MYMPUMC Sermons

Sermon from May 3, 2020

We are reminded of the glory of God and what it means to worship God.

Sermon for May 10, 2020.

Sermon from April 26, 2020

Sermon from April 19, 2020

If you are alive and have any contact with any other human being on the planet, you know that we are struggling with a new pandemic. Everyone has heard of Covid-19. People are scared. People are reacting in fear - it is difficult not to do that.Faith is easy when life is good. That doesn't make sense, does it? If life is easy, is faith really possible? We began this morning by hearing an illustration from Pastor Steve. early Christianity, when disease was rampant in Rome, people would literally throw their relatives out the door when they came down with the sickness so that it did not spread to anyone else. They were trying to prevent the spread of disease.It wasn't until Christians stepped in and stepped up - that this behavior actually changed. People were dying, not from the sickness, but from the elements. This sickness wasn't an automatic death sentence, but being out in the elements, being exposed to weather, animals, and generally things in the environment was killing people. The other religions of the day had people running from this sickness by throwing people away. Christianity ran toward people. We are called to go out to people. We are called to reach out. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus.This might be where it gets somewhat difficult. As a species, we automatically switch over to fight or flight mode. We become afraid. The limbic system in our brains switches on and go into action - the action of fear. It is easy to be afraid. We get caught in the "what-ifs" of life. What if this happens? What if that happens? We don't know what is going to happen in life. This week has proven to us that we don't know what it is going to happen within a week. We never know what is going to happen. Faith is difficult.Yesterday, we heard the story of Esther. Esther had a decision to make. She could lay low and protect herself. Her family would die, but she would not die at the hands of the king. Or, she could risk everything, go before the king, knowing full well she could die, and save her people. Her uncle confronted her saying, sure, she could protect herself, but, what if she was born for such as a time as this? What if this is for what she was made? She risked everything. She went before the king. She told him what was going on - she saved her people.Faith is difficult. When things are going south, how do we proclaim the name of Christ? When our world falls apart, what do we do? A.W. Tozer said that God never uses a church greatly before testing it deeply. For a long time, we have been talking about the fact that we are Made For More. Maybe we were created for such a time as this...

