MTP Sermon Resources

Mark 10:13-16 July 6, 2025 • Mount Pleasant UMC I recently heard Max Lucado say that when you’re a grandpa, you get to share grandchild stories in sermons. So since Max Lucado said it, I’m going to go with it. One of the best parts about being a grandpa is that you get to experience again life through the eyes of a child. When Easton hangs out at our house, life changes, the pace of life changes, because everything happens on Easton’s schedule and at his pace. And children, especially little ones like him, aren’t in a hurry to get things done. They will go from thing to thing but they don’t have an agenda, and they don’t worry about accomplishing things. They just want to experience everything. And so I am learning (again) to experience life at the speed and through the eyes of a child, and I’m remembering what Jesus said in this morning’s Scripture reading: “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (10:15). So hanging out with Easto...

  “Jesus Loves the Little Children” Sermon Study Guide for July 6, 2025 Downloadable Version Scripture: Mark 10:13-16 Children… 1. Let the Children Come… blessing… welcoming a child - 9:36-37, 42 a. The kingdom ____________________ b. ____________________ it like a child 2. Becoming Childlike a. Open __________________________ b. ________________ and ________________ c. ______________________ others eulogeo Bottom line: Be ____________ to one another Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What do children and infants understand that adults don’t? Wby do you think these parents wanted to bring their children to meet Jesus? What do you imagine they expected to happen when Jesus held the children? Why was Jesus “indignant” when the disciples tried to run the children off? How does your desire for control show up in your relationship with Jesus? What keeps us from being willing to do where Jesus wants us to go? What does waiting have to do with trust? When have you “eulogize...

“The Power of Love” Sermon Study Guide for June 29, 2025 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 13:1-7 NLT Washing Feet… 1. Last words… Romans 12:21 - overcome evil “a new command” Judas - grabbing power & control 2. What You Believe… 1 John 4:7-21 “loved them to the end” the mind of Christ… bottom line: “Love one another.” Show your love by your _______________________ Questions to Discuss or Ponder: What do “last words” say about a person? What would you want your last words to be? When have you seen evil overcome by good as Paul suggests? How does the power of love transform any situation? Why did Judas miss Jesus’ way and instead choose the world’s way? When are we tempted to do that as well? How does what you believe shape who you become? When have you seen that for good or for ill? What does it mean to love someone “to the end”? How can you live out this week’s bottom line in practical ways: “Love one another”? What are some ways you can show your love by your ...

Matthew 9:35-38 June 22, 2025 • Mount Pleasant UMC I’ve been thinking about the prayers we pray, and I even got to thinking about the prayers we learn as young children. How many of you prayed this one before bed: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” You know, that’s kind of a morbid prayer for kids to pray, don’t you think? Especially before bed? More upbeat, I suppose, is the prayer many of us learned to pray at dinnertime: “God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food.” Or the alternate form of that prayer which I learned at church camp: “Good grub, good meat, good God, let’s eat.” Prayer is one of those mysteries that we don’t really understand. When we ask for things, sometimes we know when we get an answer and other times we don’t. People will pray, “Bless so and so,” but what does that mean and how do we know when we or they are blessed in answer to the prayer? Some pray...