Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4651 to 4675 of 4972 results

4651. Liar, Liar

Exodus 20:16

Sermon

James Merritt

... . He is always lying to his son, Max, and he lied to him when he told him he would attend his fifth birthday party. When he didn't show up, as Max is blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, he has only one wish, "that his dad would stop lying for twenty-four hours." His wish comes true and for twenty-four hours, this man can no longer lie. Every word that comes out of his mouth is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Maybe someone should make that wish for most Americans, because we ...

4652. Why Me Lord?

2 Corinthians 9:6-8, Exodus 35:4-5, 10-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... met every need that we had. You see, the Christian life runs on two tracks—faith and obedience. Now the devil wants to throw you off the track into the ditch of doubt on the one side and the ditch of disobedience on the other. God's work is never stopped by a lack of money; only by a lack of faith and a lack of obedience. God is not in the money-raising business; God is in the faith-building business. Money doesn't please God, buildings don't please God, faith pleases God. If I were to ask you ...

4653. The Last Breath – The Fear of Death

Hebrews 9:27-28

Sermon

James Merritt

... be no do-overs. There will be no loop-holes. There will be no mistrials. Do you hear it? I say, "Do you hear it?" Listen very carefully. [60 second clock - play about 15 seconds.] That is the Death Clock. It is ticking for you. One day the clock will stop and you will have taken your last breath. If you know Jesus Christ, your last breath on earth will be your first breath in heaven. If you don't know Jesus Christ, your last breath on earth will be your first breath in hell, separated from a God that sent ...

4654. The Dark Side Confronted

Hebrews 12:5-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... dark side to bring us out of the dark side, so we can once again be productive. As He says in verse 11, "We can yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness." (Hebrew 12:11, NASB) Think about it. When God forces you to leave the dark side, you not only stop doing what you ought not to be doing; you start doing what you ought to be doing. I want you to listen to what the psalmist said in Psalm 119. He said, "I use to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow Your word. The suffering ...

4655. In God We Trust – Or Do We?

John 4:46-54

Sermon

James Merritt

... are far greater than miracles of glory. I want you to imagine a man staggers into this church shot in the chest, mortally wounded and you knew he only had one minute to live. Now let's just suppose I could magically put my hand on that man's chest, stop the bleeding, close up the wound, dissolve the bullet and he would rise up and walk. This would be all we would be talking about tomorrow at school and work. Let's assume this same man walks into this church and has no relationship with Christ and is on his ...

4656. Don't Be Afraid Of The Light

John 8:12

Sermon

James Merritt

... all the time, but which we could never see until the light shines. We look at everything around us every day using light. Whether it is a kid's crayon drawings, computer graphics, a beautiful sunset, a blue sky or rainbows, it is all because of light. Did you ever stop to think that when you look in a mirror, you are not really seeing yourself? What you are really seeing is the light that is reflecting off of you. If you don't try that or believe that, try looking at a mirror in the dark. When you look in ...

4657. Are You In The Know?

John 10:27-29

Sermon

James Merritt

... one clarification. Jesus went on to say about those who really know Him, "They follow Me." (John 10:27, NASB) Not everyone who says they have a personal relationship with God really do, because those that do will consistently live like it. That is why I just want to stop and say it is so important for those of us who claim to have a relationship with God to live like it, talk like it, walk like it and model it, because not everyone who says they have a relationship with God really does. I have to be honest ...

4658. God’s Guidance System

John 16:12-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... are two basic forms of communication this guide will use: the tapping together of ski poles to assure the blind person that the guide was there; and the speaking of simple instructions about what to do next. The guide may say, "Go right, turn left, stop, slow, skier coming up on your right." The only responsibility of the blind skier is to exhibit complete trust and immediate obedience to the instructions of the guide.[1] Life is much like skiing downhill totally blind. We can't see even five seconds into ...

4659. Mary: The Promise Conceived

Luke 1:26-55

Sermon

James Merritt

... power-house, just a humble Jewish girl, who loves God, wants to get married and raise a family. Without any prior warning, an angel appears to you with these words. "Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him, Jesus." Now stop right there. Mary is a virgin. She has never had relations with anyone and an angel is now telling her she is going to have a baby. You can expect Mary responded just exactly like you would have. "Mary asked the angel, 'But how can I have a baby ...

4660. Lasting Impression

Luke 3:34-38, Matthew 1:5, 16

Sermon

James Merritt

... that every single person on this planet is included in God's love. III. Everyone Is Important To God's Heart As we wrap up this beautiful mosaic that God has miraculously put together, in this family tree, remember that Matthew goes all the way back to Abraham, but he stops, because he is talking to the Jews. But Luke, who is also a Gentile, goes all the way back to Adam. "The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God." (Luke 3:38, NASB) While He was on this earth, Jesus Christ was ...

4661. The Masterpiece

Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-28

Sermon

James Merritt

... did God use all these people that you read in this family tree? He didn't have to. He could have just left Jesus on somebody's doorstep, but instead He did it through the mosaic of people like you and me. In spite of the Devil's best to stop it, the last name in the list says it all, "By whom Jesus was born who is called the Messiah." (Matthew 1:16, NASB) It is just as if God was saying to the entire world, "Just like I said I would do it, I did it. The mosaic is ...

4662. Joseph – The Promise Believed

Matthew 1:18-25; 2:13-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... to Joseph to flee? It is from the Greek word for "flee" that we get our English word, "fugitive" which refers to someone who is escaping from something or someone. What the angel literally said to Joseph was this, "Go now - Go quickly - Don't look back - Don't stop until you are in Egypt." Now Joseph is being asked to take a mother and a little baby 75 miles (which was the distance from Bethlehem to Egypt) and then another 100 miles into Egypt to get to a place of safety in that country. Traveling with a ...