Have you ever heard the turn or phrase, “you have arrived”? We associate that phrase with success. We hear it from our phones when we arrive at our destinations that we plugged into Siri or Google Maps. The phrase denotes that we are at the pinnacle of our lives. We’ve reached the top. We are successful. We are leaders. We like to be seen as successful people. We may even like to be seen as leaders. Success in the eyes of the world means being rich, having that nest egg saved up for retirement, having the fancy car, the fancy house, the fancy boat. The ones who have those things are seen as leaders in our culture because we tend to equate money with success—and equate having things—with money and success.  There is a quote by Cooley that goes, “I am not who you think I am; I am not who I think I am; I am who I think you think I am.” Think about that for a minute. It’s kind of a brain twister. It insinuates that we place value on ourselves depending upon what we think others think of us. Isn’t that the current disease of today? As individuals, we worry about all of this, don’t we? Why else would we focus so much on the appearance of being successful? If we’re not careful, we, as the church can fall into the same trap we fall into as individuals. John Wesley once said, “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power.” What would the church look like if we did fall into that trap? What would we look like if we wanted to appear successful instead of existing to love God and one another? I’ve seen churches fall into this, and the ones who have either do not exist anymore, or are on their way out. These poor churches are the ones that become museums for holy artifacts. Sometimes I drive by these places and wonder what ministries used to take place inside these churches when they were active and thriving. And then I wonder when their sense of calling and wonder ceased. The doors didn’t just close on these churches. It was a process. It was a series of decisions made over a long time that closed the doors of these churches. I just wonder at what point they finally lost that holy spark. If the church is not careful, we tend to mirror the world around us instead of reflecting the Image of God onto the world. And these poor churches become museums of history for themselves instead of MASH units for those in the world who are hurting. You’ve probably heard the turn of phrase that churches should be hospitals for the hurting—but I’m taking it further. We cannot afford to be simply hospitals. We have to be MASH units. Have you ever watched that TV show? MASH? Most of you have probably seen it. It is about a MASH Unit—a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and life there at that unit—the 4077th. The point is that with MASH units, the wounded do not go to them—they go to the wounded. With a MASH unit, they are out in the field going and picking up the wounded in helicopters and jeeps and bringing them back to the operating room. Last week, Steve pointed out that we are one of the largest churches in our district. We are doing something different here. In this church, callings and dreams come to life because we believe that we were made for more than the every day drudgery that life can bring. We believe that you were made for more than just paying bills and appearing successful to the rest of the world. We were made to love and glorify God by loving others instead of paying attention to what others may think of us. Because we believe that we were Made for More than where we are right now, it is a good practice for us to ask ourselves where we actually are—are we going out into a hurting world and giving them Jesus? It is easy for us to stay comfortable within our four walls and expect people to come to us. We are creatures of comfort. Everyone loves to be comfortable. There is not one person in here who would celebrate if one of the springs came through their mattress—“Oh yay! Back pain until Mattress Warehouse delivers my new Serta!” No, we like comfort and we tend to quickly remedy the situation if we are uncomfortable. There are times in life where we can’t do that though. Last week, we talked about different phases in our faith—the childhood phase, adolescent phase, and finally the adult phase in our faith. In the childhood phase, it is all about number one. It’s all about me and am I loved and am getting enough attention, etc…?—it is a person who is dependent upon others in faith and whose faith would most likely die on their own. In the adolescent phase, we think we do not need anyone. We pray to God to simply get what we want. We think of God more as Santa Clause instead of a loving Father who wants the best for His children. When the adolescent doesn’t get what they want, they either say, well there is no God, or, they say that God does not love them or is not powerful because they did not get what they wanted. We also talked about the adult phase in Christianity. This is the phase in the Christian life where we are loving God for who God is and loving others in the faith. We are caring for others who may not be able to care for themselves. It is moving from being the lost sheep to being more of a shepherd. I like to use the term, sheepdog. We follow the shepherd ourselves, and help guide the sheep as well. So, our goal is to reach that adult phase in our faith. We want to grow and mature in our faith. Part of that growth is perseverance when life gets difficult. Our Scripture this morning comes from Matthew 20, verses 20—28. 20Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favour of him. 21 ‘What is it you want?’ he asked. She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ 22 ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’ ‘We can,’ they answered. 23Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.’ 24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ In this Scripture, we see a few things. We see the mother of Zebedee’s sons come to Jesus asking a giant favor. “Grant that one of these two sons may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” Notice that Jesus does not answer her. In fact, he doesn’t answer in the affirmative or the negative—he doesn’t answer her at all. He addresses these two brothers. Can you then drink the cup I’m about to drink? They do answer in the affirmative. “Yes, we can.” It is my belief that they had no idea what they were saying “yes” to. Have you ever done that? Have you said “yes” to something that you didn’t really know what it meant? When I was a teenager, I was in a karate class. We were practicing throws. We were shown how to do it and then we were paired up with other students in the class to practice. I was paired with this guy who was smaller than I was. It was his turn to try to throw me. I was thinking to myself, “I can take this guy. He’s not going to be able to throw me.” You know, that teenage arrogance was definitely in place. Next thing I know, I was flying through the air with the greatest of ease. I had no idea what I had said “yes” to. I did not know that at that point in time, I could not take that guy. I couldn’t sit for a week after that. Sometimes we say “yes” to things, but we have no idea to what we just agreed. I believe that is part of our growth experience. So, they said “yes, we can do this.” Jesus replies with, “You will indeed drink from my cup.” But he says that granting them places to His right and left aren’t really for Him to say. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by the Father.   We also see that after this whole thing goes down, we see that the other disciples were quite upset with the request here. After all, what made these two extra special? So it says they were indignant. Jesus gathers them all together and says guess what? You want to be great? Greatness in the Kingdom looks different than greatness in the eyes of the world. The greatest among you must be a servant. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but rather, to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. So here are three things to take away today:  1.     Jesus says that they will drink that cup regardless of whether they get those prime seats for eternity or not. That’s not what life is about.2.     No one can drink the cup for them.3.     Whoever wants to be first must be your servant. Here is where we get to the piece about being an adult in faith. The cup that Jesus was talking about was a cup of sacrifice. James and John had no uncertain clue to what they were saying yes. In their minds, it could have meant anything. Jesus knew what was coming for him. He knew that the cross was ahead. Last week, Steve referenced John 15:13—“No greater love has a person than they who give their lives up for their friends.” We are so used to action movies where someone is being pushed out from in front of a bus or something jumps in front of a bullet for another person. We like to take this scripture and run to clean martyrdom. But what if it means more than simply giving up one moment in time for another person? What if it means to keep giving? What if it means to keep sacrificing? Self-sacrifice is so much more. It’s about making time for the other. Today, time is a commodity. It’s about taking the time out of our busy days to go visit people in hospitals, prisons, etc. No one can self-sacrifice for you. No one can grow up for you. No one can be the Christian you are meant to be. This is a path that you must walk—not alone—with God and with others. However, no one can walk it for you. Part of growing into an adult Christian is taking responsibility for your own growth. You’ll hear some people say after a worship service, “I didn’t get much out of that,” or, “I wasn’t really fed today.” When I hear that, there are several replies that come to my mind. One of them is, “What did you put into it?” Where have you worked on your own growth lately? Have you worked on your own growth lately? Being an adult and being mature in faith means that you have upped your game in humility. Humility does not mean you do not think much of yourself. In fact, it means the opposite. Humility means that you know where you stand in relation to God and to others. In that knowledge, you are equipped as a servant of God and a servant to others. The greatest of all is the servant of all. Think of a parent. While the parent has a life of their own, they are dedicated to raising that child and want the best for their child. Because of this, they serve the child by raising them. They care for them and teach them. They love the child. Maturity leads to helping raise up others. We are all on different parts of the path to Christian maturity and adulthood. It’s a difficult road. Some may struggle more than others. We never know where someone is in their journey. Be kind to them. Be kind to you too.

