Lessons from Nadab and Abihu
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Lessons-from-Nadab-and-Abihu.mp3 by Raymond Warfel
Read MoreWhat God Has Done to Keep You Out of Hell
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/What-God-Has-Done-to-Keep-Us-Out-of-Hell.mp3 by Raymond Warfel
Read MoreWhat I’ve Learned About Repentance
by Perry Hall When I review my life I have become convinced of three (among many) necessities for spiritual victory: True repentance is more than being sorry. It is peeling back, again and again, the layers of your sin, finding how many sins were involved even within “one” sin. Does one sin ever involve one…
Read MoreIn All the Churches
by Terry W. Benton In the first century, you had churches in different locations, but all the churches were taught the same thing and practiced the same thing, and if they drifted away from that teaching they did not have God (II John 9-10; I Corinthians 4:17; 7:17). There was one standard and body of…
Read MoreI think I have OCD
Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, I want to thank you so much for all the help and time you’ve given up for us. Thank you for always using God’s word with your answers. I believe I have OCD. I think I have scrupulosity. I feel I have to do things a certain way or in order.…
Read MoreChrist or Muhammad?
by Jefferson David Tant The rapid spread of Islam has caused concern among Bible believers. Some 40 nations are majority Muslim, and most of the terrorism around the world has been fostered by Muslim extremists. While some experts have made a distinction between the terrorist activities of Muslim fundamentalists and true Islamic beliefs, it is…
Read MoreWhat if you are traveling somewhere where there is no church?
Question: Hello, I wanted to say thank you for the way the website is set up. This has been great to look at a topic from many points of view using the question and answers. My question is regarding attending services when you are away from the local church you’re a member of. I know…
Read MoreWhat should children learn at different ages?
Question: Dear brother Jeffrey, I appreciate so very much your love for the Lord through the years and your faithfulness to Him! How you have labored with His people providing resources to encourage in God’s Word, as well as striving to explain the gospel to those who are seeking. I’m so very thankful for how…
Read MoreThe Rules Apply to All of You, Except for Us
by Orlando Gonzalez “They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks with integrity” (Amos 5:10). It is no secret that the arrival, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ flipped the world upside down nearly two thousand years ago. The ancient world, at that time, was in a state of…
Read MoreHow do you be around someone who has done evil?
Question: Hi, I’ve been reading through your website and have found your work interesting. I was wondering if you have some advice for me in a situation relating to my boyfriend and his family. Recently my boyfriend’s stepmother filed for divorce against his father. Scripturally, both parties are in the wrong in different aspects. His…
Read MoreLarimore and Tant
by F. Yater Tant Gospel Guardian, September 22, 1955 In the 1890s the beloved T. B. Larimore held a six-month meeting at Sherman, Texas, and baptized something like 250 people. His prestige there and his influence were almost comparable to Paul’s in Galatia at the time the Galatians “would have plucked out their eyes” and…
Read MoreThe Truth About God’s Love
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/The-Truth-About-Gods-Love.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 5 I. The world is filled with varying and confusing ideas about how God loves us. A. Typically the emphasis is placed so heavily on God’s love that many think that God is incapable of a negative thought against anyone. B. Others see God as so remote and unapproachable that…
Read MoreHow should the end of Acts 20:28 read?
Question: Dear Jeffrey, I re-visited the La Vista Church web page on the accuracy of the New World Translation and read the following: J. Acts 20:28 1. “Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed you overseers, to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of…
Read MoreA Life Defined by Love
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/A-Life-Defined-by-Love.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 16:13-14 I. The story of Ruth is a popular love story from the Bible A. It isn’t how most people see as a typical love story. 1. She doesn’t go out searching for love but she eventually finds it anyway B. Rather, we see the story of a woman whose…
Read MoreShould I stop my fellowship with family members who are not members of the church?
Question: I am a member of the church of Christ. I have had many discussions with my family who are not members of the church. Most of them are Baptists and a few are Nazarenes. Most debates are over baptism. The last one ended with raised angry voices. Should I no longer have fellowship with…
Read MoreIs it wrong to observe All Souls Day?
Question: Good day, brother Jeff. I want to know what are your thoughts about the observation of All Saints Day or All Souls Day that is done by many brethren here in the Philippines. One elderly lady asked me about this, and I promised to give her an answer by the time we meet. She…
Read MoreDo you think committees are necessary when there are no elders or deacons?
Question: Hi! Thanks for the enlightening content on your site. I read the answer you gave to a question that was about creating committees to carry out tasks for a congregation. You said it was wrong because when the need arose in the early church, deacons were appointed and elders also have their roles. How…
Read MoreA Little Dating Advice for Singles
by David Maxson “Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish on him”(II Samuel 14:25). How much stock do you put into appearance? To some, it’s the first…
Read MoreWould God punish someone with a life of singleness?
Question: Do you think God would punish someone to a life of singleness? I know it’s a silly question, but sometimes I get intrusive thoughts that tell me that I’m bound to be single. These thoughts make me feel very sad and uncomfortable. After I got baptized I started having OCD thoughts because I was…
Read MoreDo the Dead Sea Scrolls show that the Bible was modified over time?
Question: Hi, You have answered my questions before (thanks for that), and I hope you won’t mind doing so again. I was researching the Dead Sea Scrolls and came across the following: How close is the Bible to the Dead Sea Scrolls? 6 Myths About the Dead Sea Scrolls The Quora answer (if you click…
Read MoreHow do I refute the claim that the Bible is a product of the era it was written in?
