Touching Lives With Dr. James Merritt

If you get through this life, particularly in the culture of this world, and you are never in any way, shape, form, or fashion persecuted, maybe it's because you're not standing for Jesus. Hopefully, today you will decide in light of this message that you are going to stand up when you need to and you are going to speak up when you need to. If you pay the price of persecution, you can be reminded that Jesus says you are blessed. So to prepare for that moment, let’s look at the three pieces of counsel Jesus gives regarding facing persecution.

Maybe the reason why we don’t really face much of any persecution is not because we are living in a different age than the early Christians. It may be because we are living a different kind of Christianity than the early Christians. The reality is that you are going to be persecuted if you truly live up to the standard that Jesus expects. With this in mind, let’s take a look at what Jesus is telling us in His powerful statement about persecution from the Sermon on the Mount.

Isn’t it interesting that our heroes are not peace-makers, but they are the fighters, the soldiers, and the warriors? The people who make the history books and the news are the people who fight the battles, win the wars, and conquer the enemy. Then, Jesus comes along and said, “Blessed are the peace makers. For they shall be called the children of God.” What we are going to learn today from Jesus is simply this - when we make peace with God, we can then make peace for God. This statement leads us to answer four questions about peace and peace making. Let’s dive into answering those questions together.

The word “pure” from today’s key verse is translated from the Greek word “katharos.” It means “to purify by cleansing from dirt, filth and contamination.” The reality is that we were all born with dirty hearts. That is why a king named David who was a man after God’s own heart asked God to create in him a pure heart. But what does that mean? Well, the idea of a pure heart is a heart that is pure in its motives, in its thoughts, and in its desires. It’s the kind of heart Jesus is encouraging His followers to have according to the Sermon on the Mount. With this in mind, today’s message is going to be all about what it looks like to have the kind of pure heart Jesus was talking about.

Both character and conduct are important when it comes to following Jesus. Conduct without character is meaningless. And character without conduct is useless. You have to have both. As you study the Sermon on the Mount, you realize that what Jesus is saying is, “You are not a Christian because you act like one; you act like a Christian because you are one.” With all of this in mind, today’s message summed up in a sentence is this - when you truly experience the mercy of God, you will freely extend mercy to others. So let’s look at what our responsibility is when it comes to showing others the same mercy God has shown us.

In today’s key verse, Jesus says if you have a holy appetite, an appetite for righteousness, you will be filled. That is, you will be satisfied – satisfied in a way that nothing in this world, of this world, or from this world could ever do. We are going to learn today that the healthiest appetite is the holiest appetite. In other words, a healthy appetite leads to holiness, and holiness leads to happiness because happiness leads to the only one who is holy – Jesus. Let’s use this analogy of being hungry and being thirsty to learn what it means to have a healthy appetite.

We live in such a competitive culture that we are taught never to give up, never to give out, and never to give in. There are certainly times when that is great advice, but there is virtue in a totally different way and for a totally different reason to sometimes giving up and giving in. What we are going to learn today is simply put: the way to be in control is to be surrendered to God’s control. That is when you are blessed. That is when you are going to inherit everything that God has for you, both in this life and the life to come.

In the second beatitude, Matthew 5:4, we see one of the absolute strangest things that Jesus ever said. It is something you would never hear the world say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). This statement does not align with our natural leaning. We all want to be happy all the time. But Jesus says, in effect, “Happy are the unhappy.” You are blessed if at least sometimes you have a broken heart. Honestly, don’t we all want to go through life without any sorrow, any pain, anyheartache, any suffering? I think it would be wonderful, but you will learn that it is not all you’d expect it to be. I’ve learned that you grow closer to God in the bad times than you do in the good times. You learn more about yourself, your spiritual maturity, and your real love for Jesus, not in the good times, but in the bad times. So with this in mind, let’s take a closer look at what Jesus was talking about in this beatitude and learn how to apply it to our lives as we follow Christ.

Over the next several weeks, we are going to be camping out in a section of the Gospel of Matthew, specifically chapters 5-7. These chapters make up the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon Jesus preached during His earthly ministry. And as we kick off our study of this section of Scripture, we will begin with the Beatitudes, listed in chapter 5. The Beatitudes tell us how to enter the Kingdom of God, how to express the Kingdom of God, and how to enjoy the Kingdom of God. Jesus begins by telling us this, “You will never be filled with God until you realize you are empty without him.” Or to put it another way, “You will never be blessed by God until you admit you are bankrupt without Him.” Jesus makes it clear that the first step to being different, to finding significance and satisfaction in life, is to declare bankruptcy. Let’s dive in to see what this means.

The God we have been talking about throughout this entire series knows you better than anyone or anything. Just like He knew Moses, and He knew the Israelites, He knows you too. But the question of the day is this, “Do you know God?” Now the question is not, “Do you know about God?” The question is not even, “Do you believe in God?” The question I am asking is, “Do you know God personally?” Then I would follow up that question with this one, “How well do you know God?” I can answer that question for all of us. You know God as well as you want to. As we wrap up this series with today’s message, we are going to take a look at how we can come to know God deeply and personally.