Have you reached The Summit? Are you an Adult-Christian? Or, are you still in the stages of childhood and adolescence? As members at Mt. Pleasant UMC and as Christians, we have responsibilities. All of us have responsibilities. Lots of people think church membership is simply about coming once in a while or even every week and getting your weekly dose of holy or get your "get out of hell free" card punched. It is so much more than that.It's all about discipleship. It's about growing up in faith. Growing up in faith involves responsibility on our part. If you have already taken that responsibility, good for you. We all know people who are chronicalogically older than their maturity level. These are the ones who will blurt out anything that is on their minds without thinking about how it will affect someone else. They are the ones who are self-absorbed and may think that their actions are on the adult level, but they are still in kindergarten, on the playground...

What's missing from your faith? Could it be compassion?

We are the Legacy Holders of our church. We inherited the good things from our predecessors here at Mt. Pleasant. And with that gift comes responsibility...

What you do every day matters much more than what you do once in a while. It's easy to look at someone making an impact and wonder how they got there. We often assume impact is instant, but more often it comes from the small daily decisions we make where we get about the Father's business. We begin to experience true and lasting fruit in our lives when we take life one day at a time...

You make your choices, then your choices make you! Choices, tiny though they may seem, determine your life, your destination and your happiness. Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences...

Maybe you've been trying so much and trying for so long that you don't know why you're trying anymore. It happens to all of us. It most definitely happened to Elijah...

