Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2151 to 2175 of 5000 results

2151. The Family That Prays Together Stays Together

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

James Merritt

... cannot fight your love. A great Bible teacher by the name of J. Sidlow Baxter, once said, "Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers."4 The Lord Jesus told a parable that illustrates not only the power of prayer, but how, using these principles, a family that will pray together can stay together. I. We Are To Pray Continually "Then He spoke parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart." (v.1) The ...

2152. What Impresses God

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... wanted to hear. It hit me as I was thinking about this, that there is only one thing worse than being a sinner. The only thing worse than being a sinner is not admitting that you are one! Now the reason why Jesus told this story was to illustrate a principle. III. The Principle That Fulfills Itself "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (v.14) The Lord Jesus draws a conclusion ...

2153. A Streetcar Named Desire

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... was your age. Perhaps you think there's no use trying to think of anything new, that everything's been done wrong. The simple agrarian America of Franklin's day didn't begin to need the answers we need today go do something about it.1 Benjamin Franklin is an illustration of the fact that there is potential for greatness in all of us, but greatness is not given, it is earned. Greatness is not a matter of luck, chance, or fate. There really are some steps anyone can take to be all they can be, and to be the ...

2154. Why Were the Wise Men Wise?

Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon

James Merritt

... the Jews. That was a Jewish reference to the Messiah. There are over three hundred prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament, and the Lord Jesus fulfilled every one of them. Time will not permit us to cover them all, but just to look at two or three to illustrate this: In Isaiah 7:14 we are told that Jesus would be born of a virgin. In Matthew 1:20-25 we are told a virgin gave birth to Jesus. In Genesis 49:10 we are told that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. In Jeremiah 23 ...

2155. Thou Shalt Not Judge - True or False?

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... 's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck out of your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?" (vv.3-4) Now the Lord Jesus gives a humorous, but brilliant, illustration of the problem with judging other people. He speaks of a person trying to remove a splinter out of one person's eye when he has a plank in his own eye. It was Shakespeare who said, "Men's faults do seldom to themselves appear." I read a story about ...

2156. Don't Forget to Forgive

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon

James Merritt

... . You never get even by trying to get even. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one makes you but even with him; forgiving him sets you above him."2 III. The Principles Forgiveness Promotes To illustrate the truth about real forgiveness, Jesus tells a parable. In this parable he shares six vital principles to remember about true forgiveness. You can neither forgive, nor truly understand forgiveness, until you under-stand and apply these principles in your own ...

2157. How to Deal with Friends, Foes, and Fools

Proverbs 27:6

Sermon

James Merritt

... his ability to get along with people. In the survey management rated this ability more vital than intelligence, decisiveness, know-ledge, or job skills.3 Relationships can make your child or break your child (and you, for that matter). A true story illustrates graphically just how crucial our relationships are, and how vital it is we choose to enter into the right ones. Several years ago, two young women from Southern California spent the day doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in Tijuana, Mexico, a ...

2158. Put Up and Shut Up

Proverbs 18:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... .C. Armstrong and Son, 1898), pp. 163-164. 2 Robert B. Downs, Books that Change the World (New York: New American Library, 1956), p. 129. 3 Charles R. Swindoll, Active Spirituality (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1994), p. 62. 4 Michael P. Green, ed. Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Book House, 1989), p. 378. 5 R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. & Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. II, (Chicaco: Moody Press, 1980), p. 848. 6 Peterson, The Message. 7 ...

2159. My God Is Real

Psalm 14:1-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1) I can say, without shame, I would rather live by faith than to die in doubt. W. O. Saunders, an atheist, once wrote these words in the American Magazine. They will break your heart, but they illustrate the truth of this message: I would like to introduce you to one of the lonesome and unhappiest individuals on earth. I am talking about the man who does not believe in God. I can introduce you to such a man because I myself am one, and introducing ...

