I have trouble at times believing God is real

Question: Hi, I’m quite young (13) and I have been struggling with my faith a lot. It’s kind of hard to explain so I’ll try to put it simply. I want to believe in God but I am having trouble at the moment believing God is real. Just a few days ago, I was strongly…

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A Talk About Faith

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/A-Talk-About-Faith.mp3 by Raymond Warfel

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You Wouldn’t Believe It

by Doy Moyer “Look, you scoffers, marvel and vanish away, because I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will never believe, even if someone were to explain it to you” (Acts 13:41). Paul quoted this from Habakkuk 1:5. In Habakkuk’s context, the sins of the people had reached a point…

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How much confidence do I need in God?

Question: Mr. Hamilton I have another question I’d like to ask concerning some scripture I’ve been recently pondering and trying to understand. “But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into…

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Lessons from the Reign of Asa

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Lessons-from-the-Reign-of-Asa-1.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Kings 15:8-24   I.         Asa’s reign was the third in Judah since the great division of Israel during the reign of Rehoboam             A.        His father, Abijam, only reigned three years.                         1.         Abijam was not a good king as the Lord counts goodness – I Kings 15:3                         2.         In fact, the most notable…

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Justification by Works in James

by Matthew W. Bassford Earlier, I wrote about Paul’s discussion of justification by works in the first four chapters of Romans. In it, he says that justification by works requires perfect obedience to God, which no one but Jesus has achieved. Thus, Christians must seek salvation by faith apart from works. Similarly, baptism for the…

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By Grace Through Faith with the Washing of Water

by Terry Wane Benton Notice the prepositions: by, through, and with. The Book of Ephesians uses all three to describe what is involved with our salvation. It teaches we are saved by grace. It teaches we are saved through faith. It teaches we are saved with the washing of water by the word. It is…

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Baptized into Christ

by Terry Wane Benton Image by Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, said that the Israelites were “baptized into Moses” when they were crossing the Red Sea while fleeing Pharaoh and his armies. They were immersed under a cloud of water and with the walls of water on each side (I…

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Believing the Unbelievable Story of Jesus

by Don Bunting God intends for people to come to Him by faith.  Undoubtedly God could reveal Himself to humanity in a powerful, material, undeniable way.  Still, God says:  “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of…

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Lessons from the Mamertine Prison

by Jefferson David Tant Do you ever feel discouraged, defeated, alone, forsaken, or any other word used to describe one who is “down in the dumps?” I’m sure we have all been affected by one or more of these words in our lifetime. If you are fortunate to have escaped all these negative feelings, just…

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Disobedience and Unbelief

by Matthew W. Bassford The epistle to the Hebrews might be the most tightly reasoned book in the whole Bible. Sentence by sentence, clause by clause, the Hebrews writer constructs intricate arguments that establish the superiority of Christ over Moses and the folly of Christians returning to Judaism. The more closely we read Hebrews, the…

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What Faith Is

by Doy Moyer Faith is the demonstration of our conviction that we trust the reality of what we cannot see. That is not the same as saying there is no evidence. Trusting the reality of what we cannot see means only that our faith is not dependent on first-hand material observation. I accept historical testimony…

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How Noah Was Saved

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/How-Noah-Was-Saved.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Peter 3:18-22   I.         In our reading, Peter draws on the account of Noah’s salvation to illustrate how the Christian is saved.             A.        Many people object to the straight forward reading of I Peter 3:21 because it stands contrary to what they have accepted.                         1.         To many people, baptism is simply…

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David – A Child’s Faith

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/David-A-Childs-Faith.mp3 by Ross Ward Text: I Samuel 17:32-37 David’s Faith David Overcame Vs. 33-35 – bear and lion 33 – a youth 34 – shepherding 34-35 – lion and bear take a lamb David caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him 37 – The Lord that delivered me… will deliver me…

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Genuine Faith

by Jefferson David Tant The topic of “faith” is often discussed and often misunderstood. Skeptics accuse Christians of having “blind faith,” or taking a “leap of faith,” meaning that there is no basis for what we believe. Thus our faith in God’s existence is no different than what I have encountered in South Africa, i.e.…

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Doubts

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Doubts.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Jeremiah 17:5-8   I.         I had the opportunity to study with a member of the International Church of Christ.             A.        Many of their core beliefs are similar to our own, but they diverge from the plain teachings of the Scriptures in a number of significant ways.             B.        While researching their beliefs and…

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Why do people feel God needs to tell them everything?