Something Greater Awaits·      God is calling us to greater things. Why settle for mediocrity when we can do better?·      We procrastinate. Resolutions are just another form of procrastination.·      Procrastination is another form of fearLuke 5 New International Version (NIV)Jesus Calls His First Disciples5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. It’s a new year. It’s nice because it can feel like a blank slate. We have 360 some odd days to fill with activities, accomplishments, failures, etc. Some of you have goals you want to accomplish this year and then some of you don’t. I saw this meme on Facebook around Christmas time that says: “I hate it when people ask me if I’m ready for Christmas. No, Susan, I’m not even ready for today.” Maybe this applies to some of you for the New Year. Maybe you haven’t really planned it out. Maybe you are simply just coasting along, and hoping for the best. If you look at social media at all and have enough people on your social media, you will see a plethora of posts talking about goals set and resolutions made for the new year. It is the beginning of a New Year and a lot of you have probably made resolutions. You’ve made resolutions for everything from losing weight to saving money to getting up earlier. The question I have to ask you is how is that working out for you? Unfortunately, most of those resolutions and goals fall by the wayside. If you’ve already relented on your resolution, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. New Year’s resolutions are infamously difficult to stick with long-term and more than half of us give up on our resolutions long before January 31st. Why do we do this to ourselves? It only ends in guilt. I think the reason we make goals for the new year and set resolutions is because we know that we can do better. I think it is part of that divine spark in us that is calling us to something bigger. In the Scripture we read a few minutes ago, we see Jesus telling Simon Peter to put out into deep water and to let the nets down. Simon Peter responded with something like: “Well, we already tried that, but okay, since it’s you, I’ll try again.” Not only did they catch so many fish that their boats started to sink, but Jesus was saying that they were going to fish for more than just fish—they were going to fish for people!  Why settle for mediocrity when we can do better? We’ve all heard that saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We can apply that everywhere from our toasters to our spiritual lives. If my current prayer life is working for me, why should I change? I’m going to church every Sunday. For the most part, I listen (or at least pretend to listen) to the message. I participate. I leave feeling pretty good about my life overall. Sounds good, right? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… But what if it is broken and we just don’t have the insight to see that it is broken? What if God is calling us to more and through God, we would be able to do so much more if we didn’t have the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude? There are no perfect systems or ways of doing things. There are only improvements we make over time. God is calling us to do this with our spiritual lives—with our relationship with God—our relationship with ourselves—and our relationship with others. As the church, we are called to be in all of these relationships as we are called to make disciples. But it is easier for us to settle for what we have right here and right now. It is easier for us to settle into the mundane—it is easier to settle for mediocrity.  It’s easier to say, “I kind of know God” or “I have been baptized; got my ticket punched—just have to wait for heaven now.” It is easier for us as a church to say, “Well, the pews are almost full.” And I believe that we really do want to do better. But we procrastinate. If we set New Year’s resolutions, we are buying into the false belief that delaying the start date of whatever it is we’re trying to accomplish will somehow help us. I love these cartoons by Nathan Pyle. It is about aliens living life. In this cartoon, one of the aliens basically says “I’m going to become a better person.” His friend asks, “When?” He responds, “In a few days.” His friend asks, “On the day we traditionally become better people?” “Yes—but until then, I’ll probably get worse so I look even better when I actually try to be better!” Don’t we do that? Say you set a time for a diet. Meanwhile, you have all this sweet stuff in your house. Well, it has to go somewhere… Wouldn’t want to waste it, right? Have to get all of that stuff out of the house somewhere. And the diet doesn’t start until tomorrow… but then tomorrow never really seems to get here. Setting times in the future for us to focus on our relationships with God, ourselves, and others is just like that. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that goes, “Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?” But then sometimes when it comes to things in our faith, we flip it. “Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?” The goals we fail to set and stick to today become the baggage we carry with us into the future. But the goals we set today and stick with become the reward we have in the future. Goal setting and keeping take intentionality. It takes living intentionally to accomplish anything. Most of the time, we are so unsuccessful with our New Year’s resolutions because we don’t have a clear plan to work toward them. What if we intentionally set time aside every day to pray or read Scripture so that every day we are worshiping instead of only on Sunday? What if we spoke with friends of family about what we read and about what we prayed about so we could intentionally share it with others? About halfway through the week, you could look at the Luke 5 passage again that we read this morning to see if you see something different when you read it—see how the Scripture speaks to you. What is holding us back from doing that? There might be something deeper to our procrastination. Oftentimes, we blame one another or ourselves for procrastinating—and we call it laziness. But I believe it goes deeper than laziness. I think it permeates our souls. I believe that the core reason for procrastination on most things is the fear that we won’t get it right—the fear that we won’t be good enough—or even the fear of the unknown. What if we go deeper with God? I think some of us have the fear of what will happen if we get closer to God. It seems like the closer one draws to the divine, the more likely they are to hear God’s call on their own lives. In C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Mr. Beaver is talking with Susan about the lion, Aslan, who it was prophecied would come to free Narnia from the control of the witch. Susan asks of Aslan, “Is he quite safe?” Mr. Beaver responds with this perfect quote: “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Sometimes, we don’t want to be called out of our hidey-holes. We like our comfort zones. Lots of people like the same comfortable pew they sit in every week and the same comfortable worship service and then to go back to their same comfortable homes. But what if God is calling us to more? What if God is telling us right now to lower our nets into the water? What if God is telling us that we are made for so much more than where we are right now? What if something greater awaits? I have many favorite quotes and this is one of them, “If it excites you and scares you at the same time, it probably means you should do it.”  I challenge you this week to look deeply at your life and your walk with God. Spend time in prayer. Ask God if He is calling you to something greater. If so, don’t be afraid. Don’t procrastinate. If God is calling you to greater things, you might be tempted to be afraid, because of course he isn’t safe. But one thing I can assure you, God is good. Amen.

Is this the end of a season or just the beginning of something new? Find out more by listening to the podcast!

What would happen if we all gave it all when God called? That's what Mary did. She was up against a lifetime of ridicule and finger pointing. She gave up a good name to bring into this world the Savior.

Names mean everything. In Matthew's Gospel, he lists the genealogy of Jesus. He does this on the side of Joseph instead of Mary. Joseph is descended from David--that is King David. Because of Christ, we have the ability to become Children of God. What if we really knew we were royalty? Would it influence how we lived our lives? Watch for more!

Yesterday, we explored the life of Ebenezer Scrooge. How did he come to be the way he is? Some things in life have the tendency to make us bitter people. How do we not end up like Ebenezer Scrooge? What if we already are? And finally, if we are, how do we break the invisible chains of ignorance, apathy & indifference, and slavery? Where are you keeping faith, friends, and strangers at arm's length? Where are you pretending?For answers to these questions, watch the video above!

