Roles in Salvation

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2003/10/Roles-in-Salvation.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Ephesians 2:1-10   I.         There are many misleading claims in the denominations regarding salvation             A.        Most of the misconceptions come because people only look at some of the verses regarding salvation.             B.        They find verses which says we are saved by God’s grace and then trumpet that salvation is solely…

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A Living Hope

by Terry Wane Benton What is a “living hope?” Peter says we have this living hope “through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead” (I Peter 1:3). Thus, the resurrection of Jesus forms the basis of hope. When Jesus returned from the grave, it brought a dead hope to life and made it a “living”…

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Grace Is Sufficient

by Doy Moyer Paul describes certain visions and revelations that were beyond his understanding (II Corinthians 12). He then spoke of what he calls a “thorn in the flesh,” given to him to keep him from becoming conceited. He implored the Lord three times that this thorn would be removed from him. Whatever it was,…

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Prisoners of Hope

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Prisoners-of-Hope.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Zechariah 9:9-12   I.         The book of Zechariah is one of both scoldings and exhortation.             A.        The people after their return from captivity had fallen into complacency and indifference toward their religion.             B.        Zechariah calls them to change through warnings – Zechariah 1:2-6             C.        And he encourages them through visions of the future.…

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The Hope of Eternal Life

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/The-Hope-of-Life-Eternal.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 15:12-19   I.         It is no secret that many ministers in the denominational world lack faith in the Bible.             A.        Methodists: 51%, Episcopalians: 35%, American Baptist: 33%, Presbyterians 30%, American Lutherans: 13% doubt Jesus’ physical resurrection [Jeffrey Hadden, results of a survey of 7,441 Protestant ministers published in PrayerNet…

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God’s Mornin’

 by Whit Sasser Cameron S. Smith tells a wonderful story. It is about the only white person in the state of Georgia buried in a cemetery reserved exclusively for African-Americans. This man had lost his mother when he was just a baby. His father, who never married again, hired a black woman named Mandy to…

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Your Wreckage Can be Repaired!

by Gary Henry “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life” (I Timothy 1:15-16). Under the influence…

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Love Is …

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Love-Is.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 13:1-8   I.         Many passages are used for needlepoint samplers. A popular choice is I Corinthians 13:1-8             A.        Have you considered the meaning of the many phrases?             B.        We often associate this passage with weddings, but Paul was writing about what love between brethren is like             C.        However, it can be applied to…

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Is there still hope for me?

Question: I am 53 and received Christ as my Savior as a teenager. I have, since then – lied, stolen, committed adultery and committed many other sins. I repent of these sins and am very sorry for them. I am ashamed to ask God for forgiveness since Jesus already suffered for me on the cross.…

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Do You Expect to Go to Heaven?

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/DoYouExpectToGoToHeaven.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.         Should God save you?             A.        Paul was able to say, “Yes, I did the Lord’s will.” – II Tim. 4:6-8             B.        Can you say that about your own life?             C.        How did you become a Christian?                         1.         Converted from a denomination or from out of the world?                         2.         Raised in the church?             D.        All are the…

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Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith?

Question: Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith? Answer: Faith is what a person trusts to be true. Hope is what a person expects to happen. The answer to your question then heavily depends on what topics are being believed or hoped for. A person could say they believe in God,…

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Hope

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Hope.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton   I.         What are the things that you hope for?             A.        In other words, what do you expect the future to hold for you?             B.        Hope is the upper limit on the things that we gain. You will not do much better than what you expect from yourself.             C.        The pessimist versus the optimist…

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What is “the hope of His calling”?

Question: Dear brother, Thank you for your web site. It has been most helpful to me as I struggle to share with a person who believes in “Once Saved Always Saved.” Can you enlighten me as to what it means in Ephesians: “the hope of His calling”? Does it refer to heaven? Our resurrection on…

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What is “the hope of His calling?”

Question: Dear brother, Thank you for your web site. It has been most helpful to me as I struggle to share with a person who believes in “Once Saved Always Saved.” Can you enlighten me as to what it means in Ephesians: “the hope of His calling”? Does it refer to heaven? Our resurrection on…

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What Saves a Person?

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Since, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9), it would be sensible to understand that in order to get people saved, God would tell them…

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Will faith and hope still exist in heaven?

Question: I have a question from I Corinthians 13 about faith, hope, and love with the greatest of these being love. I have led public prayers in which I prayed something like this “to bless us with faith, hope, and love. For one day we will close our eyes in this world and sleep, but…

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Isn’t eternal life guaranteed? So how can we talk of hope?

Question: We speak of “hope” a lot. Hope in eternal life is great, but the idea of hoping doesn’t mean a guarantee. If I hope for something, then I am thinking it may happen. With the critical issue of eternal life, one does not want to rest in the idea that belief in Jesus’s sacrifice…

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The Value of Hope

by Dee Bowman via Plain Talk, November 1977 The Scriptures have considerable to say on the subject of hope. And yet I am convinced that many of us are not enjoying and appreciating our hope as we should, simply out of a failure to really understand what it is and how it affects us. Hope…

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