MTP Sermon Resources

Luke 5:27-32 June 30, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC Most everyone loves a party, right? Celebrations usually bring out the best in us, but of course the word “party” can bring up a whole lot of different images depending on your experience. For some, gathering around a grill with good conversation and great food is a party. For others, a party involves cake and streamers and presents and another trip around the sun. And for yet another group, a party involves adult beverages, loud music and maybe even a whole lot of people crammed into a small space. But whatever you associate with the idea of a “party,” it’s something most of us enjoy and even look forward to. Here at Mount Pleasant, we love a good party. Every year in April, we host the “best party of the year:” Grace Gala. And it involves dancing and music and karaoke and limo rides and prom photos and all sorts of fun things. But we also host a summer party called Vacation Bible School or VBS. It’s a week-long party where kids and

  “Start the Party” Sermon Study Guide for June 30, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: Luke 5:27-32 parties… 1. Matthew, the Traitor “Follow me” 2. The Two Groups a. Inside the house b. Outside the house Jesus redefines ________________________ The self-righteous… 3. A Matthew Party Bottom line: Jesus is _________________________ Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What is your favorite kind of party? What would be an ideal party that you would really love to attend? How do you think most people reacted to Matthew? How do you think the other disciples reacted to him being included in their group? To whom do you relate the most in this story: Matthew’s friends, the disciples, or the Pharisees? Why do you say that? Why does Jesus equate being outside the kingdom as being “sick” and needing a doctor? In what way(s) does Jesus redefine who is welcome at the table? Do we follow his redefinition? Why or why not? How will you choose to live out this week’s bottom line? Scripture for

  John 16:31-33 June 23, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC It was the final night. Most of them didn’t know, but he knew. And he also knew that he had so little time left to tell them the things that were on his heart, the things that they would need to know to be able to go on. Last words are important. Last words often tell you something about the character of a person. And so, as they are ambling along through the darkness of the Kidron Valley, Jesus shares many last words with his disciples, his friends, his companions for the last three years. More than anything, he wants them to believe, even when things get hard. He was eighty-seven years old and had just preached in City Road Chapel a few days before. But now he was confined to his bed in the house that had been built for him next door to the Chapel. John Wesley had faithfully preached the Gospel for decades by now, and he had trained scores of preachers to carry on his work both in Great Britain and America. Many of his friends ha

  “While I Have Breath” Sermon Study Guide for June 23, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 16:31-33 1. You Will Have Trouble Mark 10:18 - “good” John 9:2-3 - “who sinned?” “overcome” - Revelation 12:11; Zechariah 4:6 2. Wesley’s Death 3. Wesley’s Legacy a. A faith combining _____________________ b. Emphasis on _____________________ Hebrews 12:14 c. But not _______________________ 1 Timothy 2:4 d. ______________________ vision “The world is my parish” Questions to Discuss or Ponder: Why do we ignore Jesus’ teaching that we will have trouble in life? Why do we tend to prefer to believe in the non-Christian doctrine of “karma” than in Jesus’ teaching about trouble? What does it mean to “overcome”? How did Jesus overcome? What does that mean for your life? In what way do you understand the Christian faith to combine head, hands and heart? What does it mean to be “holy”? Why is holiness important in our faith? In what way(s) do you find our church seeking