The first thing we ask each other around early November is, "Are you ready for Christmas?" People mean all kinds of things by this question, but mostly, what people mean by this question is, "Are your decorations out and is your tree up? Have you bought presents?"But really, are we ready for Christmas? I mean spiritually. For the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about the book of Job and talking about suffering. If you missed it, run back and check our Sermon Archive or our Sermon Podcast.Suffering doesn't sound exactly like a great Advent topic, right? We're all used to the nativity story with shepherds, sheep, kings, and camels. But, the story of Jesus begins long before that. The story of Christ in the lives of humanity begins in Genesis, and it begins with God.At the fall of humanity and creation, suffering would be a given. There would be pain and death. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. With death comes an assortment of pain and grief.Prophecies of Christ's birth come in the midst of darkness, pain, suffering, and death. Jesus was born into the chaos of the world to be light and life of humanity. My favorite Christmas hymn is 'O Holy Night.' In the second verse is the line,"The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,In all our trials born to be our Friend.He knows our need-- to our weakness is no stranger.God comes in the midst of our suffering. God comes in the dirt and grime of life. God reaches out to a hurting world and offers life in the midst of death. In our series on Job, we talked this week about how Job wants an encounter with God. He wants to know exactly why God is letting all these bad things happen to him. And Job gets an encounter with God--it is an encounter for which he was not prepared.When Job encounters God, ready to put God on the spot and demand answers, God comes to Job and asks Job some questions. God asks Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand." In other words, if you know everything, why don't you try telling me who I Am.This fixes it for Job. This is the comfort that Job needs. We have the privilege of a backstory to Job's suffering. Job did not have that privilege. We don't have reasons for our own suffering. But, what we will have, if we allow it to happen, is an encounter with God. That is what the Season of Advent is all about. It is about encountering God, lots of times, in ways we do not expect, and also in ways we have not encountered God before.So in this season, I wish you warmth, and I wish you a heart that searches for an encounter with God.

We all have those friends. Ever heard that saying, "With friends like you, I don't need enemies"? Job had those kinds of friends. If you've been following us, you'll already know we've been going through the book of Job...

"Sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes God lets the storm rage and calms his child." Listen for more!

Yesterday, we talked about the problem of suffering. We covered the text of Job - you probably know the text. "In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil..."Job had everything. He had kids. He had wealth. He had his homestead. He was living on top of the world and praised God for everything. He gave all glory to God.In our story here, Satan confronts God and says to God, you know Job wouldn't be so cool with you if the rug was jerked out from under him. God thought differently.God says to Satan, fine. Go ahead and touch everything he has, but don't touch him. So we know how that goes. Job loses everything. He loses everything from his family to his wealth to his health. He ends up scraping the sores on his body with potsherds - that is broken pieces of pottery. In my mind, these shards of pottery are part of Job's broken home. Job is using the rubble of his life to ease the itching of the sores on his body. Job has lost everything.Lots of us come to church for lots of reasons. I'll just say it. Suffering really stinks. There is sickness, death, grief, loss, etc. And sometimes, when this stuff inevitably becomes part of our lives, we are drawn to go to church. We say to ourselves, you know, if I show up to church, and pray and have all these people pray for me, maybe God will change God's mind. I have shown up and done my part, now God owes me. God needs to show up and do God's part.Then we have those on the other side of the spectrum, where they are cynical. When it comes to suffering, they say one of two things. Either 1.) God cannot control the situation, or, 2.) God does not care or does not exist.When we come to church out of a sense that God owes us something, or that God does not exist/doesn't have power/does not care, etc, we are trying to maintain our control over the situation.I'll say it again. Suffering really stinks. And, I'm not negating you come to church. However, if we come to church and seek God only during the bad times, we are not loving God; rather, we are just seeking God for what God can do for us. Suffering can kind of be like a mirror. It can tell us who we really are. When we are suffering, it can reveal to us what is inside because it is in these moments that we are most unlikely to be able to put up a facade.There is a movie from Dreamworks called Rise of the Guardians. It's an epic tale of the dream-team of Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Sandman. They are the guardians of the children of the world. When trouble arises, a new guardian is to be appointed - Jack Frost. However, this new guardian is reluctant to join because he is not like the rest of them. He's a carefree kind of guy. But then a problem arises that gets his attention - Pitch Black (the boogey man) has stolen the memories that could unlock events from Jack's past to help him remember who he was. They go on an epic adventure to fight Pitch Black and save the world from Pitch Black. At one point, however, Jack is with the guardians and North (Santa) is pressing him to see what is at his center. The center of the other guardians is hope, wonder, memories, and dreams. This is what motivates each of the guardians to what they do in their own specific roles.At that point, Jack doesn't know what his center is, but he finds out by the end of the movie. As Christians, what should our center be? What is our core? Hopefully, it is faith, and a true love for God. I hope you take the opportunity this week to think about what is at your center. What is your core? What is your center? Is it faith? Is it true love for God?

