John on Faith And Doubt

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A Pastor Speaks Healing

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Keywords

Scripture

James 5:14-15, Mark 16:17-18, Acts 4:29-30, John 14:12, 2 Corinthians 5:7

I grew up in a church where healing never happened. We had theology that Jesus healed, but I never saw anyone healed growing up in the church. One day, I’m a pastor, and I decide we have to move beyon...

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Author

Michael Gerson

Keywords

Faith

Scripture

John 20:29, Romans 8:24-25, Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 11:1

Faith, thankfully, does not preclude doubt. It consists of staking your life on the rumor of grace.

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Author

Francis Maloney

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Scripture

John 20:19-31, Matthew 28:17, Romans 10:17, Hebrews 11:1, 1 Peter 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:7, John 20:29

[Regarding the Beloved Disciple who has believed without seeing:] The risen Jesus led these fragile disciples through their hesitation into authentic belief yet the faith of those who believe without ...

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Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Faith

Scripture

Matthew 14:31, John 20:29, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6, Mark 9:24, James 1:5-6

We live in an age when belief comes hard because we’re much more afraid of being gullible (believing something that’s not true) than we are of being skeptical (not believing something that is true). W...

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Lord, sometimes it’s so difficult to

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:20, Romans 4:20-21, Matthew 21:21, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 11:1, John 14:12

Lord, sometimes it’s so difficult to place our trust in you. You make incredible promises to us in your word. You say that through your power, we’ll be able to do even greater things than Jesus did in...

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Losing Faith but Missing Jesus

Author

Lee Strobel

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:5-8, 2 Corinthians 5:21, John 14:6, Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:38-39

Charles Templeton was a close friend and preaching associate of Billy Graham in the 1940s. He effectively preached the gospel to large crowds in major arenas. However, intellectual doubts began to nag...

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Let us Trust Our Own Moments of Vision

Author

Prince

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:8-9, Romans 8:24-25, John 20:29, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 40:31, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7

I remember once near Interlaken waiting for days to see the Jungfrau which was hidden in mists. People told me it was there, and I should have been a fool to doubt their word, for those who told me li...

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Author

Friedrich Nietzsche

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Corinthians 2:5, Romans 10:17, Proverbs 3:5-6, John 20:29, Hebrews 11:1

Faith: not wanting to know what is true.

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Author

Flannery O'Connor

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 46:10, John 20:29, Psalm 23:4, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 50:10, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 11:1

People...think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross...You arrive at enough certainty to be able to make your way, but it is making it in darkness. Don’t expect faith to clea...

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Author

Alister E. McGrath

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:8-9, Philippians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 2:9, John 20:29, 2 Corinthians 5:7

Faith is not something that goes against the evidence, it goes beyond it. The evidence is saying to us, 'There is another country. There is something beyond mere reason'.

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Author

A. W. Tozer

Keywords

Scripture

1 Timothy 1:17, 1 Peter 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Colossians 1:16, Romans 8:24-25, John 20:29

Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the nonexistent.

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Trust Is the Currency of Evangelism

Author

Don Everts and Doug Schaupp

Keywords

Scripture

John 13:34-35, 2 Corinthians 1:12, 1 Thessalonians 2:8, 1 Peter 3:15-16, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Trust is sweet. It is better than gold. Trust is always a gift of the heart, and therefore it just may be the most precious thing in life, next to love. Trust between two people is so valuable and pre...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 2:20, 1 Peter 1:8-9, James 1:6, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Romans 10:17, Mark 9:24, John 20:29

Ramandu’s daughter: "You can't know, you can only believe - or not."

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Author

Alicia Akins

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:7-10, Isaiah 41:10, John 3:8, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Psalm 66:10-12

We can rest knowing the Lord’s presence transcends what we feel. Just like the flow of the air, he is moving even if his movements cannot be perceived. And where God is not just felt but known, faith ...

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Dear Lord Jesus, we feel our sins. They

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:21, Psalm 103:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 8:1, John 6:40, Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9

Dear Lord Jesus, we feel our sins. They bite and gnaw and terrify us. Where shall we go? We will look to You, Lord Jesus, and believe in You. Although our faith is often weak, we look to You and find ...

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The Blue Pill or the Red Pill

Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:14, John 20:29, James 1:5-6, Romans 10:17, Matthew 17:20, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6

There is an iconic scene in the cult classic The Matrix that makes for a great metaphor. Morpheus gives Neo a choice between two pills: You can take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake up in y...

