MTP Sermon Resources

1 John 4:7-21 September 22, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC Maybe like you, I was taught growing up that it is the Christians’ duty to love God first. There was even a Sunday School class at one of the churches on my home circuit called “JOY - Jesus, Others, You.” That is, it was said, the order in which we should express our love: first to Jesus, then to others and if there is any time and love left over, to yourself. Have you heard that? Have you taught that? Have you tried to live that out? Probably most of us have, so let me shake you up a little bit: “Love God first” is not a Biblical idea (cf. Villodas, Good and Beautiful and Kind , pg. 181). It sounds good, it feels good, and it looks good on a poster. But it’s not Biblical, and it’s not what John is saying in the passage we read this morning. Have I got your attention? Are you ready to run me out as a heretic? Just stick with me, because what John is actually saying is much bigger than “love God first.” This morning, we are w...

  “Don’t Love God First” Sermon Study Guide for September 22, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21 1. What’s Love Got to Do With It? God is love… agape Mark 12:29-31 - the “biggest” two sides of the same coin… 2. What Does Love Require… …in the election season? …in our families? Ephesians 5:21 …in the church? John 13:35 A walk on the shore: John 21:15-23 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: How do most people today define the word “love”? What images or ideas does our culture use to describe love? How does our cultural understanding of love differ from the Biblical idea? What is the difference between saying “God loves” and “God is love”? How did God show his love? How are we, then, to show our love to God? to others? In what area of your life or our world do you most experience the brokenness of sin? What does love require in that area of your life? Do you need to change your approach to others in this election season or in your family or in our ...

“The Gift of Forgiveness” Sermon Study Guide for September 15, 2024 Downloadable Version Scripture: Matthew 18:21-22 1. Amazing Forgiveness West Nickel Mines… Karla Faye Tucker & Ron Carlson… Julie Welch… 2. What is Forgiveness? a definition… what it is not… person vs. the act 3. Three Kinds of Forgiveness a. b. c. Questions to Discuss or Ponder: When have you struggled with what seemed to be God’s inaction in your life? How do you define forgiveness? What images or persons do you connect with the idea of forgiveness? What have you assumed was part of forgiving someone else but actually is not? How does that change your perception of forgiveness? What is the difference between forgiving a person and forgiving an action? Who do you relate to the most in the story of the king and the debtor from Matthew 18? Why? What are the consequences (person and otherwise) for refusing to forgive? Where do you need to experience or practice forgiveness the most right now? Wh...

Psalm 46 September 8, 2024 • Mount Pleasant UMC The irony was not lost on me. I was sitting in my office, preparing to work on this very sermon, and as I started to read through the psalm I got interrupted. Then I tried again, and there was an eruption of noise from the preschool downstairs. Good noise. We love hearing the kids downstairs. So then I sat down to read again and I couldn’t focus because there were so many things going on in my head, things I had to attend to or think about or work on. Every time I sat down to read this psalm, something happened. And when I finally got through it, I chuckled as I read the most famous verse in the psalm: “Be still, and know that I am God” (46:10). Like I said, the irony was not lost on me. This fall, we are talking about the brokenness of our world, the places where it seems things have been torn apart and torn down. But we’re not just talking about it; we’re seeking to become people who are helping repair the brokenness. And so thi...