What do you want to be when you grow up? We ask that question to kids all the time. When we ask it, we usually mean, what career do you want to have when you grow up? At this point, anyone close to retirement age or already there may be checking out. DON'T DO THAT! Because, we're really asking you the same question. What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want to do in the time you're given? How do you want to spend your time?​We ask you these questions because you're not done yet. Your life is not over. Just because you're retired does not mean you have checked out of life.​What are you pursuing? What is that thing that God has placed on your heart? What is that passion? Sometimes that passion has faded away. And then we fade away too.We become average. We as the church are not called to be average. The Greek word for church is ecclesia and it comes from the phrase, "to be called out of." We're called out of this world that is superficial that is dominated by power. We're called to live by different values--that is above average and uncommon. The challenge is whether we're committed to live that lifestyle. We're so part of the story of the world that sometimes it is difficult to do otherwise.We want to invite you to be part of a bigger story--a world that lives by different values so that we can all say we know what we want to be when we grow up--I know who I want to emulate.In our world, we are surrounded by churches in decline. We see churches in decline. We see some churches that we can imagine that were once so beautiful. And there they are--shells of their former selves. These churches were once great, but now they're gone.​If faith isn't constantly fed and nourished, it goes away. It is like flame. If it is not given oxygen, it will slowly go out.The churches we're talking about just become average. Because of fear, they develop a siege mentality--a mentality of hunkering down and protecting ourselves from the ravages of the culture around us.​the difference between a thriving church and a dying church is not a lack of money, but simply a lack of will--a desire to be different--to live differently and live above the line--to do more than what is anticipated. Sometimes we have to live beyond and help people believe that there really is a possibility of being an uncommon church.​As a church, is it time for us to grow up? Do we need to be the church that we claim to be?​We're inviting you to be part of the future of the church by making a commitment to the church.​In the days of Paul, the church in Corinth stopped being the church. It needed deeper roots. The church forgot who it was. If you don't have great faith, you can't put it into action and if you don't put it into action, you can't have great faith. Paul was inviting the church in Corinth to go back to their roots. Read this scripture:​"God is the one who gives seed to the farmer and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" -1 Cor 9:10-15​If we are storing things up here and not for the Kingdom, have we forgotten our first love? How we love will always impact how we live. Do you know people who are very competitive? Whenever you hear people who are very competitive, it is often because they are trying to fill some void in their lives. What is lacking in your life that you are trying to fulfill?​Have you had an experience with Christ? When you come to church and partake of Holy Communion, it is God saying I love you and let's begin again. Have you had that personal experience?​Being around Jesus and being in His presence and understanding His life and how He showed grace to everyone inherently makes us better people. We need more Jesus.​The second thing that Paul does is invite them into a bigger story. What you do has an impact on everyone else around you. How you share and how you speak has an impact upon others. There's more to life than where you are now. Most of us have settled for lesser gods--our bank accounts, careers, etc. We're part of some bigger story and recognize there's more and that God is using us at this place and in this time to use us for leadership in this community. You have a leadership role in this community to make a difference.​That values of the world do not last and do not give a happy life. Our values are different. Our values are those of compasion and kindness and respect. But also courage to say no to some things and yes to others. It's about living an UnCommon life--the life of a disciple. When Jesus calls His disciples, He always says "Come and follow me." He never says to stay where you are. If we're going to go with Him, we have to go. It's time to stand up, take a stand, and say, "This is who I am." It's about moving from where you are into a bigger story.​What Paul is saying is that it is proof of your faith that you are part of something bigger. Where we seem to be more at war with one another, there can be a place to say, "These are my brothers and sisters." We are called to a bigger life. If we want to go deeper, we have to bear fruit. Love begin when the needs of someone else become more important than our own.​We start living in such a way that we find opportunities to serve and give ourselves to what God is doing. We can learn to be selfless. Are you learning to give away to gain what we never lose?​Money is like manure--it never works until it's spread around and help young things grow. Through our gifts, other people will come to know who God is. Then those people pray that they are like you. Can you imagine someone praying to God that they could be like you?​We celebrated Holy Communion yesterday. This is where God says to us, "This is my body broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you." It is God inviting us into relationship with Himself.​So the question here is do we want to be in relationship with God? Who do we want to be when we grow up? What do we want people to say about us when we have completed our journey and when we rest from our labors?