Question: Growing up in a Christian household my father was a preacher and my mother a Sunday school teacher, so they wasted no time at all getting me baptized. As such, I tend to have more Bible knowledge than my peers. Occasionally I would get asked questions that I myself don’t have the answers to…

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Faith Is Active

by Floyd Chappelear Sentry Magazine, June 2000 “Faith is always active,” the speaker declared. “It is never passive, but always indicates a spirit of obedience,” he quickly added. He is not the only preacher I have heard who has said such a thing, nor will he be the last. There is something in the concept that…

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Weak in Faith vs. Weak in the Faith

by Fanning Yeater Tant Gospel Guardian, 24 September 1970 To be weak in faith is not the same as to be weak in the faith. There are two kinds of “weakness” involved, and they are to receive different treatment from those who are stable in Christ. The first kind of weakness is that which afflicted…

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I’m having doubts about my baptism

Question: Hello, I hope you are well. I have a question about baptism. When I was 13, I was baptized into Christ. However, I later realized I had only done it out of pressure. I was baptized into Christ when I was 19. Not long after, I began to have doubts as to if I…

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I Believe in God

by Jefferson David Tant Although our nation is declining in its religious values, many still believe in God. And if you ask the average person if they believe in God, they will probably give you an affirmative answer. In fact, in a pleasant conversation I was having with a woman who was serving me some…

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Obedience to God

by Paul Southern via The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 10, August 1952. The subject of obedience is an important theme that should engage the thought of every responsible person. Rebellion against constituted authority seems to be a trait inherent with mankind. On every hand, we witness infractions of constitutional, statutory, and social laws. Hence, it…

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Run Through the Rain

Author Unknown Oldest copy found was dated 2010 by Anonymous A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Walmart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red-haired, freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a…

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Majesty! Worship His Majesty!

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Majesty-Worship-His-Majesty.mp3 by Wilson Adams Faith Over Fear

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Lord, Do You Not Care?

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Lord-Do-You-Not-Care.mp3 by Wilson Adams Faith Over Fear

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Five Stones in the Hands of a Boy

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Five-Stones-in-the-Hands-of-a-Boy.mp3 Text: I Corinthians 1:26-29   I.         The armies of the Philistines and the Israelites faced each other across a valley – I Samuel 17:1-3             A.        With both armies camped on mountains, it became a standoff. Whoever attacked the other would be at a disadvantage.             B.        Thus, the Philistines sent out their champion issue a challenge and break…

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Faith Over Fear

Lessons presented by Wilson Adams of Nashville, Tennessee September 27-30, 2020 The Verse That Will Change Your Life “Lord, Do You Not Care?” When This Journey Comes to an End … Majesty! Worship His Majesty! Pray BIG! If You Want to Walk on the Water -You Must Get Out of the Boat

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How can I have faith when so many are leaving the faith?

Question: I am a long time reader of your site and a Bible believer for 10 years, I’m afraid I am coming to my second and perhaps final crossroad in faith. At age 19, I learned of the likes of Harris, Dawkins, and most importantly Hitchens after trying to liberalize my beliefs due to same-sex…

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Are We Trusting God or Testing God?

“Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike…

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To Whom Shall We Go?

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/To-Whom-Shall-We-Go.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 6:48-69   I.         When Jesus feed the 5,000, his popularity was at an all time high             A.        Some of the people decided it was time to make Jesus their king – John 6:14-15             B.        Jesus left because the people’s motivation was wrong. They were only thinking of the free food Jesus…

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Does It Matter?

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Does-It-Matter.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Genesis 1   I.         The teaching of evolution has made significant inroads in the beliefs of common man             A.        In 1999 Gallup found                         1.         47% believed in a recent, special creation                         2.         40% believed in a God-directed form of evolution                         3.         9% believe a strictly natural-caused evolution             B.        In 2019 Gallup found                         1.         40% believe in…

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Foundations of Apologetics

by Doy Moyer I have tried, for better or worse, to dedicate myself over the years to the foundations of what it means to defend the reason for our hope (I Peter 3:15). While the study of apologetics (the defense of the faith) has many layers and even more topics, here is, in my experience,…

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Godly things don’t interest me

Question: Good morning, sir, Sir, now the things of God do not interest me. I have not really told anyone about Christ because when I tell them about Christ most of them agree to hand over their lives to Christ, but at the end, I realize that I am not happy. It seems like their…

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I Don’t Feel Forgiven

by Whit Sasser Everyone keeps telling you that you need to learn to forgive yourself; but the truth is, you need to learn to trust God. If God says you are forgiven, then you are forgiven. “But, I don’t feel like I am forgiven.” My friend, forgiveness is a promise of God, not a feeling of…

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