MTP Sermon Resources

John 15:1-8 April 28, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC I think I have probably told you about my brief career as a vintner. In my previous appointment, the parsonage had a grapevine in the backyard. The previous pastor had planted it but moved before the vine produced any grapes, and so I was kind of excited about having grapes grow in my backyard. I envisioned making communion juice and maybe even having my own Welch’s enterprise—but none of that was to be because this stubborn grapevine was very good at producing vines and nothing else. So I started reading about vines and found out something all good vintners know—in order to produce grapes, the vines have to be trimmed, pruned, so that they will stop wasting energy producing vines and put that energy into growing grapes (cf. Wright, John for Everyone—Part Two , pg. 69). Pruning the vines also helps them grow toward the light, which they need if they are going to produce high quality grapes. Okay, pruning, I am good at cutting things...

  “Being a Branch” Sermon Study Guide for April 28, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 15:1-8 1. A Long Walk a vine and pruning “remain” nothing 2. Pruning God cutting off a branch… Healthy branches Romans 5:3-5 Joel 2:25 Fruit - Galatians 5:19-23 Looks like ______________________ Feels like _______________________ Questions to Discuss or Ponder: Recall a “last time” you spent with a mentor or a friend. What did you talk about? What was important to convey? What is your experience with growing plants? What do plants most need to thrive? How does that relate to being a disciple of Jesus? How have you experienced the truth that you can do nothing without Jesus? Why would God cut off a “branch”? In what way(s) have you experienced “pruning”? Which aspect of the fruit of the spirit seems most prominent in your life? Which one seems most lacking? In what way(s) does your life look like love and feel like joy? What do you need to do to allow God to grow bet...

Isaiah 11:1-5 April 21, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC So when I started working on this sermon, I was sitting in one of my favorite places in the world: my deck on the back of my house. We had it redone a few years ago and a couple of summers ago we added an awning that brings much-needed shade in the afternoons. And while I was out there I got to thinking about the title I had selected for this sermon: “A Shady Family Tree.” I realized the word “shade” has a lot of different meanings, and it all depends on the context as to what you mean when you say it. If I say I’m sitting in the shade, you get one image, but if someone tells you I’m doing some shady things, you get a whole other image, right? One means I’m relaxing out of the sunshine, and the other means I’m doing something that my mom probably would not be proud of. So which meaning do we have in mind if someone has a “shady family tree?” And who is it whose tree is shrouded in shade? In this sermon series called “Sticks,” we...

  “A Shady Family Tree” Sermon Study Guide for April 21, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-5 1. Isaiah exile…a stump divine punishment a shoot…from the stump of Jesse judgment Isaiah 53:2-5 2. Family Tree twisted and bent… a. You are not _______________________________ Romans 3:23 b. Bloom ___________________________________ Romans 3:24 The secret is this… Colossians 1:27 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What images come to mind when you think of “shade”? What other trees do you think of in the Old Testament? What happened at those trees? What does a stump represent to you? Why do you think God punishes people and cultures? What good can come out of it? How do you see that happening today? What is the significance of the symbolism of a shoot? What is the shape of your family tree? Straight? Twisted and bent? Broken? How has that affected who you are? If Christ is in you, what can you accomplish? In what way(s) have you seen God restoring th...