Life Above the Clouds

Mt PleasantUnited Methodist Church

Mt Pleasant is definitely a GOOD Church…But… are we will to be a GREAT Church?

Worship

Good To Great

There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”

Simon Sinek

Great churches INSPIRE themselves,Great Churches INSPIRE others!

I n s p i r a t i o nto excite, energize, and breathe life into

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.

So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth;

and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” Act 17:22-32

Everyone Worships, though not everyone knows what or whyGeneral Ignorance: out of habit, unaware, without thoughtGod is real and beyond your control.God has a purpose for you! Seek Him!Everyone is accountable, here’s proof!Go with the Willing!

Symptoms of Spiritual IgnoranceLadder Climber self-reliant, idol is prosperity and fame, faith=weakTreadmill Runner I am what I do, idol is busyness, faith=timeCrowd Pleaser I am who you say I am, idol is approval, faith=odd

Inspirational Worship Experience

We want as many people as possible to have an encounter with Jesus in a joyful, liberating atmosphere, among friendly

faces, feasting on the Word of God, so that they will experience and respond to Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me…”

The Cure is regular doses of WORSHIPWorship lifts us up out of time, beyond circumstances, and above our petty squabbles to see both the challenges before us and beauty within us from God's perspective instead of being trapped in an earthly, time-bound viewpoint. It satisfies our hunger meaning.

“If you love anything in this world more than God, you will crush that object under the weight of your expectations.”

Timothy Keller

> Love is HIGHER and HARDER than you think“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:12-13

> Strength and Solidarity in WEAKNESS“The difference between suffering which destroys us and suffering

which transforms us begins with the presence of a caring, thoughtful other who is willing to acknowledge that brokenness with us.”

Ron Johnson

> Cure for an ECCLESIASTES LifeYet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled

to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Eccl 2:11

I see people whose heartfelt praise and worship touches Heaven and changes earth; worship that elevated the

attitudes, actions and aspiration of its people.

Good To Great

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Next Steps Lead by Example – “the church is just like me” Invite visiting family and friends Share a Mt Pleasant UMC Invitation Card Introduce Yourself to others before/after worship Pray for our visitors and church Invite a friend from work, a neighbor, a relative Re-Post the sermon topic each week on Facebook Post a thought, question or comment on Facebook Join the choir, praise team, usher, greeter, counters Go Mug somebody

Worship

I see a GREAT Church so courageous that they will go the distance, pay the price and rise to every challenge

just to watch Jesus change the lives of others, including their own.

“Follow me …”

Generosity

Prayer

CommunityLife Groups

Worship

Good To Great

Good To Great

Should we… HungerCan we… CommitmentWill we… Sacrifice

The Worship Ministry is the catalyst that inspires people from passive consumer to courageous disciples. Worship convicts, connects and change us from the inside out.

Convicts: does not shy away from realityConnects: brings us closer to God and othersChanges: a new perspective, a new attitude, a new path to travel