Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 3726 to 3750 of 4977 results

3726. You Can Take It to the Bank

2 Peter 3:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... is going to land in force; we do not know when. But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants to give us the chance of joining His side freely….God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere opening and directly in our world, quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens it is the end of the world. When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. One day this play called life is going to be over, and this stage called the world, is going to ...

3727. The Fountain of Truth

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... We're all just camping out. Jerry Glanville, who used to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, once said, "If you don't live in Atlanta, you're just camping out." When you die, you really just take down the tent and move to your permanent home. You quit camping out, and move to your home for eternity, whether it be heaven or hell. You would be interested to know that Robert E. Lee's last words before he died were: "Strike the tent!" What Peter was saying was, "I am going to die, but you will still have ...

3728. Preach the World and Reach the World

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Sermon

James Merritt

... you offend people? Yes. Will you upset people? Yes. Will you be called harsh, narrow-minded, mean-spirited, intolerant? Yes, but that's all right. Somebody came up to Billy Sunday one time after a particularly hard message on sin, and said, "Billy, you've got to quit preaching that way. You're rubbing the fur on the cat the wrong way." Billy Sunday said, "The old cat is heading toward hell. When she turns around I'll rub her the right way." Preacher, if people have never gotten mad over something you've ...

3729. The Truth about Trouble

2 Timothy 4:16-18

Sermon

James Merritt

... even in the midst of a trial in which his life was at stake. a. The Lord Will Save Us From Evil "And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work." (v.18) Now it is very easy to read that, and to either misunderstand what Paul said, or quite frankly, disbelieve it. Because we all know that things happen to Christians that on the surface appear to be evil, and they are not delivered. Now the word to deliver literally means "to take from the presence of." You see, there are two ways to be rescued from danger ...

3730. Better To Be a Loner than a Loser

Daniel 1:1-21

Sermon

James Merritt

... have the courage of our convictions and we ought to stand up for what is right. But you don't have to be a crank to have convictions. You can be right without being rude. You can be courageous without being crass. I am conservative to the core, but quite frankly I'd rather be around a nice liberal than a nasty conservative. There is never an excuse for a Christian to be unkind, unloving, or ungracious. We ought to be like the sales manager I heard about who was famous for his tact and diplomacy. There was a ...

3731. Doing Right When You Have Been Done Wrong

Ephesians 4:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... or to have other people get bitter toward you. In fact, if you just simply live long enough, regardless of what you do, you will have an opportunity to get bitter. I was interested to note that this particular topic that I am speaking on is quite a hot topic today. In light of the recent spate of school shootings we've had in this country, Time magazine recently ran an article with the title, "Should All Be Forgiven?" They conducted a survey in which they asked people whether or not they would forgive ...

3732. How To Get Better When You're Bitter

Exodus 15:22-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... . You think about poor Moses. In just three days he had gone from hero to zero. Three days earlier they were carrying Moses around on their shoulders and three days later they were ready to hang him from the highest tree. I've been in the pastorate now for quite a few years; pastored four different churches, and if there is one thing I've learned is this—you will never get rid of the critics. I remember when I went to my second little country church while I was in the seminary. Some of the people came up ...

3733. The Danger of American Express

Exodus 20:17

Sermon

James Merritt

... His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Eccl. 12:13) He discovered that only God can slake your deepest thirst, and satisfy your deepest hunger. 2. The Sad Reality Of Covetousness I have come to the conclusion that there is no other sin quite like the sin of covetousness. a. It Is A Deceptive Sin In I Thess. 2:5, Paul said, "We did not use a cloak for covetousness." Covetousness is a deceptive sin. I've never heard anyone admit to being a covetous person. The great preacher, Charles Haddon ...

3734. If You're Not Loving You're Not Living (Fruit of the Spirit: Love)

Galatians 5:22

Sermon

James Merritt

... what your marriage would be like, what your kids would be like, what your spouse would be like, what you would be like, if the tree of your home and your heart bore the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control. Now quite frankly, if a lot of us started bearing that kind of fruit in our lives, it would make us a stranger in our own home! The Bible compares every Christian to a tree. It is a tree that is to bear fruit. We have been given two ...

3735. You've Gotta Believe

Hebrews 11:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... in New York City, and he made this startling statement: One morning I woke up and some-thing had happened in the night and it struck me that I had been working on this stuff for twenty years, and there was not one thing I knew about it. That's quite a shock….for the last few weeks I've tried putting a simple question to various people in groups of people. Question is: Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing, any one thing that is true? I tried that question on the geology staff at ...

3736. A Trip to God's Woodshed

Hebrews 12: 5-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... spit." Well when God disciplines us, we can gripe about it, complain about it, but I want to tell you that resenting it is not going to remove it. b. You Can Reject It "Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him." (v.5b) That is, you can just quit, you can just give up. When God disciplines you and life gets a little tough, you can just totally desert God's army and drop out of God's school. You can say: "Well God, if this is the way you are going to treat me, I'm just not ...

3737. What Child Is This?

Isaiah 9:6-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... space to devote to defending the virgin birth. But there is only one reason to doubt the virgin birth, and that would be if you doubt God. Because if you don't doubt God there is no need to doubt the virgin birth, for with God all things are possible. Quite frankly, I can think of no reason not to believe in the virgin birth, but I can think of many reasons why I should believe in the virgin birth. One man was preaching on the Lord Jesus and his virgin birth, and a heckler said, "I don't believe that ...

3738. Glory Guaranteed

Jude 1:24-25

Sermon

James Merritt

... of her questions, and assuage every one of her doubts, but finally, his patience came to an end. He held up his hand and looked at her and said, "Madam, we guarantee satisfaction, or you will get your son back."1 There is nothing quite like a guarantee to put you at ease. The next time you are in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who have confirmed tickets and those who are flying standby. You can always tell the difference. Those with confirmed tickets are reading newspapers, talking ...

