Touching Lives With Dr. James Merritt

There is a line that is clear when it comes to where you stand on marriage, and you will either be on one side or the other. You will either be on the side of celebration by accepting what culture says or condemnation by affirming what God says. So here is my simple message today. Model marriage is what God has designed and what God has defined. In order to get this right, we are going to go back to the first wedding that resulted in the first marriage in history. As you are going to see, I got this idea from Jesus, because the only time Jesus was asked specifically regarding divorce, He went back to the first book of the Bible and so will we. When we do this, we will see what a true model marriage is.

As much as it pains me to say it, in our culture today, there is no such thing as committed sex; it is casual sex. Since 1960, the rate of marriage has been declining steadily and here now in what is best described as a low-commitment culture of “sex without strings and relationship without rings.” To go a step further, by the age of 18, over 75 percent of those who never attend church and almost 53 percent of those who do attend church weekly are no longer virgins. So as we look at our text in I Thessalonians 4, keep one thing in mind. The sex drive is God-given and there is nothing wrong with sex. It is just that God-given sex should be God-guided sex. God has a plan, a place, and a purpose for sex. When that plan is followed and that purpose is fulfilled, that is when sex is best. You’ve got to remember – It is God’s will that you don’t say, “I will” until you say, “I do.” God not only wants what is best for you, but He wants it when it is best for you, and when you get it, He wants it to be the best it ca

As we read today’s key passage, we see Joshua is the commander- in-chief and leader of the nation of Israel. He has led the people into the Promised Land that God has promised them, but he wants to make sure they keep that land and prosper in that land. He wants them to live happily ever after. But on this day, he is not talking as the commander-in-chief or as a political leader; he is talking as a dad who has a family. He makes this momentous statement: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (v.15). In effect, he drew a line in the sand. He said, “Even if no one else comes to stand on this side of the line, my family and I will.” He chose to lead his family to do three things that I am going to ask you to do as well.

In today’s key passage, God tells Moses to do something very important. In a nutshell, He says, “Make sure that your children and your grandchildren love God with all their heart.” The fact was that at that time in history, people didn’t associate love and God. All of their experiences with gods had been about making sacrifices and focusing on works. But the God of Israel changed all of that. And the truth is, seeing God as loving and also choosing to love God are truths we want each and every generation to embrace. We need to teach the next generation to know the truth of God's Word so that they will know the God of that truth. So in this message, we’re going to look at the four ways we are to do just that in our homes.

There's a letter in the New Testament called First Timothy. It was written by the Apostle Paul to his young protégé who was going to take over pastoring the church in Ephesus. Timothy was young, barely 30 years old, and quite inexperienced. But Paul lets him know that though you may be lacking in education or experience, the one thing you can always be is a role model. The main lesson I want us to take away from this message is our role for the next generation is to be a role model. We can do that in four ways, and we’re going to discuss each of those in detail.

The psalmist who wrote today’s key passage of Scripture is encouraging the people not to let history repeat itself, to learn from the mistakes of the past, and to defeat them in the present. In these eight verses, we are going to learn three things that we must do to make disciples of every generation. Simply put, we must always touch the next generation by teaching them andreaching them with biblical truth.

It is the start of a new year, and we are all in the same boat. It is called “social jetlag” but I call it a “holiday hangover.” Maybe you’ve slept late, taken time off of work, partied it up, ditched your diet, enjoyed the new gadgets, and swapped your gifts. But now it is time to re-enter the real world of traffic, alarm clocks, school, and making a living. You have neither the will nor the energy to do it, but the new year is coming one way or another. So what kind of year are you going to have in 2024? I hope and pray it’s a holy new year! But how can we make that happen? That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this message.

As we wrap up this Christmas series, we are going to learn about what happens when we follow Jesus wherever He wants us to go. When you surrender to God’s call you are under God’s care. We already know that Joseph never had it easy. God didn’t promise Joseph a rose garden. There was a high price he paid to be the father of Jesus. We learn three things that were true of Joseph all of his life that are true about you and me when we simply surrender to the will of God in our lives.

In today’s most familiar passage of the Christmas story, we are going learn some unbelievably valuable life lessons that I pray we will never forget. If we can remember these truths when we face the difficulties of life, we will step up and be what God wants us to be and do what God wants us to do. Here is the principle to remember: No matter what is in front of you, God is always ahead of you. Let’s look at how this truth plays out in the life of Joseph.

We are embarking on a three-week study of an unsung hero in Scripture: Joseph, the father of Jesus. Even though only sixteen verses in the Bible mention Joseph by name, you are going to see his influence was much stronger and much greater than what is implied, because he truly is an unsung hero who is going to teach us what it really means to follow the Jesus of Christmas. We are going learn from Joseph that commitment to the will of God will bring clarity about the will of God.

