based on Acts 17:22-32. the sermon audio and video available at www.mympumc.net

1. Life Above the Clouds
MtUnited Methodist Church

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

3. Worship
Good To Great

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

5. Great churches INSPIRE themselves,
Great Churches INSPIRE others!

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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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;

10. 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.

11. ‘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.

12. 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.”

13. 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

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

15. Symptoms of Spiritual Ignorance
Ladder Climber self-reliant, idol is prosperity and fame, faith=weak
Treadmill Runner I am what I do, idol is busyness, faith=time
Crowd Pleaser I am who you say I am, idol is approval, faith=odd

16. Inspirational Worship Experience

17. 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…”

18. The Cure is regular doses of WORSHIP
Worship 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.

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

20. > 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

21. > 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

22. > Cure for an ECCLESIASTES Life
Yet 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

23. I see people whose heartfelt praise and worship touches
Heaven and changes earth; worship that elevated the
attitudes, actions and aspiration of its people.

24. Good To Great
215
240

25. 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

26. 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.

27. “Follow me …”

28. Generosity
Prayer
CommunityLife Groups
Worship
Good To Great

29. Good To Great

30. Should we… Hunger
Can we… Commitment
Will we… Sacrifice

31. 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 reality
Connects: brings us closer to God and others
Changes: a new perspective, a new attitude, a new path to travel