Reliable Truth

Dr. Mark Gignilliat from Beeson Divinity School joins us today with a special Advent message from the book of Isaiah. Does God seem distant to you? Do you wish that God would fill you in on what he's doing in this chaotic world that we live in? Hebrews 1 tells us that, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spok...

What is the single most important factor in an abundant life, or even a successful life? Maybe you would say it's education or health, or maybe it's money. If we thought it through, I believe that we would come back with the answer of character . Well then, where does faith belong? Faith is a part of character, but I think that character is the single most important building block or factor in an...

Richard's guest is Russell Levenson, speaker at our recent Men's Breakfast, sharing about his special relationship with President George and Barbara Bush, as well as his newest book In God's Grip: What golf can teach us about the Gospel. Today he shares many heartwarming and inspiring stories about the Bush's. You don't want to miss this! ⁠Watch on YouTube Russell is the pastor of St. Martin's Epi...

Where am I in my relationship with God? In I Peter 2:25, Peter writes, “ For you are continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and the Guardian of your soul.” I love that phrase, the “Guardian of your soul”. Peter is writing to a group of Christians who were suffering persecution, going through a difficult time, and he’s saying to them, Jesus is the Good Shepherd,...

Do you feel like you’re close to God? Do you feel like you have a close relationship with Him? Missions leader John Oswald Sanders says, “Today, right now, you are as close to God as you choose to be.” Think about that. I believe he is saying that we determine the closeness of this relationship. In author H.D. Morton's book  In the Steps of the Master, he witnesses a scene in a cave near Bethlehem...

I believe that many modern people don’t believe in Satan. Or, they don’t see him as being much of a threat. Interestingly, a number of ministers or teachers never teach or speak on the issue of Satan and the forces of darkness. Why do you think that might be? Maybe the ministers think, "Since my sophisticated audience doesn’t believe in this stuff, I’m not going to talk about it. It seems to cause...

Are you bored with life? Are you happy with where your life is headed? Last week we discussed how boredom can ruin your life and the danger of an easy life - a life of leisure. This can lead to a life of complacency Historian Alexander Tytler wrote this in the late 18th century: “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will c...

What do you think a false Christian is? Someone who goes through the motions? Someone who thinks doing good things will get them into heaven? Well, that’s what the Pharisees thought. And yet, Jesus says in Matthew 15:7-9 that, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules." Jesus had great concern for this...

How would you describe the quality of your life? We are back in the book of John, continuing our study in chapter 6. In the Greek language there are two different words that are used for the English word "life" - bios and zoe . Bios is the physical and biological life - our physical bodies. The life of the body. The experience of the body. Zoe has to do with the quality of your life experience. Yo...

Who was King David of the Bible? Dr. Mark Gignilliat joins us today, exploring the fascinating and complicated life of King David, found in the book of Samuel. Mark discusses the implications of David's life, his call, but also David's sin. The Bible teaches that no man - no fallen human - can escape the corrosive effects of power over his life. Plato talks about putting on the ring of power. Tolk...

Should certain sexual behavior be declared morally right because I have a desire to do it? Are we going to allow God's truth to shape sexual morality or allow sexual desires to determine what is true and moral? And does God care about this at all? As I mentioned in Part 1, my objective in this 2-part series is  to produce light and not heat .  To bring enlightenment, but not anger. Watch on YouTub...

How is homosexuality impacting the church? You might think that this subject does not relate to you, but it does. We all need to know how this relates to the church and to our faith. This is a significant issue, a very current issue and a hard issue. My objective in this 2-part series is  to produce light and not heat . To bring enlightenment, but not anger. As Christians we are called to love. Th...

Do you believe Christianity is true? If so, what is the evidence that you’ve built your faith on? ​ Conversely, have you rejected the existence of God? What is your basis of that decision? ​The famous scientist Francis Collins was an atheist and incredibly well-educated. One day an older woman asked him about his faith. ​​And it just kind of dawned on him. Collins said, “As a scientist, I had alwa...

