Have you ever felt overwhelmed, out of control, pushed to the breaking point?  Have you ever wondered where God is at times like that?  Has anyone ever told you “God will never give you more than you can handle” when you felt like you had already lost control?  Do you think God gave you more than you could handle?

I would guess if you are reading this, that so far you have survived everything you’ve experienced.  So do you think God never gives you more than you can handle?

What about people who are martyred for their faith around the world.  Did God give them more than they could handle?

Listen to the message below and tell me what you think.

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I love how Jesus’ half-brother, James, described faith.  He basically said faith without works is dead faith.  A belief that doesn’t result in changed behavior is not really belief at all.  In fact your true belief is demonstrated by what you do.  That’s why it’s important to have an informed faith.  Faith in God is not a blind faith.  It’s an informed and grounded faith.  There is so much evidence for who Jesus is and what he did in history, that we can have a faith based on reality, and from there our faith helps us to do all the things that Jesus commanded us to do.

PS. I’m sorry about the sound quality on this one.  It’s pretty terrible.  You can hear it if you crank the volume, but it’s not recorded well at all.

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Have you ever had a bad day?  I don’t mean like you got cut off in traffic or you had too much homework.  I mean things like losing a loved one or finding out you have cancer or losing your job.  We all have kinda bad days once in awhile.  But then there are those things that are just devastating.  What do you do with that?  How do you get through times when it seems like life is falling apart.

Maybe you’ve asked the question, “Where is God in all this?’  And people like to come up with all sorts of reasons why you might be facing trouble, when all you really wanted was someone to be close to you, to comfort you in your suffering.  Well, the Bible speaks to just that kind of situation, and gives plenty of examples of other people who have had to deal with true hardships.

(The first few minutes got cut off of this talk, but it still holds together pretty well.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:03 — 12.8MB)