Reliable Truth

How much of your life have you wasted trying to impress others? How much different would your life be if you were delivered from the fear and worry about what others think of you? Today we're looking again at what Solomon has to say about our work in the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon says this, “ What does the worker gain from his toil? I’ve seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everyth...

If you could live your life over again, would you do anything differently? As I meet with men every day, I find that there are so many men who live with the pain of regret .  Today's podcast is about the book of Ecclesiastes - a philosophical book about the sorrows, the regrets and the life of King Solomon. You see, he turned away from his faith in his latter years, and he turned away to false God...

Are we in the land of the living? Actually, we are in the land of the dying. My guest today, Jerry Leachman, would tell you that this is a message from a dead man. Five years ago he had a massive heart attack, and experienced what his doctor described as “sudden death”. Jerry tells his story about being with Jesus during that time, and the message that he was impressed with to share with us. A sec...

What gives meaning to life? How do we treasure God and people? What is God's unique purpose for me, and then how do I wisely invest my life? Today my guest is Ken Boa , President of Reflections Ministries. In this final message on Transitioning Well, Ken will give us tools on how to live wisely; to give us a sense of encouragement, destiny and an understanding of where our lives are meant to be. G...

Today my guest is Ken Boa , President of Reflections Ministries. This is Part 2 of his 3 part series on Transitioning Well – Living this day as if it's your last. Do you think it's possible for a person to miss his life, like a person that misses a plane? Yes! I can live for the future, thinking if I can accomplish this or that, then I'll be happy, I'll be content. Guess what happens if you are am...

Today my guest is Ken Boa, President of Reflections Ministries. He is teaching a 3 part series on Transitioning Well - How to take the greatest years of your life, when you have the wisdom, the relationships and the resources, to impact the world. Ken says, “Age conspires with God to take away our temporal hope.”  Think about that again: “Age conspires with God to take away our temporal hope,” for...

Are you walking through a difficult time in your life? Today Richard‘s guest is Tom Bradford , President of the National Christian Foundation of Alabama. Tom is sharing his personal journey of faith while battling terminal cancer. His story is powerful, full of love and hope. We hope his message inspires and strengthens you today!

Do you have the right kind of wealth? In other words are you rich in the things that really matter? Do you possess spiritual riches? The word content literally means "to be full, to be satiated, to be satisfied."  Jesus said in John 6:35 , "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst." When Jesus said this, he’s no...

Where do you find contentment in life? I believe that true contentment has nothing to do with what you have or don't have. Contentment is in the state of your heart. I believe there are three sins, or vices, that have a huge impact on our lives. They rob us of true contentment.  What do you think these three sins might be? I believe they are pride, greed, and envy. The first reason they’re so dead...

There is one thing that each of us need - if you have this, it will make your life. Tragedies and heartbreak will come, but if you don't have this - you probably won't do well. I'm talking about deep friendship. At its center, Christianity is about relationships - our relationship to God and our relationships with people. What kind of friend are you? I believe there are 4 levels of fri...

Have you ever thought about the ideas you have and how they shape your life? Philosopher Dallas Willard says "Our ideas are the assumptions we have about reality. They are the way we think about and interpret life. Ultimately our beliefs and ideas determine how we live, and therefore our ideas about life will lead to certain consequences."  Today I am addressing three false ideas about reality, an...

Today's podcast is from a group Bible study I am teaching about the principle of sowing and reaping. I believe that for every person who is listening to this podcast, God would desire you to have a ministry of some sort. It doesn’t have to be a big ministry, but I believe that there is something that He wants to do through each one of us as we live this life. And I would also say that if you’re at...

Today we're finishing the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. This parable reveals something about eternity. Many people don't realize the fact that in Heaven, you will have a physical, resurrected body. We're not going to be these spirits floating around in the clouds like some people think. In this parable, Lazarus and the rich man weren't spirits. They had physical bodies.  Think about the Apo...

Today's podcast is the second part of my Bible Study series on Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This parable is found in Luke 16:19-31 .  Last week, we considered what the Bible tells us about hell. Hell is a real place - a place of agony, a place of torment, and it’s a place that no one really would ever want to end up. If hell is real, what should our lives be about, particularly as w...

Today's podcast is from a Bible Study series I taught at The Center. We're looking at one of Jesus' parables that I think is very pertinent to us today. This parable is found in Luke 16:19-31 and is about the reality of heaven and hell. It talks about the human condition and man’s resistance of God. It talks about the irreversibility of death, which closes the door to grace. And that’s very seldom...

Today I'm honored to share a talk with you that my good friend and former NFL chaplain Jerry Leachman gave at a large men's breakfast hosted by The Center. Here is an excerpt:  "There is an incident that happened a few years ago in Cleveland. I had a guy from Cleveland in one of the groups and he said, that happened. They tell the story about the Cleveland symphony orchestra. Some seasons ago, the...

Faith. Culture. Hope. Life. Longtime journalist and commentator Billy Hallowell has covered thousands of the biggest faith and culture stories. Today I am honored to share a recent interview I had with Billy discussing my book Reflections on the Existence of God .   Either God exists or He does not - There is no third option. The question of God’s existence, in my opinion, is the most significant...

Today's podcast is a message that I’ve been sharing for over 25 years, and about 10 years ago, it made its way into a book. What I really hope to do this morning is to help you understand yourself as a man. John Calvin said that “all true wisdom consists of two things, knowledge of God and knowledge of self.” And yet, one of the things that I find is that we as men don’t really understand ourselve...

Today I am discussing the struggles that men deal with. Life is difficult. I don’t care how talented you are, how wealthy you are, how knowledgeable you are, life is difficult and it’s full of pain. Most men tend to withdraw - we tend to isolate ourselves in reaction to the pain and struggles in our lives. We just withdraw. Did you know that eighty percent of the suicides in this country are commi...

Today I welcome back my friend, Drayton Nabers. This time he is speaking on praying for your business life. Nabers says that, "Prayer connects us to God’s grace. As we pray, we are seeking God’s grace with respect to whatever might be the subject of our prayer. The access to grace is always through faith."  In Romans 5:1, Paul says, "Since we have been justified by faith, we have access to God’s g...

Today I'd like to share a principle that I believe is the most important principle in all of life. I want to start with a theory that has to do with this principle, then close with how to apply this in your life. Jack Welch , the well-known retired CEO of General Electric had this principle as the core of his management philosophy: the key trait of a vital, dynamic corporations is this: looking re...

If you were to Google the question "What is the good life?", you'd be overwhelmed by the response. Some of the answers are shopping, consumption, places to live. You'll find a host of books that offer formulas on how to find the good life. There are many retail stores that sell goods that promote the good life. Buy this, and it will contribute to your life.  But what you won't find is that the goo...

My message that I'm sharing with you today is, I believe, one of the most important messages to anyone that I would describe as a church-going person, or a person with a church background.  This message is a result of two experiences I had. The first comes from a number of conversations I've had with men who are struggling with life and with their faith - church going men who intellectually believ...

Today I want to continue discussing the heart of a man as we look at this question: What is it that men really want? In Dr. Armand Nicholi's book The Question of God, he says this is what he's observed about the faculty and students at Harvard, "They avoid examining their lives, and they do not seem to want to understand themselves. They are afraid of what they might discover." Is this true of us...

How well do you know yourself? How well do you understand yourself?  In John Calvin's massive work called The Institutes of the Christian Religion , he opens the volume with this: "All true wisdom consists of two parts: knowledge of God and knowledge of self." French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “One must know oneself. Even if that does not help in finding truth, at least it helps in running on...