Posts

Free Indeed (Study Guide)

“Free Indeed” Sermon Study Guide for August 16, 2026 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 8:31-36 1. Signpost: Freedom chaos! 2. Jesus and the Pharisees Matthew 23:2-3 Abraham’s descendants slaves to sin family 3. How We Experience Freedom a. Freedom from _____________________ b. Freedom from _____________________ c. Freedom from _____________________ d. Freedom from _____________________ Psalm 51:4 e. Freedom for _______________________ Matthew 16:24; John 15:13 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: If you were to ask your neighbors what “freedom” means, what would they say? What image(s) to you line up with what freedom is? What happens when everyone in a culture has their own idea of what freedom is? Why did Jesus argue with the Pharisees so much? While the Pharisees were concerned with slavery to someone else, what was Jesus’ primary concern? How is being set free from sin similar to adoption? What does it mean to belong to a family? Which of the ways we exper...
Post a Comment
Read more

What the Light Shows

Image
John 3:16-21 August 12, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC The other day, Easton was at our house and we had played with I think just about every toy in the house. When Rachel came to pick him up, I told him we had to clean up, and I know I’m biased, but he’s pretty good about doing that. He began to pick up toys and put them back in their bins. And then he picked up one of the bigger toys and went to put it back but there was a problem. Something else had been put in the place where that toy went. Probably by Grandpa! So he stood there holding the toy while Rachel and I both tried to get him to just put it somewhere else. He didn’t want to do that because, in his mind, there was a right way to put the toys back (the way Grandma had organized them). And as I watched him try to figure out what to do, I couldn’t help but think how we are wired to want things to be made right. We want everything to be in order and the toys to go all back in the right place. When we get older, we have a name for ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What the Light Shows (Study Guide)

“What the Light Shows” Sermon Study Guide for August 9, 2026 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 3:16-21 1. God So Loved… what justice is why we long for justice Nicodemus salvation = ____________________________ 2. The Worst Injustice John 8 - woman in adultery the crucifixion the resurrection 3. Christian Justice participatory - John 16:8 injustice today Peter and the high priest’s slave Questions to Discuss or Ponder: How have you experienced just as a “universal human longing”? Why do we usually assume God wants to condemn the world or that God is mad at us? What does John’s Gospel actually say? What do the contrasts in John 3 (darkness/light, evil/good) tell us about the world and the God who made it? In what way is justice a “manifestation of God’s love”? Why is Christian justice participatory? Why doesn’t God just make it all right immediately? How have you experienced the Holy Spirit “proving the world wrong”? What is one thing you can do in your life today...
Post a Comment
Read more

At the Root

Image
John 13:31-38 August 2, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC At various times and in various places, I have attempted to put together furniture—bookshelves in particular. A book addict needs lots of bookshelves. And you know how it goes—you buy the box at Walmart or on Amazon and the picture looks so nice. Sometimes the demo model in the store even looks nice, and you start the project with such optimism. But then you open the box and discover two things. One, there are not real instructions, just poorly drawn illustrations with no words that attempt to show you how things are supposed to go together. And then, inevitably, either there is a piece or two missing or you break one of the pieces trying to insert tab A into slot B. It looks so simple in the picture and on the box! But it’s never as easy to put together as it should be. There’s something broken in the process. Almost everyone today would admit that something is broken in the process of putting our world together. Things don’t work....
Post a Comment
Read more