Do you want to be well? Do you want to be made whole? I find that there are so many people who are not well, and not healthy, and yet they are scared to death of the process that would be required to get well. I’ve seen this over the years often. I saw it with a guy that came to see me about his finances. He had pride, and he was having problems. He showed me his income, and he showed me his expen...

What is your mission in life? As we continue in the book of John, in this study we see that this is the third time that we’ve seen Jesus contrast the physical with the spiritual. We saw that with Nicodemus, Jesus talks about his spiritual birth. And Nicodemus asks, "What do you mean? How do you go back in your mother’s womb and be born a second time?" He doesn’t get it. Then with the Samaritan wom...

What is the thirst of the soul? We are in John 4, discussing Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. It is a fascinating conversation. He’s focusing on the spiritual need in her life and she’s thinking about not having to come to this well to drag water back to her house every day. The thirst of the soul. I read an older sermon by Tim Keller, and he talks about the role of water in...

We live in a time where many people just want to emphasis God’s love. But really, how do we know that He is a God of love? Does history tell us? Over the centuries, human society has had a good understanding that he is a God of wrath, who is righteous and puts down rebellion, who holds up the law of righteousness. But who came up with this idea of a loving God, a forgiving God, a merciful God–a Go...

Are you on a search for truth? Today we are studying John 3:1-15. In this familiar conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, we’re introduced to this great truth about being born again. The idea of a new birth. There is another word that Paul uses that means the same thing - regeneration . If you’ve ever read the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, it uses the words regenerate and regeneration a go...

Today we're studying John chapter 2. It’s a quick read, and full of interesting details about Jesus. He spent 30 years of His life in a small, obscure village called Nazareth. The people in Nazareth didn’t even think much of Him, yet even at age 12, Jesus really had a good grasp of who He was and why He was there. He grew in wisdom and knowledge, and in favor with God and man. Hebrews 5 tells us t...

When my oldest son was about nine, out of the blue he asked me, “Dad, why do you believe in God?” And I gave him all kinds of reasons. I said there are a lot of very good, rational, logical reasons to believe in God. Then I said, but, for me, ultimately, I believe in God because of Jesus. The Word becoming Flesh and dwelling among us. What is the reason for life? Author Tim Keller said, “The Desig...

Richard joins Dr. Michael Easley to discuss Richard’s book Reflections on The Existence of God and the importance of evidence-based belief. Why is it important to have evidence to believe in? In this episode we'll look at these questions many of us have: How should we think about evil in a culture that loves evil?  What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose in living? What is the psycholo...

Today my guest is Paul Walker. We'll be looking at four different people from the gospel of John who represent four types of people: two seekers and two believers. One seeker is a guy named Nicodemus who seems to have it all together while the other is a woman caught in the midst of adultery who's clearly got her fault lines exposed. One believer is Thomas, Jesus's disciple who was plagued by doub...

All of us have certain pictures in our minds and in our hearts of how we want life to be. Our pictures are made up of people and circumstances. As long as reality and our pictures are somewhat in conformity, then life is good! Everything is going well! The problem arises when there's a gap between my picture and reality. And the greater the gap, the greater the pain and disappointment, the hurt, a...

Is life worth living? And if so, how can it be lived well? Dr. Mark Gignilliat joins us with a message from the Old Testament book of Joshua. Where is happiness in all of this? Interestingly, I recently read that the largest registration for a single course in the history of Yale University was a course entitled "Happiness." To live a fulfilled human life is an age-old question. Ancient Greek phil...

Happy Father's Day! Jerry Leachman of  Leachman Ministries  joins us with a message for fathers especially, but also for all men - to help us all focus on the things that matter. Are there any boundaries when it comes to human sexuality? How do our choices affect others in our lives? As a father, how do my choices affect my wife? My children? Today's message is about living an upright life - how t...