4663. Hell under Fire

Matthew 5:22; 28-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... you look her in the eye Scott as you killed her? Was she alive when you put her in the bay? I think of Conner (Laci's unborn son) saying: 'Daddy, please don't kill us. I promise I won't take her away from you. Daddy, please don't. Stop.' Now it is time for you to take responsibility for murdering Laci and Conner, your son, your own flesh and blood....Now Scott Peterson, I say this to you: 'You deserve to burn in hell for all eternity.'" Mrs. Rocha's last statement raises some huge questions. Is there a ...

4664. Standard Building Codes

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

James Merritt

... an affair, or you are thinking about having an affair, let me give you some good news, because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, not only can any past sin be forgiven, but any present sin can be overcome. You can stop living together. You can get out of that affair. You can be forgiven. For those of you who have never gone down any of those roads, I hope your testimony could be that of the 2nd President of the United States, who said this about all the girls he ...

4665. A Little Dirt Is Good for You

Mark 7:1-23

Sermon

King Duncan

A teacher observed a boy entering her classroom with dirty hands. She stopped him and said, “Johnny, please wash your hands. My goodness, what would you say if I came into the room with hands like that?” With a smile the boy replied, “I think I’d be too polite to mention it.” A pastor says his son’s Sunday School teacher approached ...

4666. Fault-Finding

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Illustration

Warren Wiersbe

Before we are too harsh in judging those scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day, let's stop and look at ourselves. All too many Christians today go to church to find fault, to gossip, and to criticize. Warren Wiersbe, in his book Angry People, wrote, "An incident in the life of Joseph Parker, the great British preacher, illustrates this tragic truth. He was preaching at the CityTemple ...

4667. The Weakest Link

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... . But what's wrong with this picture? The problem is, this man thought then what a lot of people think today—he thought his goodness gained him "brownie" points with God. He thought God accepts a person based on what he or she does for Him. Let me just stop right here and give you three truths that we could already learn from this Pharisee that you should never ever forget if you intend to be right with God. You will never get to Heaven on the basis of the things you did not do. You will never get ...

4668. Hotline to Heaven

Matthew 6:5-15

Sermon

James Merritt

... were gathered. The Pharisees were really clever. Every afternoon sacrifices would be offered at the temple. At the same time everyday a trumpet would blow and would signal that it was time to pray. Wherever you were, and whatever you were doing, you were expected to stop and immediately begin to pray. You were to stand, turn toward the temple and begin to pray. Well, the Pharisees, who loved to make a show of their religion, realized this was a great time to strut your stuff. It was a great way to show ...

4669. The World’s Favorite Scripture

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... to see our faults with a telescope, while we look at other's faults with a microscope? That is why so often your faults look so much bigger than mine to me, and my faults look so much bigger than yours to you. But having said that if we stop here we won't ever understand what Jesus meant, because the key to this passage is verse 5 where Jesus tells us how to walk the tight rope between confronting the sin and condemning the sinner. He said, "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye..." (v.5 ...

4670. Never Give Up On God

Matthew 7:7-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... bathroom and take a shower. One day he was in the shower and he had the bathroom door shut and his little girl came banging on the door calling for him. With great irritation he shouted back out of the shower, "Can I have my privacy?" Well, the knocking stopped for just a moment. As he breathed a sigh of relief that tiny little voice came back and said, "Daddy, where is your privacy? I can't find it!" That is the spirit of prevailing prayer! Now why are we to keep asking, and keep seeking, and keep knocking ...

4671. Men in Black

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43

Sermon

James Merritt

... is not particularly stressed out by fear of punishment, he can beat the machine. He goes on to point out that even if a person is stressed there are still other ways to disguise stress. One is to coat the fingers with clear nail polish to stop perspiration. Another is taking a relatively strong tranquilizer or beta blocker because they inhibit adrenalin. Another way to beat the box is to think of something scary when you're telling the truth, or even press your toe against a tack in your shoe, so that ...

4672. Everyone's Talking about Him

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

King Duncan

An elderly man stopped at a hearing aid center and asked about prices. "We have them from $25,000 on down to $1.50," the salesman said. "What’s the $25,000 one like?" asked the elderly man. "Well, it translates three languages and is the latest in electronics," the salesman replied. "And what ...

4673. The Passion of the Christ – The Rest of the Story

Matthew 27:45-56

Sermon

James Merritt

... bleeding flesh. Almost every victim would go into what was called, "hypovolemic shock." Hypovolemic shock occurs when a person has suffered the loss of a large amount of blood. The heart tries to pump blood that isn't there. The blood pressure drops. The kidneys stop producing urine to maintain what volume of blood is left and a person becomes very thirsty, craving fluids to make up for the lost blood volume, all of which you see clearly happening to Jesus before He was even crucified. In other words, Jesus ...

4674. Houston We Have a Problem

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... in a prop plane. It was a double engine plane with about thirty passengers. They took off and not long into the flight they heard a noise and one of the ladies looked out the window of the other side of the plane and saw that the right engine had stopped. Her friend looked at her and said, "Oh no! What will we do now?" The other lady said, "I wouldn't worry about it. That is their side of the plane." Have you ever shared the blame for something when you really weren't involved? Have you ever taken the ...

4675. One Step at a Time

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... the walls. Now think about what would have happened if Nehemiah had not planned anything. If he had just taken the laissez-faire attitude, "Well, I'll just leave it all up to God," he would have hardly gotten out of the city until he would have been stopped and sent back because he didn't have a passport or had he gotten safely through these other countries, when he got to Jerusalem, he would have had no means to get the materials needed to rebuild the walls. Yet, even though Nehemiah prayed and planned, he ...

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