Charles Dickens wrote a Tale of Two Cities. It starts out this way: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…"​We see a stark contrast between these two cities. The two cities that Dickens is talking about is Paris and London. While Paris is in a steep decline, London is living it up.​We can also see this in our own lives and in our own church. What path do you see yourself on? What path are you on? Where are you in your life journey? This applies to us as a church as well. ​What path do you see our church on? What path is the church really on? Where are we in our life journey? This story can really make us sit up and take notice. Who are we as a people? There is a saying--if you really want to find out what is important to someone, look at their calendar and their checkbook. Jesus tells us that where our heart is, there our treasure will be also.This past week, we were given information that tells us that most of our churches are in decline. We are down to around 1,000 churches in the state. As a denomination, we are on the decline. It does not have to be that way. Let me tell you some characteristics of a common church--a church in decline.The common church is convenient, minimal, and sporadic. To quote 2 Corinthians 9:7, "You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives joyfully."​1.) The common church has a scarcity mindset. This is a very insular church that has a siege mentality. This is the church that in order to deal with the pace of change, just hunkers down—it is a church against the world. Hunker down and receive God’s blessing and then avoid culture in which God calls us to live. This is the church that is protecting what used to be. We all know the type.This is the church that wants to go back to the good old days. They want to go back to the days of "We filled up the pews... There were more than 100 people in the choir... etc.​2.) The common church is guilt driven in giving. This is the church that gives out of a sense of guilt. This is the "I have to" feeling and usually comes in the form of response to pressure.​3.) The common church does mindless giving. That is when you go to church and say, well, I'll just give whatever I have in my wallet. I don't know how much I have in there. I'm just putting something in the plate so that I won't be embarrassed when it comes around.​The common denominator of the common church is attitude. It is an attitude that is not responsive to God's love, but rather fearful of God's wrath or fearful of what others will think.​The UnCommon Church is different.​1.) In The UnCommon Church, generosity overflows. The source of generosity is deep, personal Gratitude. The UnCommon Church gives out of a deep and loving relationship they have with God. This is the church that doesn't give out of a scarcity mindset (being afraid of not having enough). Rather, this is a church that gives out of being grateful for everything that God has done and looks forward to seeing what else God will do with the gifts that they give.​2.) The UnCommon Church gives out of generosity that inspires. This is the church that gives and inspires others to do so as well. They do it of their own free will. Adlai Stevenson says, "I would rather light a candle, than curse the darkness." This is the church that lets their light shine in the world because light overcomes darkness. The more candles we have in the world, the brighter the world we have. This church gives to be a light in the darkness and inspires others to do the same.​3.) The UnCommon Church knows that generosity is visionary. This is the church that knows that the giving that is done today is not just for today, but rather, is for the future as well. This is the church that knows that its actions are not just for the here and now but for the there and then. The decisions and choices you make in this life will determine where you go in the next life. Choices you make today will echo in eternity.​So, on that note, I challenge you to be The UnCommon Church. Live life in such a way that those who know you but don’t know God, will come to know God because they know you.

Counterfeit Church -or- UnCommon Church?Welcome to an Uncommon CommunityThis is not your average church. This is not what most people expect, and that's a good thing. We are cut from a different cloth, walk a different path and work for a different purpose. We enjoy exploring the sacred mysteries of life in the Scriptures, overcoming our personal and cultural handicaps, and challenging one another to never give up or give in. We love sharing our stories of pain and triumph, serving others, and becoming a fearless community, in such a fearful world.

It is not at all uncommon for people to spend their whole lives just waiting to live. Someday, I'll be able to this or that. Someday is always just outside of our reach. So often, we just look for someday to arrive. Today is the day! Listen for more!

As Christians, we have responsibilities. We have the responsibility of sharing Christ with others. In order for people to have a relationship with Christ, people need to know Christ. In order for people to know Christ, they have to be introduced.We love God. God loves people. If we truly love God, we love people as well, and we love them enough to share Jesus with them.

Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed, which to be strictly accurate, is not the smallest of seeds, but in the east, the mustard seed was proverbial for its smallness. For example, the Jews talked of a drop of blood as small as a mustard seed; or, if they were talking of some tiny breach of the ceremonial law, they would speak of a defilement as small as a mustard seed and Jesus himself used the phrase in this way when he spoke of faith as a grain of mustard seed. So it was an expression or a figure of speech. Jesus uses this and the parable of leaven to make a few points. The first is that The Kingdom of God begins very small...

We often think that we have nothing to give to God because we are not famous or spectacular in any way that we can see. However, we have gifts that God has given us in order that we use them for God's glory and Kingdom.This week, we continued on with our series in parables by covering the Parable of the Talents.Here is a link to the Scripture:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A14-30&version=NIVThe question is will you be fearful and hide your talent in the ground, hoping to not be seen and slip under God's radar? Or, will you be fearless - taking risks in multiplying the gifts given to you for God's glory and the Kingdom of God?