3739. The Love of the Harvest

John 4:34-38

Sermon

James Merritt

... retirement plan is tremendous!" Now I want to ask you a question. Do you believe what Jesus said here about being a part of the harvest? Do you believe that when you sow or when you reap, that you gather fruit for eternal life? Nobody could say it quite like Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and the great Spurgeon once said, "If someone were to offer you a thousand dollars for every person you reach for Christ, would you make more of an effort than you do now when the reward is an eternal crown?" Notice one other ...

3740. Have You Seen the Light?

John 9:1-41

Sermon

James Merritt

... one is in darkness because they cannot come to the light, but because they will not come to the light. I heard a story of a man who used to pilot a small plane. One night one of his passengers asked this pilot: "What would happen if your engine suddenly quit?" The pilot smiled and said, "Well, I would glide as far as I could, and then as I got near the ground I would turn on the lights." The passenger said, "Then what would you do?" The pilot replied, "Well, if I didn't like what I saw I would ...

3741. What Are Your Chances of Going to Heaven

John 14:6

Sermon

James Merritt

... but Jesus is the life of regeneration. With this one divine dogmatic declaration, Jesus makes it unmistakably plain that He alone is the way to heaven. Now I want you to listen very carefully to what Jesus said. Because if Jesus was not who He said He was, quite frankly, nothing else really matters, but if Jesus was who He said He was, nothing but that really matters. I. He Is the One Who Guides Our Direction He said, "I am the way." Now that statement alone would raise the world's eyebrows. Jesus said the ...

3742. The Right Connection

John 15:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... return to earth. When all was made ready, Larry Walters sat down in his chair and cut the anchoring chord. He thought he would just lazily float up a couple hundred feet, spend a while looking around the neighborhood, and then float back down to earth. But things didn't quite work out that way. When Larry cut the chord, he didn't lazily float up, he shot up as if he had been fired out of a cannon. He didn't go up a couple hundred feet, he climbed and climbed until he finally leveled off at eleven thousand ...

3743. Dad: The Head of a Godly Family

Joshua 24:15

Sermon

James Merritt

... . You don't turn your children against bathing by making them take a bath. You don't turn your kids against eating by making them eat at mealtimes. You are not going to turn your kid against church by making him go to church. If a kid grows up and quits going to church, it's not because you made him go. It's either because he saw hypocrisy in your life or hypocrisy in someone else's life. Or really, it is because he has a rotten rebellious heart that needs to be broken before God. As long as your ...

3744. Joy to the World

Luke 2:8-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... such a time of joy and mirth and celebration, is because of someone who doesn't even exist—they call him Santa Claus. With all due respect, if Santa Claus is the best this world can come up with as to why we ought to celebrate Christmas, then quite frankly we probably ought to just forget about Christmas. May I share with you just a few of the differences between Santa and Jesus? Santa lives at the North Pole…JESUS is everywhere. Santa rides in a sleigh…JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water ...

3745. The Way Over Is Under

Luke 7:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... their parents they are really obeying God. That's why Paul said in Ephesians 6:1, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." (Ephesians 6:1, NASB) Children must be taught early and often to submit to the proper authority. Quite frankly it is a lesson that must be continuously taught and continuously learned even after children become adults. The great basketball coach, John Wooden, had a rule against facial hair for players on his UCLA basketball teams. One day his All-American center ...

3746. Like a Good Neighbor, Jesus Is There

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... is not just one way to God, that every way to God is all right if you are sincere about it. So people try to justify themselves before God in their own way. Well, I have news for you. You will never get yourself justified until you quit trying to justify yourself. Nevertheless, this lawyer has now asked a second question, and Jesus proceeds to answer that question in a way that was both disturbing and shocking. II. A Lord Giving Light In response to the question "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answers with one ...

3747. What Impresses God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'" (vv.10-12) I know immediately you are ready to jump all over the Pharisee because he is, to say the least, a little bit arrogant, but let's give the devil his due. Quite frankly, he really was an Eagle Scout. He dotted every religious "i" and he crossed every theological "t." He went strictly by the book. He had a heart for religion; the problem was his religion had no heart. He is standing in the center of the inner court right ...

3748. A Streetcar Named Desire

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... . He was the chief thief of the IRS. He was hated and despised by Jew and Gentile alike. The only time Jesus ever invited himself into someone's home, it was the home of a tax collector. Now this was a class of people that are unpopular quite frankly in any age, but especially in the days of Jesus. They collected taxes on a commission basis and were given to overcharging the people so they could line their pockets with excess profits. Most Jews viewed them as traitors, as well as thieves because they were ...

3749. How to Deal with Friends, Foes, and Fools

Proverbs 27:6

Sermon

James Merritt

... relationship with our friends. For that is where we will spend most of our lives, and I believe this relationship is the most crucial of all. I. Be Committed To Friends Early on, our children need to learn how rare and valuable true friendship really is. Quite frankly, none of us makes very many true friends at least we better not! Solomon warns us, "A man of many friends comes to ruin." (Prov. 18:24, NASB) Nobody has many true friends, and it is dangerous to have too many "friends." Nevertheless, as you ...

3750. Tastes Great, Less Filling - Sounds Good, Not True

Proverbs 23:29-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... Baptists drink, and an estimated 16% of those who do drink become alcoholics, a higher percentage than virtually any other religious group in the nation. Furthermore, one-fourth of all active Southern Baptist church teenagers have used alcohol in the past twelve months.4 Quite frankly, I could have easily left this chapter out of this book. After all, this is the day of ducking the issue rather than telling the truth. But Solomon did not flinch in facing the topic of alcohol and drinking, and neither will I ...

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