by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Perhaps no promise is more empowering than the assurance that we can handle anything because God promises to be with us. When the apostles, a rag-tag looking bunch of common men, were told to preach to all the world and start at Jerusalem, it had to be an intimidating sight for these men to see the crowd of Jews, many of whom had participated in the judgment and execution of Jesus just a few weeks earlier, gathered on the day of Pentecost.<\/p>\n
That these men would testify to the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection in the face of this crowd is almost hard to believe. They testified with great credibility because God was with them as He had promised. They had the truth\u00a0and <\/strong>God.<\/p>\n Paul writes from prison to persecuted Christians in Colossae. He urges them to “let the peace of God rule in your hearts<\/em>” (Colossians 3:15). Paul knew that he could handle prison and encourage the brethren because the Lord promised to be with him, and he wanted the brethren to remember that the promise is also for them.<\/p>\n Again, Paul wrote the Philippian brethren who were being persecuted. Again, he told them not to be anxious for anything. Take it to God in prayer while thanking God, and the peace of God “shall guard your hearts and minds<\/em>“(Philippians 4:4-8), and again, testifying to his firm confidence in the Lord’s promise by saying “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me<\/em>” (Philippians 4:13).<\/p>\n Brethren, face your fears with confidence that you and the Lord will be able to handle each challenge of each day. What a difference it makes to trust that the Lord is with you and no Goliath (huge-looking obstacle) is nearly what fear would make it out to be. The Lord is with us when we are with Him. Go with God!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Perhaps no promise is more empowering than the assurance that we can handle anything because God promises to be with us. When the apostles, a rag-tag looking bunch of common men, were told to preach to all the world and start at Jerusalem, it had to be an intimidating sight for…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[250,352,73,129],"class_list":["post-87335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-confidence","tag-fear","tag-jesus","tag-trust"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91881,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-growth-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":87335,"position":0},"title":"The Growth of the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong It is difficult for us to read the events in John 12 and feel the same excitement that gripped the people in Jesus' day. The city is filling up with people who have come to celebrate and observe the Passover. \"Now the Passover of the Jews was\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":1972,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-the-people-think-jesus-was-calling-for-elijah\/","url_meta":{"origin":87335,"position":1},"title":"Why did the people think Jesus was calling for Elijah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to\u00a0Matthew 27:46: if the translation is as reported in the text, how come the bystanders thought he was calling for Elijah? It seems like the translation given in the text does not coincide with the bystanders' reaction to our Lord's words. Are they misinterpreting? Answer: \"And about\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":63432,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-purposely-make-the-rulers-unable-to-understand\/","url_meta":{"origin":87335,"position":2},"title":"Did God purposely make the rulers unable to understand?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Praise the Lord. In I Corinthians 2: 7-8, it says, \"No, we declare God's wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified\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":86006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ezekiel-and-preaching-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":87335,"position":3},"title":"Ezekiel and Preaching Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Ezekiel had a most challenging job, preaching the truth to people who were not ready to appreciate it. God gave Ezekiel the vision of God's awesome greatness, and when a preacher preaches because he has a great concept of God, he can preach the hard truths\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":22313,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-jesus-born-of-a-virgin\/","url_meta":{"origin":87335,"position":4},"title":"Why was Jesus born of a virgin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Some people try to explain that Jesus was born to a virgin because if he born like us he would become sinful. They then conclude that men are born sinful. I know that men are not born sinful. But I cannot able to explain to them the virgin birth\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":63443,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sir-we-would-see-jesus-at-his-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":87335,"position":5},"title":"Sir, We Would See Jesus at His Death","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 1:18-20 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Certain Greeks once came to the disciples asking for the privilege to see Jesus - John 12:20-21 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We don\u2019t really know anything about the physical characteristics of Jesus. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We know that it was prophesied that he wasn\u2019t handsome - Isaiah 53:2 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87335","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=87335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}