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Take Off the Grave Clothes

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John 11:38-44 August 23, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC It’s the shortest verse in the Bible, just two words (or three in Greek), and so it’s the one we always went to when our Sunday School teacher asked us if we had memorized any Bible verses. Whoever spoke up first got to lay claim to John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” And, you know, we’d be so proud of ourselves, that we’d actually memorized a verse. But I doubt that any of us really knew what that verse meant or why it was significant that Jesus did, in fact, weep. It’s a well-known and well-told story that we just read the very end of this morning. In fact, as John’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus, this story is really a turning point. It’s the moment when the religious leaders make up their minds that Jesus has to die. No other alternative. And the irony is that they decide to kill Jesus at the very moment when he restores life. This morning we’re continuing our look at seven signposts that point toward how God intended the world to be...
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Take Off the Grave Clothes (Study Guide)

“Take Off the Grave Clothes” Sermon Study Guide for August 23, 2026 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 11:38-44 1. Lazarus Was Dead two sisters… “if you had been here…” “Jesus wept” - Romans 12:15; Hebrews 12:2 four days… 2. The Glory of God Psalm 19 John 1:14 - the word made flesh Isaiah 53:2 3. Beauty a. A ____________________________ 1 Corinthians 15:20, 56; John 10:10 b. Add to the _____________________ Questions to Discuss or Ponder: Why do you think “Jesus wept”? What would cause the heart of God to break? How are the reactions of Mary and Martha different and yet similar? How do you typically react to the loss of someone close to you? Why did Jesus wait so long to come to Lazarus’ home? What most communicates the glory of God to you in your own life? How have you experienced the “weight” of God’s glory? Why, do you think, Jesus prays in the way he does outside of Lazarus’ tomb? How does the raising of Lazarus help the people there see the glory of God? In...
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Free Indeed

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John 8:31-36 August 16, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC This past summer, we celebrated 250 years as a nation. 250 years of freedom. I remember the 200th and one of the differences I noticed—and I may be wrong, because I was pretty young at the 200th—but it seemed that this year all of the various political groups were trying to co-opt the celebration for their own purposes. I don’t remember that happening before. Before it seemed we united around the anniversary. Now, it’s just one more thing that divides us, which I think is horribly ironic: one of the things that divides us is our freedom (including our freedom to disagree, which we even seem to disagree about). We’ve been exploring what I call “signposts” in the Gospel of John, things that help us make sense of the world and, not unsurprisingly, point toward the way God intended the world to be. The problem is that these signposts are broken and have been broken for a long time. As a result, we lack direction. We don’t know which way...
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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...
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