MTP Sermon Resources

2 Samuel 24:18-25 October 22, 2023 • Mount Pleasant UMC About the only movies we go to the theater to see anymore are the Marvel movies. I know Pastor Rick doesn’t get it (he tells me that quite frequently), but I have always loved superhero stories. I was a comic book nerd when I was a kid and as an adult, I love the stories of ordinary people who are transformed into superheroes with superpowers. Whether it’s Spider-man with his web-spinning abilities or Ant-man with his shrinking skills or Captain America with his super-strength, I love it all. In the inevitable battle that comes at the climax of every movie, it’s the super power that makes the difference. As Christians, we also have a superpower. It’s not great strength or changing shape or climbing walls. Our superpower is gratitude (cf. Traux & Campbell, Love Let Go , pg. 154). As people who have been forgiven and reconciled with God, gratitude should be second nature to all of us, and it is a superpower that has the ...

  “What It Costs Us” Sermon Study Guide for October 22, 2023 Downloadable Version Scripture: 2 Samuel 24:18-25 1. The Threshing Floor a plague and God’s anger… Aruanah and King David… 2. Sacrifice (24:24) Romans 12:1 - living sacrifices 2 Corinthians 5:21 - righteousness Luke 21:4 - widow’s offering prayers presence gifts service witness “why” love let go… Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What is the “superpower” of a Christian? How have you experienced having this superpower in your life? How do you respond to the assertion of the Scripture that God send a plague because he was angry? Why was it important for David to build an altar at this specific place? Why is David adamant about paying for the land and everything needed? In what way(s) does Paul’s idea of a “living sacrifice” connect to the Hebrew practice of sacrificial offerings? How do you respond to Jesus’ model of sacrifice? Why do we give of our resources to the church? Why does our culture give pr...

Numbers 12:1-15 October 15, 2023 • Mount Pleasant UMC Do you ever sit down to tackle one task and find sixteen others pulling at you, begging for your attention? Do you ever walk into a room to do something and can’t remember what you came there to do? Do you ever wake up in the morning and have no idea what day it is? I said a few weeks ago that we live in a distracted world, or rather, a world full of distractions. There are so many things that pull at our attention. I love the way Bob Goff gets right to the heart of the matter: “We arrive as babies, placed in the arms of parents who are complete amateurs with no owner’s manual and usually no clue how to raise us. Most of us start broke or broken, and some of us stay that way. Some strike it rich but then accumulate a distorted view of their wealth; still others never find healing in their search for wholeness. Add to this that we’re following a God we can’t see, for a lifetime we can’t measure, to a heaven we can’t comprehend,...