Touching Lives With Dr. James Merritt

If we are truly going to follow Jesus, we must accept that we will be different from the world. Nowhere is that more evident than in Matthew 7, where we encounter one of the most misunderstood, misused, and misapplied verses in the Bible: “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). This verse has become a cultural slogan, often quoted by people who reject or ridicule the Bible. Even among Christians, the idea that judging is wrong has gained traction, particularly among younger believers. However, Jesus' teaching is not about avoiding judgment altogether but about judging rightly. His message is simple: make sure your heart is right before you call out what is wrong.

There is a principle that applies to business, physics, and life—it’s called “The Domino Effect.” This principle describes how one event can set off a chain reaction of related events. A great example of this is the atomic bomb, where one atom splitting causes an unstoppable chain reaction. The same concept applies spiritually. In The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes a spiritual domino effect that can transform our lives if we start with the right "first domino." Many people place financial success, personal happiness, fame, or power as their first priority, but Jesus tells us that the first domino should be this: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

As we’ve seen in the last two messages in this series on prayer, the first part of prayer focuses on God and His glory. Today, we’re going to see how the second part of prayer focuses on us and our good. We're told specifically that we ought to ask God for three things when we pray, and those three things deal with the three biggest needs in our lives. The first deals with our physical needs, the second deals with our emotional needs, and the last deals with our spiritual needs. The first thing we ask for deals with our present. The second thing we ask for deals with our past, and the third thing we ask for deals with our future. Let’s dive into what this looks like practically in our own prayers.

As we continue our three-week series on prayer, we’re going to find that the key to effective prayer is found in four words: focus on the Father. In today’s message, we’ll discuss the two steps we need to take to pray this kind of Father-focused prayer.

In this message, we’re going to take a class called Prayer 101 where we are going to learn the basics of prayer from Jesus Himself. We’ll see that prayer is not something we do to get what we want from God but to get what God wants for us. To put it simply - wrong prayer is a waste of time, but right prayer is worth the time. With this in mind, let’s dive in and see what Jesus wants to teach us in Prayer 101.

In today’s message, we are going to learn that perfect love loves everyone perfectly, even the most unlovable. If you are to love others the way God loves others (and the way God loves you), you are going to have to take some very radical steps.

If you're going to follow Jesus, you're going to have to live a second-mile life. I will tell you right now it's not a popular mile. If you walk this mile, you'll be in the minority. If you walk this mile, it will tax you and test you and try you like no other mile you'll ever walk. But if you do walk this mile, which is over and above what everybody else walks, it will lead you to the greatest joy, the most fulfilling achievements, the finest rewards, and the approval of your Heavenly Father. It's a higher road. It is a tougher road, but it is the better road.

We’ve all had to put on a brave face at some point in our lives when we received a Christmas gift that wasn’t exactly what we wanted. But then, we’ve all received those perfect gifts too: the ones that show someone really saw us, really knew what we needed. In a way, these gifts remind us of the perfect gift that all of humanity received in Jesus—a gift prepared for us personally and purposefully. Today, let’s look deeper at our Savior, our greatest gift, as we reflect on Luke 2:11.

As Christmas approaches, it’s easy to feel surrounded by cheer— festive songs, colorful lights, and gatherings with loved ones. But for many, this season is far from “the most wonderful time of the year.” Studies show a majority of Americans feel loneliness and sadness during the holidays, and the post-Thanksgiving Monday is a peak day for appointments related to anxiety and depression. In this series, we’re learning how Christmas can bring comfort amid the hardships of life. The message of Christmas is not just joy, but comfort—rooted in God’s light and His invitation for us to be eternally right with Him.

John’s letter in 1 John opens by diving straight into the significance of Jesus. John’s focus is on the true comfort and joy that Christ’s coming brings. With this in mind, we’ll explore three ways to take joy in Christmas: the historical reality of Jesus, the heavenly identity of Jesus, and the holy community Jesus invites us into. These truths are foundational to experiencing a joy that goes beyond the Christmas season.

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. 

When it comes to the gospel, silence is sinful. When we've experienced the love of God, surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, been fed the bread of life, and tasted the living water, we can’t keep what we’ve experienced to ourselves. It's time for us to say something for the sake of growing God’s Kingdom. In today’s message, we're going to learn today how to make sure we speak up and don’t shy away from sharing our faith.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes on the matter of honesty, and we desperately need it. As we look at this passage in Matthew 5, here is the key thought that Jesus is giving us. Let the words “you” and “true” always go together. To help us make sure that happens, Jesus tells us three things to remember not just on telling the truth, but how to do it.

In Jesus’ day, divorce was more commonplace than you would have imagined and there was a great debate about when divorce was even allowed. It wasn’t incidental that Jesus had just finished talking about lust when He started to talk about divorce. Lust causes adultery and now shockingly, He is going to say that divorce and remarriage can do the exact same thing. Jesus is going to remind us that God’s ideal is one man and one wife for one life. It should be “’til death do us part.” There are two things that Jesus asks us to do when it comes to the topic of divorce. Let's dive into those together.

From today’s key passage of Scripture, we’re going to see how adultery is not only a sin in the bed, but it is a sin in the head. Adultery can be both physical and mental. It can be both on the inside and the outside. In a day and age where sexual immorality is running rampant, not only are marriages being ruined, but even the very concept of a biblical marriage is being tainted. Thankfully, Jesus gives us three principles to remember so we can guard against this terrible sin of adultery and avoid the look that kills.

In today’s key passage, Paul reminds Christians then and now of an important truth to remember. The God that gives us grace also gives us government. So with that in mind, how are we to relate to the government? That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss in this message. Let’s dive in.

We find in 1 Timothy chapter 2 what every Christian should do politically for every political leader. Simply put, every day we should always pray for the political leaders who lead the way. So what is the politically correct thing to do when it comes to any political leader? That’s what we’re going to discuss in this message.

Approximately 70 murders happen in the United States every single day. We are the murder capital of the Western world. Yet, if I were to ask you, “Have you ever murdered anyone?” you would probably and emphatically say, “No!” But listen to what Jesus said about murder. He is going to show us in today’s key verses that murder is not an act; it is an attitude. Put simply, Jesus said, “Murder from the hands comes from murder in the heart.” We are going to see exactly what Jesus says about murder and you will see it in a totally different light.

If you are going to be rightly related to God both in this life and the life to come, you had better be rightly related to the truth of God’s Word. We are going to learn in today’s message that when you honor the Lord, you honor the law that the Lord honors. Now, what does that mean exactly? Let’s dive in together and find out.

Jesus makes two important statements to His followers in today’s key passage. He says, “You are the salt of the earth, and you are the light of the world.” As we study this text together, we are going to see that Jesus used these metaphors because we live in a world that is decaying and dark. The culture before our eyes is disintegrating. The darkness of evil is a cloud that covers this entire planet. We need to be the salt that stops the decay and light that penetrates the darkness. With this in mind, here is the whole point of what Jesus is going to say – Jesus makes us different so we can make a difference. And when we make a difference by being salt and light, we can bring the world under the influence.