Question: How should I refute the claims in the following meme? I would love to hear from you, brother. “The Bible makes perfect sense as soon as you realize it was written at a time when women were the property of men, slavery was commonplace, and death was the penalty for minor offenses. A time…
Read MoreHow can there be love in heaven when sinners are in hell?
Question: Good Evening, Thank you so much for all the resources included on the La Vista Church of Christ website. My son and I have been using these articles for years. Unfortunately, my son is now a wayward Christian, and he asked me the following questions in a recent Bible study that we did together. Can…
Read MoreCalled to Rise Above
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Called-to-Rise-Above.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 4:17-24 I. I found an article the other day by Ray Gonzalez, of Mexico, that started me thinking … There’s Shorty, just standing … scoping out the morning. Where will he strike today? Like a tiger, he is smelling the air to see where he may find prey.…
Read MoreReasonable Risks
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Reasonable-Risks.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Esther 4:7-16 I. Increasingly I run into people who are obsessive-compulsive. A. It is sometimes referred to as the doubter’s disease because the sufferer is constantly plagued with uncertainty. 1. A person might repeatedly wash his hands because he might not have done a thorough enough cleaning earlier 2. Another might constantly…
Read MoreAdvice to Young Preachers
Andy Sochor Plain Bible Teaching, 7 September 2011 Some might wonder how it is that someone like myself – a thirty-year-old with no “full-time” preaching experience – would be so bold as to hand out advice to young preachers (many of whom would be my peers). I am not so arrogant as to think that…
Read MoreThe Perversion of Homosexuality
Quote from Robert Jeffress But God’s Word has not changed. The Bible describes homosexuality as a perversion of God’s design for human sexuality that has devastating physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences. Christians should not fall into the trap of cutting our consciences to fit this year’s fashion, to paraphrase American playwright Lillian Hellman. Homosexuality is…
Read MoreDon’t Be a Victim
by Perry Hall The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in modern lingo, teaches these two counter-culture concepts: Suffering doesn’t make you a victim when you find your blessing from God and not circumstances. Victimizing others doesn’t make you powerful when your victims refuse to get their dignity through your oppressive eyes. Check out the…
Read MorePlanning Your Life
by P.D. Wilmeth These seven teenage years are a great adventure in experiences, with all the risks and hazards of unknown paths. They are tremendously important years this is a journey that we make only once. There is no roundtrip ticket, most of us according to the calendar will be on this road for about…
Read MoreI really don’t want to preach
Question: Dear Sir, Firstly, I would like to thank you for all your time and effort to put up all this material. I have been reading your questions and answers for a while now, and it helps a lot. It has come a time now, that I would write to you concerning an issue I…
Read MoreThe Root Cause of Violence
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do…
Read MoreThe Root Cause of Sexual Sins
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I’ve become fascinated by the lists presented in the Bible when I came to realize that many of them are more than a collection of related items. Permit me to illustrate this with a list that Paul gave in Colossians 3. “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead…
Read MoreOn Offending Others
by Jefferson David Tant Did you ever offend someone? Have you ever been offended? I am quite sure we can all answer “Yes” to both of those questions. And while it should never be our intent to offend others, we know it does happen. Sometimes it is done unintentionally, while there are times when we…
Read MoreWhy the Violence?
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Why-the-Violence.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 140 I. Another act of violence, and people naturally want to know why. Why is this happening? What can we do to prevent it? How can we feel safer? A. People grasp at simple solutions and quick fixes that really don’t fix anything and often are not even relate…
Read MoreThe Palm and Cedar Trees
by Wayne S. Walker “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12). I have always liked looking at palm trees. Of course, growing up in the midwest I never saw a palm tree, except for potted ones indoors and on television shows, until I went…
Read MoreIs it wrong to share a place with a person of the opposite sex?
Question: Hello Jeffrey, I’m always so thankful to have you answering my questions biblically! Here soon I’m thinking about moving to another state. I am in need of some change. I don’t have a whole lot of money. There is a person who has offered to let me stay with him and split the bills.…
Read MoreSaints (Harris)
by Webb Harris, Jr. Guardian of Truth XXXII: 13, pp. 402-403, July 7, 1988 The Problem of Avoided Terms It is fundamental to a proper understanding of divine revelation that we appreciate that the “popular” definitions of many words common to the Scriptures differ from the intended ideas of the inspired writers. The term “saint”…
Read MoreIsn’t there a textual variation in II Peter 3:10?
Question: Dear Sirs. I have read your Web page critiquing the NWT of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Very interesting. May I just address just one of the scripture places you examined, namely II Peter 3:10? It seems you think the NWT mistranslates it here. But they did not as the verb they translated, which appears in the…
Read MoreThe Fullness of Time (Tant)
by Jefferson David Tant In two passages, the apostle Paul uses the expression “the fullness of the time,” and this expression is very “full” in its meaning. Among other things, it shows God’s wisdom in preparing the world for the coming of his Son, and as we look at the condition of the world in…
Read MoreThe Collision Between Homosexuality and Christianity
by Dennis Abernathy The agenda of the LGBTQ is to redefine the family. Bumper stickers are seen all over that say: “Burn the Binary.” What does that mean? It means to destroy the distinction between man and woman or male and female. Apparently, such foolishness is making inroads in our culture, since more and more…
Read MoreA Sense of Shame
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/A-Sense-of-Shame.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Jeremiah 6:10-17 I. On June 18, 2008, Time released a story about 17, now 18, girls in Gloucester High School on the outskirts of Massachusetts. A. (Read the story) B. What would cause a bunch of girls to purposely set out to get pregnant? C. The report gave these reasons: 1. It’s not…
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