by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
It is one thing to try to fit in a circle of friends who profess faith, and so you jump on the bandwagon with them, but it is another thing to get to know Jesus and put your trust in Him when it may cost you friends.<\/p>\n
You see, it is easy to join in the professed faith of others<\/strong>, but not so easy to love and trust Jesus when it means standing alone or standing up for Jesus in unpopular situations.<\/p>\n Paul told us that all who live godly will <\/b>suffer persecution (II Timothy 3:12). So many fall away from the church because they never develop a real faith in Jesus. They have faith in others until they disappoint them, but it is not a faith in Jesus\u00a0that they nourished and practiced on their own.<\/p>\n They fall because they quit listening to Jesus or never truly listened to Him. Don’t enter the church with faith in the church, the preacher, or the friends you find there, but rather commit your faith in Jesus <\/b>and then serve the brethren because that is what Jesus <\/b>wants you to do. Do you have your own faith in Jesus? Or, are you merely riding on the faith of others?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton It is one thing to try to fit in a circle of friends who profess faith, and so you jump on the bandwagon with them, but it is another thing to get to know Jesus and put your trust in Him when it may cost you friends. You see, it is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-87170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48554,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-robust-view-of-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":87170,"position":0},"title":"A Robust View of Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer We need a robust view of faith. The world thinks that faith is trite and involves merely believing something. No action is needed. This makes faith workless-a nice thing to say perhaps, but it amounts to saying, in the minds of many, \"I'm just going to sit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89860,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/faith-and-evidence\/","url_meta":{"origin":87170,"position":1},"title":"Faith and Evidence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Shane Scott Several years ago, I decided I needed a hobby. I had many interests - basketball, fantasy baseball, and music - but I engaged in all of these pastimes with members of the church where I preached, or with fellow Christians in the area. I needed a hobby\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70712,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-churches-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":87170,"position":2},"title":"Are ALL Churches OF Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall I belong to a local congregation called \"Millersville Church of Christ.\" When asked what church I belong to, I often add, \"But any other name in the Bible, we go by that one, too.\" That usually brings a smile. If speaking biblically, there is no official name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-faith-mean-you-never-doubt\/","url_meta":{"origin":87170,"position":3},"title":"Does faith mean you never doubt?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does faith mean that you'll never ever doubt something? I've been sad lately because there are things in the Bible that I don't understand and these things have caused me to doubt Jesus. But when I doubted, I get sad because I think, \"I'm not saved because I'm not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-belief-include-anything-more-than-trust\/","url_meta":{"origin":87170,"position":4},"title":"Does belief include anything more than trust?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does belief include anything more than trust? Answer: Belief or faith is of primary importance to a follower of God. The writer of Hebrews state, \"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66453,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/discouraged-disappointed-disenchanted-disconnected-disillusioned-disheartened-disengaged\/","url_meta":{"origin":87170,"position":5},"title":"Discouraged. Disappointed. Disenchanted. Disconnected. Disillusioned. Disheartened. Disengaged.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jonathan Perz When one's expectations for local churches full of imperfect people drive their faith, they often end up facing one, if not all, of these \"D's\" in the title of this article. I talk to so many who have walked away because they are hurt by the church.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}