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Belief, Explained

Author

James I. Packer

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 12:30-31, James 1:22, James 2:14-17, 1 John 3:18, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 1:12

When people are asked what they believe in, they give, not merely different answers, but different sorts of answers. Someone might say, “I believe in UFOs”—that means, I think UFOs are real. “I believ...

lectionary

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Author

Gabe Fung

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, Revelation 21:2, 10, 22-27, Revelation 22:1-5, 1 Kings 6:20, Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:23-24, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15, Genesis 3:17-19, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:23, Genesis 1:26-27, Exodus 33:20-23, John 14:9, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3, Mark 15:34, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Exodus 28:15-21, 29-30, John 4:13-14, John 7:37-38, Matthew 27:46, John 3:2, Romans 8:29

Preaching Commentary Pulling Back the Curtain The Revelation of Jesus Christ is a “pulling back of the curtain” to reveal both the unseen realities of the present (what is really going on in the wo...

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Author

Emil Brunner

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 2:1-2, Hebrews 8:6, Galatians 3:20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 9:15, John 14:6

In Christianity faith in the Mediator is not something optional, not something about which, in the last resort, it is possible to hold different opinions, if we are only united on the ‘main point’. Fo...

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Sermon Illustration Tuesday (11.6.18)

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 6:4, John 3:1-21, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 3:3-7

In the novel, Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley, Buddy Crawford, a horse trainer, has a “born again experience but things don’t go according to plan. This is his prayer: “One night, when he was praying...

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Leader: We are people of the

Author

Jacob Traeger

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:20-22, Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 32:5, 1 John 1:8-9, Philippians 4:6-7, Hebrews 13:5-6

Leader: We are people of the resurrection. Witnesses to God’s glorious victory in Jesus Christ, which brings peace and transforms the power structures of this world. But we also know that we live in ...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

James 4:7-8, 1 John 1:9, Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Luke 5:32, Isaiah 1:18, Romans 5:8

We don’t come to Him as bad people trying to become good people; we come as rebels to lay down our arms.

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Evangelists Are Seen as Salesmen

Author

Don Everts and Doug Schaupp

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:14-16, John 13:34-35, 1 Peter 2:12, Titus 2:7-8, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Matthew 10:16

In another day and age, God, religion and church enjoyed the general respect of the culture. Not today. Religion is suspect, church is weird, and Christians are hypocrites. Distrust has become the nor...

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An Attempted Refutation of the Gospel

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 16:15-16, Philippians 1:6, Acts 16:31, John 1:12-13, Ephesians 2:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 1:16

[In the middle of the twentieth century a] young Russian communist went to a meeting one night where he heard a Christian expounding his faith. The communist was angry. How could anyone still believe ...

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Turning from Anger to Peace

Author

Edward T. Welch

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 26:3, Psalm 34:4, John 11:25-26, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Proverbs 16:18

An atheist professor delighted in tearing down the Christian faith of zealous freshmen. By his own admission, he was arrogant, selfish, and intolerant of anything that didn’t measure up to his standar...

liturgy

Loving God, you are the author of all

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:31-39, Ephesians 2:10, John 10:10, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:37, 2 Corinthians 5:17

Loving God, you are the author of all life. You created the heavens through the words of your mouth. You also are constantly creating new life. However, we don’t accept the new life you give us. We ch...

scripture guide

Scripture Guide, Revelation 21:10, 22:1-5

Author

Gabe Fung

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:10, Revelation 21:2, 10, 22-27, Revelation 22:1-5, 1 Kings 6:20, Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 2:9, Genesis 3:23-24, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 2:15, Genesis 3:17-19, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Ephesians 6:5-9, Colossians 3:23, Genesis 1:26-27, Exodus 33:20-23, John 14:9, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3, Mark 15:34, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Exodus 28:15-21, 29-30, John 4:13-14, John 7:37-38, Matthew 27:46, John 3:2, Romans 8:29

Pulling Back the Curtain The Revelation of Jesus Christ is a “pulling back of the curtain” to reveal both the unseen realities of the present (what is really going on in the world from God’s perspect...

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Faithfulness in the Darkest Places

Author

Ben Lansing and D. J.Marotta

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 3:7–8, Genesis 50:20, Isaiah 61:1, John 8:36, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 34:18

Josephine Bakhita’s life is a testament of God’s faithfulness in the darkest circumstances. She was born in Darfur, Sudan, among the Daju people. Her first years were happy, but at age eight she was k...

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Follow the Bubbles

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 8:26, John 14:26, Psalm 139:9-10, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Isaiah 42:16, Psalm 119:105

When I graduated from college I was given one of the greatest opportunities of my young life. A group of my friends were told that if we were able to purchase a flight to the Cayman Islands, we would ...

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The Holy Spirit Births Faith

Author

Tim Chester and Christopher de la Hoyde

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:23, Titus 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:15-16, 1 John 5:6-8, John 14:15-17, John 7:37-39

Hannah was one of my wife’s work colleagues. She used to love spending time with our congregation, but she found the gospel message just plain weird. We did some Bible studies with her over the summer...

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