Today’s key passage of Scripture contains a very famous verse. It says, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Can you imagine what could happen in this country if every family made that decision? Do you think the crime rate would go down? Do you think our jails would be emptier? Do you think our marriages might be stronger? Do you think schools would be safer? Joshua shares with his people that he is going to lead his family to do three things with all his might and power. I would encourage every family and every household head to give this same direction, make this same decision, and have this same determination for your family.

Being thankful is so important to God that He actually commands us to be thankful. A man in the New Testament by the name of Paul went through a tremendous amount of suffering and heartache that would cause anybody to be bitter and ungrateful and maybe even mad at God. He wrote these words, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:18) You may not feel very thankful right now because of where you are in your life. Even though you may not feel thankful you can be thankful. This great man tells us how to be thankful and why to be thankful.

I want to ask you a question. When people are around you, do they know who you have been with? I want people to know that when they are around me there is one person I have been with, that I walk with, that I live with, that I stay with every day and His name is Jesus. That raises the big question, “How can people know that I have been with Jesus? What will be true of me and true of you if we have been with Jesus? What are the marks of a person who has been with Jesus?” You are going to see in this message that what was true of these men in Acts chapter 4 can be, should be, and will be true of us if we have been with Jesus.

Today’s key verse amazes me coming from a man who had a lot to brag about. When he was alive, he was the greatest preacher in the world, the greatest missionary in the church, the greatest teacher of the faith, the greatest theologian, and the greatest religious author. He wrote more books than anyone else in the New Testament. He had a lot to brag about. Yet, Paul said, “There is only one thing I’ll brag about. There is only one thing I will ever show pride in. There is only one thing that will make my heart swell, and it is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul is saying that, as believers, our lives should be lived in the shadow of the cross of Jesus Christ. In this message, we’re going to see exactly what it means to live in the shadow of the cross. Let’s dive in together.

So often in our society today, the concept of “truth” is up for debate. What is right? What is wrong? What or who determines right from wrong? These are questions that people are constantly trying to answer. But the truth is, if you try to make right and wrong a matter of human choice, human reason, or human decision, you are out on a limb that will break every time. One of two things is true. Either what is right is right in our eyes or what is right is right in God’s eyes. With this in mind, I want to give you three reasons why only with God can you have morality. Only with God can you know what is right and what is wrong, and only with God can you tell the difference.

One of the greatest problems we have in the church is that we have too many people who have made decisions, but too few people who have become disciples. What we have in the church more often than not are not disciples; we have cultural Christians. These are people who proudly bear the label of Christian, but they don’t truly live the life of a disciple. The only cure for cultural Christianity is discipleship. In Luke chapter nine, Jesus tells us what it takes to become a disciple in just one sentence. I am going to reverse engineer what Jesus said and show you four marks of a cultural Christian. As I do, I want you to decide whether or not you are a true disciple or a cultural Christian. 

I truly believe that the best life, the greatest life and the only life to live is the cross-shaped life. That is a life where we worship, we are discipled, we serve and then we are sent. Now, please understand that this is not an idea I made up. It actually comes from a vision that a prophet named Isaiah had 2800 years ago. Isaiah had a front-row seat to see who God really is and it changed his life forever. From that moment on, he became a “sent” person. The reasons he was sent are the same reasons that we should want to be sent as well. Let’s look at those reasons right now. 

If you are a follower of Christ, you have been called to be a minister for Christ, to serve others with the gifts and talents you’ve been given. What’s more, you will maximize your fulfillment in life, your enjoyment of life, and your impact in life when you find the sweet spot of serving other people. A disciple called Peter wrote a book called I Peter in which there are several reasons why we should not look at serving as something we have to do, but something we should want to do. Let’s look at those reasons right now. 

If I were to ask ten people in this room to write down their definition of worship you would get ten different answers. Amazingly, though the Bible talks very much about worship and describes what worship looks like, worship is really only defined in one place that I can find in the Bible, and that is in Romans 12. In this passage, Paul tells us that worship is giving all that I am to all that God is. That means you can come to church. You can lift your hands. You can sing at the top of your lungs. You can listen to every word that is preached and take copious notes. You can even drop a dime or a dollar in the offering, but you have not worshipped until you have given all that you are to all that God is. 

Whether your last graduation was from college, high school, or pre-school, there is another graduation day that awaits all of us and for some of us it will be the greatest graduation day of all. It will mean no more death, no more disease, no more sin, no more sorrow, and no more suffering. For others, it will be a day of dread and disappointment, discouragement and defeat that no mind can even conceive. I am talking about that time when we are all physically raised from the dead. Today’s key text, 1 Corinthians 15, is what you could call Paul’s doctoral thesis on the subject of the resurrection. Specifically, he talks about the resurrection of the Christians. So as we study this text, let’s consider what the resurrection is and why it is so important.