2160. There's God In Them There Hills

Psalm 19:1-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... the moon the right size, and placed it at the right distance, so the tides would come in and out on time and clean up the oceans and shores of our continents.8 The former President of the New York Academy of Sciences, Dr. A. Cressy Morrison, once gave this illustration: He says: "Suppose I would take ten pennies and mark them one to ten, and give them to you to put in your pocket. I ask you to give them a good shake and then say, 'I'm going to reach into your pocket and draw out penny number one ...

2161. America: You Are Too Young to Die

Psalm 80:1-19

Sermon

James Merritt

... 's Providential History (Charlottesville, Virginia: Providence Press, 1989), p. 141. 4 Charles Barton, The Myth of Separation(Aledo, Texas: Wall Builder Press, 1991), p. 25. 5 Cited by D. James Kennedy, The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail, p.133. 6 Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, Paul Lee Tan, p. 1540. 7 Vance Havner, Pepper and Salt, p. 9. 8 Jim Nelson Black, When Nations Die, p. 217. 9 Dennis Waitley, Being the Best (Oliver Nelson, Nashville: ), pp.141-142. 10 Steven Mansfield, Never Give In, p. 193.

2162. God's Will: Don't Leave Home Without It

Romans 12:1-2

Sermon

James Merritt

It was one of those attention-grabbing headlines that made me stop and read the article. The headline read: "Plane With A Mind Of Its Own Crashes." The story that followed was not only very funny, but illustrated a great truth. Here is the story: Paul Sirks owned a Vintage single-engine plane, a 1946 Aeronca Champ. He had landed the plane at Grimes Field Airport in Urbana, Ohio, because of mechanical problems. The plane's engine had stalled on the runway and Sirks got out to restart ...

2163. In Defense of the Offense

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Sermon

James Merritt

... I'm going to obey my Lord and Savior, there is really no way of getting around being an offense to people like you." That's why this morning I want to speak in "defense of the offense." Every religion and ideology has its visual symbol which illustrates its history and beliefs. For example: Buddhism uses the Lotus Flower. Because of its wheel shape it is thought to depict the cycle of birth and death, and the emergence of beauty and harmony out of the muddy waters of chaos. Judaism has adopted the Star of ...

2164. Foundations for the Future

1 Corinthians 3:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... very top is the budget. There is a reason for that. The budget must come first. In a real sense, I wish I could also put the budget at the bottom because the budget is the foundation of everything that we do in this church. Let me give you this illustration. Those of us who run a household know that when we get our paycheck, hopefully after we have written a tithe to the Lord, the first thing we have got to do is take care of the essentials. We've got to pay the light bill, the water bill, the ...

2165. Whatever It Takes

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... offense, so be it. In fact, he said in 1 Cor. 1:23, "But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness." But where the message might be offensive Paul was determined that the man would not be offensive. There is a great illustration of this in the 16th chapter of Acts. It's the first time we meet a young man named Timothy, who was Paul's son in the gospel. His father was a Gentile, therefore he was considered a Gentile. He loved God and he wanted to reach people for ...

2166. The World's Greatest Body Builder

1 Corinthians 12:13

Sermon

James Merritt

... has many members, But all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to drink into one spirit." To illustrate the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul used the analogy of the human body. In fact, from I Corinthians 12:12 to 12:27, the word soma which means body is used 18 times. It is through Holy Spirit Baptism that the world's greatest body has been ...

2167. Love: The Happiness of a Godly Family

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Sermon

James Merritt

... I Say a Little Prayer for You," "Close to You," "One Less Bell to Answer," and the Academy Award-winning "Rain-drops Keep Fallin' on My Head." But they wrote one song that captured the heart of America perhaps more than any other because it perfectly illustrated our loneliness and hunger for real love: What the world needs now is love,sweet love, No not just for some but for everyone; Lord, we don't need another mountain, There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb, There are oceans and rivers enough ...