We've been on a series of parables for the last couple of weeks. Most of us fall into the working class of people. In Jesus' day, it was no different. There was the aristocracy, and then there was the working class. Most of us reading this fall into that working class. The people in the days of Jesus gathered around to hear him speak. They were really asking the questions that we all secretly ask in our hearts: "Do I matter to God? Does God really care about us?" Life was hard. Life is hard today. If anything, with the advent of much new technology, it has gotten crazier. We become slaves to our busy lives, so much so, that we lose sight of God...We all ask those questions as well. Do I matter to God? Does God really care about me? We might distract ourselves from the discomfort of not knowing the answer to that question by packing our schedules full of tasks so that we do not have to ponder the answer or ask those questions to God directly.But two things we need to always remember are: that 1) God is always looking for us; God is always searching for us and waiting for us to return. 2) We are lost. We are not where we are supposed to be and life is about the journey to return home.​Once we recognize that reality, we ask the question, "What should we do?"​But the real questions is: Are we ready to return home? Are we ready to be found? Are we ready to make the necessary changes? Are we ready to receive God's plan? Are we ready to make that change?​Today, we covered the Parable of the Sower. There are four types of soil that Jesus describes in that parable. The first type of soil is the path. This translates into Barrenness. The word that falls here falls on deaf ears - or - it goes in one ear and out the other. This is the heart that is not receptive to what God has to say. This is the heart that possibly says to its neighbor, "Boy, I know a guy who really needs to hear this..." This heart says that the message is for someone else. If this is you, maybe you need to ask yourself, "What is God saying to ME today?"​The next type of soil is superficial. It is fleeting and fickle. The seed that falls on this soil springs up into a plant at first. But, when things get tough - when the rubber really hits the road in life and their faith is tested, the seed or the word that hits this heart withers and dies. If this describes the state of your heart today, ask yourself, "Where am I avoiding the cost of discipleship? Am I just in it for the good feelings? Do I just show up to church for the good music and the warm fuzzy feelings?"​The next soil is okay, but it is surrounded by weeds and the plant life that springs up in this heart is soon choked out by other things in life. The worries in this life can overwhelm us. We can want to keep up with our neighbors. This is where are busy-ness comes in. This is where our schedules have us by the hearts. Do you hear God whispering to you, "You're doing a lot, but you've been serving other gods - you've been loving and depending upon your busy schedule instead of loving and depending upon me."​Another thing that can also choke out faith is the deceitfulness of wealth. Wealth has a binding effect on us. It seems that the more we have, the more we want.We have to be extra careful about this kind of soil. It runs rampant in our culture today. It is so easy for us to become distracted. Sometimes, we have to ask ourselves, "Where am I inconsistent?" The busiest time of the year for churches is around Christmas and Easter. The sanctuary (worship space) is decorated pretty and people like to come to church because it's the traditional thing to do around those times of year. The time when it is not busy? July through August are our slowest months. This is simply because church has become a side note instead of a priority. I'll go even as far to say that God has become a side note in our lives instead of a priority. I'll say it again - we have to be extremely careful with this one in our culture because it is so easy for us to become distracted away from God.The final type of soil is the good soil - The Abundant soil. This is the heart where the word can grow and bloom. This soil - this heart - has the outward mindset. This heart asks the question, "Where am I giving to others? Do I have the fruits of the Spirit? Am I serving and sharing the joy that God has planted in my heart?"​The big question for all of us is: Are we ready for what God is wanting to do? Are we ready to hear what God has to say to US? Are our hearts receptive? Do we have that good soil?​Check your heart. Slow down a minute. Listen. What is God trying to tell you?

This week is a little different. This week, we are celebrating our children and our Kids First program here at Mt. Pleasant UMC!

Parables get us to look at our lives from the back side. What do our lives look like from the outside? What do our lives look like from God's perspective?​In Genesis 3, we see that Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves in order to cover up and hide from God. If we think that we are a little more sophisticated than that, think about all the ways that we hide today. We may not use fig leaves, but we hide in other ways.​We hide behind our jobs, our money, our 401k, our nice cars, our nice homes, etc.We pretend that all is well with the world if we have all of our stuff. Humanity used to walk in the cool of the day with God without shame. Now, the story has changed. God wants to help all of us come out of that dark place - out of fear and shame, and into the fullness of what God has in store for us. Parables can help us do that. Listen for more!Due to copyright issues, we have not included the audio from Disney. The link to that video reference is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqQ2mQV5b0w

We live in the age of forgetfulness. We are not where we were meant to be. Camus cays "Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is." Luke 19:10 says "The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." Sometimes we get lost. We run away to our jungles of our 9-5, filling our barns so that we can live the easy life some day. But are we living for our 9-5? We can forget who we are. In The Lion King, the spirit of Mufasa comes to Simba and tells him, "You have forgotten me... You have forgotten who you are and so forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life... Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king. Remember who you are."Due to copyright issues, we have not included the audio from Disney. The link to that video reference is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqQ2mQV5b0w