Title: Do The Right Thing
Author: James Merritt
Text: II Kings 7:3-16
Introduction
1. A few years ago a really fascinating movie came out and it was called, "A Quiet Place." It's the story of how Earth has been invaded by some mysterious, dangerous creatures that are blind, but they have incredible hearing and they literally hunt not by sight, but by sound. Knowing that even the slightest whisper or footstep can bring death, a family is doing all they can to protect themselves and their children while trying to fight back against this enemy. So the movie is about staying silent.
2. Sad to say, but the church today has become a quiet place. What I mean is the vast majority of people who come to church and who will hear the central message of the church, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will leave the church and stay silent and quiet when it comes to talking about the Jesus of the gospel. You see in the movie, violence is golden because if you make a sound, you die. But in the church, silence is deadly, because if we don't make a sound about the gospel, we won't die but other people will.
3. Experts who have examined 9/11 discovered that one of the primary reasons why that attack was not prevented was because of the failure of intelligence agencies to share information that each one of them knew. Knowing, but not sharing resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.
4. Now, lest you think I'm exaggerating, the Lutheran Hour Ministries and the Barna Group did a joint research project and they discovered that only 8% of Americans talk about God, faith, religion or spirituality even once a week. Only an additional15% talk about spiritual matters even once a month. The average American says they only have about one spiritual conversation a year. Americans are talking about spiritual matters less, and less, and less, and the American church is right with them.
5. Christianity is a gospel centered religion. Take away the gospel and there is ...
Author: James Merritt
Text: II Kings 7:3-16
Introduction
1. A few years ago a really fascinating movie came out and it was called, "A Quiet Place." It's the story of how Earth has been invaded by some mysterious, dangerous creatures that are blind, but they have incredible hearing and they literally hunt not by sight, but by sound. Knowing that even the slightest whisper or footstep can bring death, a family is doing all they can to protect themselves and their children while trying to fight back against this enemy. So the movie is about staying silent.
2. Sad to say, but the church today has become a quiet place. What I mean is the vast majority of people who come to church and who will hear the central message of the church, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will leave the church and stay silent and quiet when it comes to talking about the Jesus of the gospel. You see in the movie, violence is golden because if you make a sound, you die. But in the church, silence is deadly, because if we don't make a sound about the gospel, we won't die but other people will.
3. Experts who have examined 9/11 discovered that one of the primary reasons why that attack was not prevented was because of the failure of intelligence agencies to share information that each one of them knew. Knowing, but not sharing resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.
4. Now, lest you think I'm exaggerating, the Lutheran Hour Ministries and the Barna Group did a joint research project and they discovered that only 8% of Americans talk about God, faith, religion or spirituality even once a week. Only an additional15% talk about spiritual matters even once a month. The average American says they only have about one spiritual conversation a year. Americans are talking about spiritual matters less, and less, and less, and the American church is right with them.
5. Christianity is a gospel centered religion. Take away the gospel and there is ...
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