The people of Israel had been treating God like a heavenly bellhop expecting Him to be at their every beck and call and give them everything they wanted when they wanted it. When Moses had lingered on that mountaintop meeting with God, they decide they would just take matters into their own hands. They would make a god more to their liking. The truth is, we all have “idol hands” that tend to either make the God we worship the God we want or make the god that we want the god that we worship. We’re going to learn today that if you are for God, you won’t put anything before God. You may not think that you have an idolatry problem. You may not even understand why we even have to discuss this issue, but when we see how we do choose false idols and what happens when we do, my prayer is it will cause all of us to give our total loyalty, complete love, and full life to the only true God there is.

In this message, we are going to study the story of when God had a word for His people and wanted to meet with them. But before the people met with God, God wanted to meet with Moses. Every meeting was a mountaintop meeting and though you might get the idea from the movies that Moses only went up the mountain one time, he actually went up seven times. God wanted to show both Moses and the people that there is no bigger deal in life than meeting with God. What’s also great about this story is that we learn that the same God who met with Moses wants to meet with you. The same God that spoke to Moses wants to speak to you. We can learn from this mountaintop meeting how we can meet with the God of this universe every day, and not only do we not have to make an appointment or wait in line, but when we meet with Him, He will give us His undivided attention.

We have been studying a man by the name of Moses in a series we are calling, “Red Sea Moments.” This great man of God was facing a Red Sea moment when he came to his own level of stress. He is leading two million of his people through wilderness and desert and they are burning up at times at the way he is doing it, and he is burning out trying. In the 18th chapter of Exodus, Moses had a moment and a meeting that didn’t just change his life, but it literally saved his life and helped him complete his tasks. It is not only very practical, but it is very spiritual. If you feel overworked and overwhelmed, now’s the time to admit it, because you will never be the father, the mother, the husband, the wife, the employee, or even the Christian that you should be as long as you stay there. Moses took three simple steps that kept him from burning out that you can take as well.

One of the things that you will see throughout the books of Exodus and Numbers is how much complaining and griping the Israelites did. At different times in Exodus and Numbers, Moses and the Lord had to listen to their complaints. Every one of them had to do with food, drink, and living conditions. You have to wonder why God let his people get thirsty and then in this chapter he lets them get hungry. Why does God let us go through times of need, hardship, and difficulty? Because God is trying to teach us what He is trying to teach them and that is every single day of your life you live from His hand to your mouth. In this message, we are going to learn five things about God and about our daily life that I pray will lead us to be people not of griping, but gratitude, not of complaining, but celebrating.

As we look today in the book of Exodus in chapter 14, we are going to read about the most celebrated event in Jewish history. Two movies have been made concerning this event and two words are all you need to know – The Exodus. If you had been standing where Moses was standing, you would have said, “This is the end of the line. We need to get our affairs in order. It’s over.” Normally, I wouldn’t spoil the ending by telling you what happens, but most of you already know it. God parts the Red Sea. The children of Israel pass through. He then closes the waters back on the Egyptian army, drowns them, and saves the day. The same God that came through for Moses and the nation of Israel is alive and well and wants to come through for you. In this message, we are going to learn what we need to do when our back is against the wall, just like Moses’ was.

You may be asking, “What does a burning bush or a Red Sea or a man named Moses have to do with me?” You will learn the answer to this question throughout this series as we discover that we all have Red Sea moments. We all come face-to-face at times with burning bushes. Moses is a lot like all of us and the God of Moses is still alive today and wants to move in your life the same way He moved in his. You are going to learn three lessons today that will teach you don’t ever beat around a bush that calls your name. If you feel like you are living on the backside of the desert and nobody knows about your life or cares about it, and you even feel like God has forgotten you, take these three lessons to heart.

When Moses was born, Israel had become slaves in the land of Egypt, but that wasn’t always the case. Because of a great man named Joseph, the Egyptian pharaoh had basically adopted them into the nation, giving them favored status and the full rights of citizenship. Four hundred years had passed and now Israel had two big problems. There was a pharaoh that had forgotten who Joseph was, but even more importantly, the nation of Israel had forgotten who God was. It was in that situation that a baby was born that changed everything. Israel needed a miracle, and thatmiracle came in the form of a baby, a baby named Moses. And as we read his story, we will see that three things were true of Moses that are true of you.

Many people have doubts that there is life after death. But in this message, I’m going to show you why I believe there is more after this life than this life. Yes, there is more to come because death is both an end and a beginning. As we look at what the Bible has to say and what Jesus had to say about life after death, we’ll learn three things. Let’s dive in.

What Jesus said in today’s key verses is true: there is exactly a zero percent chance of anybody getting to God if they don’t go through Jesus. It is not that you have a little chance or some chance – you have no chance. At the end of the day, there is only one way to God. If that is true, then we have to draw three conclusions. Let’s look at those conclusions together.

When it comes to all the fights that we face, all the failures that we have, and all the faults that we battle, we have a Savior who is absolutely perfect and who can bring sympathy and empathy to help us deal with how we feel. Simply put, whatever you are going through, Jesus will get you through. In today’s key passage of Scripture, we are told three facts about Jesus that let us know that this is true. Let’s dive into those facts now.