MTP Sermon Resources

John 17:1-5 January 28, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC I still remember where I was when I got the news. She was a child, just around kindergarten age, when she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Her smile was infectious and she was so well-loved by our congregation. And she didn’t look sick. In fact, her smile and her joyful attitude stayed all through her treatment. All the trips to the big city hospital. All the times when she surely didn’t feel all that well. All the times there were things she couldn’t do because of the cancer. That didn’t keep her away from church, from her friends, from her smiles. And we prayed. We prayed hard and often for her healing. And we believed God would heal her. Surely her story would not end with cancer’s triumph. But it did. The other day I remember from that time is when the call came that she was gone. Her funeral broke her parents. They only occasionally came back to church after that. When people reached out, they were told, “No one know...

  “Bad Things” Sermon Study Guide for January 28, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 17:1-5 1. Bad Things & Good People Romans 3:23 Psalm 14:3 Mark 10:18 - no one is good broken world - Romans 5:12 the wrong words at a time of death Revelation 21:4 the real reason we are saved 2. Eternal Life Now John 17:3 - this is eternal life Matthew 5:14-15 - city on a hill disease & sickness Romans 8:38-39 2 Timothy 4:6-7 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: Recall an occasion when you believed a “bad thing” was happening to someone who didn’t deserve it. What happened? Why is “bad things happening to good people” the wrong mindset? Why do you think Jesus said “no one is good”? What words of comfort do you normally offer to someone at a funeral home? What does that “comfort” really say about God? What does it mean to you that God himself will “wipe away every tear” in the end? What is the real reason Jesus saves us from sin? What, according to Jesus, is the ...

Hebrews 12:1-3 January 21, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC One of the places we visited this fall on our New England trip was the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Mostly we were taken on a driving tour of the city, but at the 9/11 Memorial we were able to get out and walk through the outdoor part. It’s a humbling, moving experience to be there, and as I walked through it I was remembering the day the towers came down. I remembered watching the news coverage, being almost unable to turn it off, and seeing the rubble for months afterwards. I kept wondering how in the world they would ever get all of that rubble cleaned up. Obviously, they did, because the plaza now is a beautiful yet sobering place in the midst of a busy, dirty city. Two weeks ago, we began this series of sermons looking at how we find faith in the rubble of bad religion. It’s true that when the things you held onto, the things you have believed, come crashing down, it can feel like a pile of rubble and you may wonder h...

  “Doubt-full?” Sermon Study Guide for January 21, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3 The great “de-churching” 1. Doubt John 20:24-29 - “Doubting” Thomas Matthew 28:17 - “some doubted” Buechner: “Doubts are the _________________ of faith.” Doubts of the ___________________ Doubts of the ___________________ 2. Handling Doubt a. Run ____________________ b. Have ___________________ c. Focus on ______________________ Luke 7:18-23 - John the Baptist Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What are the questions that make you doubt your faith? What are questions you have heard from others that bring doubt? How do you normally respond to someone who expresses doubt in the things you believe? Has that been helpful? Why or why not? What is the difference between not condemning someone’s doubt and not commending someone’s doubt? How do you walk that line like Jesus did? What is the difference between a marathon and the “race” of faith? In what situations are you most...