2168. Science and the Bible

John 17:17, 1 Timothy 3:16

Sermon

James Merritt

... the God of science. If the Bible, therefore, is God's word, it can never be scientifically wrong. You see, most scientists have a problem with God, which is why they also have a problem with the Bible. Let me give you an illustration. Robert Shapiro, a leading scientist, once made this statement: Some future day may yet arrive when all reasonable chemical experiments run to discover a probable origin for life have failed unequivocally. Further new geological evidence may indicate a sudden appearance of life ...

2169. How to Handle the Mess of Stress

Exodus 18:23-27

Sermon

James Merritt

... . Second, appropriate God's power. You cannot meet stress on a day-to-day basis in your own strength. Listen, stress will sap your strength, but His strength will sap your stress. You know there are two ways of handling pressure, and one is illustrated by a bathysphere, a miniature submarine that is used to explore the ocean in places so deep that the water pressure would crush a conventional submarine like an aluminum can. Bathyspheres have been known to dive up to 37,000 feet into the ocean. Scientists ...

2170. The Pride Is Right

Jeremiah 9:23-24

Sermon

James Merritt

... conceive God. "But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me." (v.24a) Now I want you to think about two statements. First of all, there is a God you can know. Secondly, you can know God. In fact, the Bible uses several analogies to illustrate how we can know God. We can know God as a son knows a father. We can know God as a wife knows a husband. We can know God as the sheep knows the shepherd. It's interesting how you can spend years with someone, working beside them, living next ...

2171. Pour the Salt and Turn on the Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

James Merritt

... , the one thing that can contaminate the salt of our life is the dirt of worldliness. One man said, "I look for the church and found it in the world, and when I looked for the world I found it in the church." Let me give you an illustration of what I am talking about. When we conform to the culture, instead of transforming the culture, we lose our seasoning. You would think that Christian families would be the salt of the earth, and yet think about this: Children from Christian homes now watch more MTV than ...

2172. It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Matthew 5:31-32

Sermon

James Merritt

... he was really quoting Scripture when he said, "It ain't over till it's over." God says marriage should never be over until death do you part. 1 William J. Bennett, The Broken Hearth, p. 142. 2 Cited by Bill Bright, The Coming Revival, p. 54. 3 Illustrated Digest, # 1, 1996, pp. 11-12. 4 "43% of 1st Marriages End in 15 Years," USA Today, May 25, 2001. 5 World, Oct. 28, 1995. 6 Cited by William Watkins, The New Absolutes, p. 94. 7 "Study: 33% of Born Again Christians Divorce," The Atlanta Journal Constitution ...

2173. Your Word is Your Bond

Matthew 5:33-37

Sermon

James Merritt

... your honesty. You know there are some people who pride themselves on being "brutally honest." Many times I have found that people are more brutal than they are honest, and there are times when making no comment is better than making an honest comment. Let me illustrate. A woman was trying on different dresses at the mall. She found one dress in particular she just loved, but she was afraid it might make her look too big. Well, her husband was shopping with her. She said, "I need your opinion on something ...

2174. Why You Should Manage Your Time

Psalm 118:24

Sermon

James Merritt

... all the time you need to do what you need to do. You see, the only things you need to do are the things that God wants you to do, and God will give you all the time you need to accomplish what He wants you to do. A great illustration of that is the Lord Jesus Himself. Think about it. He only lived 33 years. Of that 33 years He only had three years in which to fulfill His ministry and do what God called Him to do. Yet, Jesus said in John 17:4: “I have glorified You on ...

2175. In Love with Howard

Matthew 13:44-46

Sermon

King Duncan

... ,” Proceedings of the Sixteenth World Methodist Conference, Singapore, July 24‑31, 1991 (The World Methodist Council, Lake Junaluska, N. C., 1992), pp. 93‑94. 3. Dr. Worth Green, http://www.npmc.org/sermons/psalm97.htm. 4. Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), from the editors of Leadership. 5. Source: American Bible Society, retrieved August 13, 2005. Cited by W. B. Freeman, The Longer-Lasting Inspirational Bathroom Book (New York, NY: FaithWords Hatchette Book Group USA, 2007 ...

Showing results