11 - look to the past 1. God can get our ____________________ 2. Settled in the Wilderness comfortable and _______________________ 3. God heard the ______________________ called out of the _________________________ 4. God uses ________________________ 5. What We Learn from Moses about humans about God 2 Corinthians 6:2 - “now is the day” Questions to Discuss or Ponder: Who in your past has taught you the most about God? What does the symbol of fire tell us about God? Recall a time when you felt you had “blown it” and that God could never use you. What happened? What is the truth that counters that belief? What causes us to become comfortable and complacent these days? How has God used wilderness times in your own life to shape you? What does your comfort zone look like? What would it take for you to follo...

Out of the Water Exodus 2:1-10 October 6, 2019 • Mount Pleasant UMC He is the single-most significant and important person in all of the Hebrew Scriptures, and he is second only to Jesus in the whole Bible. One evidence of this, especially as it relates to popular culture, is that for many years at Easter time, it was his movie that was shown on network television rather than one about Jesus. His name and presence echoes throughout all of the Scriptures, and in fact throughout all of history. Bruce Feiler wrote a book a few years ago showing how his story and his presence is woven throughout our own history, how the American story is shaped by this man’s story. He is credited with writing most of the Torah, the most sacred Scripture for the Jews (the first five books of our Bible), and it is his story that dominates most of those books: Exodus through Deuteronomy. He is known by such diverse titles as Savior, Law-Giver, Shepherd, and Son of Egypt. We know him as Moses, an...