Reliable Truth

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...

Today I'd like to start by sharing with you how I came upon this message. At The Center, we do a lot of one-on-one meetings. One of the guys that I meet with is in his mid-30s, a very sharp young man, well-educated and articulate. He shared with me that he struggles with fear in his life, and we’ve talked a lot about those fears. And there’s another guy that is a good bit older, and who’s very, ve...

Many scholars would agree that probably one of the most thoughtful books written in the last 30 or 40 years is Ernest Becker’s Pulitzer prize-winning book, The Denial of Death . Becker wrote, “Every person seems to have a need for cosmic significance”. In other words, purpose and meaning in their lives.  He says, throughout history, all the way up until modern times, people knew that they had valu...

Today I have a special guest, Drayton Nabers, speaking on the role of Christ in the life of business.   When we’re doing business, we can think that spiritual things are to be done with nonprofits or in the Church, but not in the business world. When we’re in business, we’ve got to make some money. We’ve got to work hard. It’s a competitive marketplace out there. We gotta be tough. So, therefore,...

How can I live a life that has purpose and meaning? That is the topic of today's podcast, Part 3. In Part 1, we talked about how many people see happiness as a feeling. We looked at all of the destructive tendencies that creep into a person’s life when they believe that pleasure is the source of true happiness in life.  In Part 2, we considered the factors that lead to happiness, starting with God...

*This episode has been updated to correct an error that occurred last week. Enjoy! What is it that satisfies the thirst of the soul?  In Part 1, we talked about how many people see happiness as a feeling. We looked at all of the destructive tendencies that creep into a person’s life when they believe that pleasure is the source of true happiness in life. What is the role that God plays in the sear...

I truly believe that many adults experience great unhappiness in life. A lot of them experience depression, which is not something that people want to admit, particularly men. We’re supposed to be on top of things, we’re supposed to be competent, together, and to acknowledge our unhappiness is something that we’d rather not do. This is a fascinating topic and I've found that it really is resonatin...

So much has been written on the issue of evil, but today I'd like to take all that I have read over the last six weeks on evil and try to distill it down into a 45-minute presentation. I pray that it will be enlightening to you. If at any point you get hung up with anything I’m saying, just hang on with me because we’ll keep going. I've taught a two-part series on “Why Does God Allow Pain and Suff...

Today I'd like to talk about something that's very important to me - I call it the Great Paradox of Life.  The apostle Paul addresses this in I Corinthians 1:18-24, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustr...

The topic that I want to address this morning is fascinating.  And, I believe that it will be of real benefit to you. One would think this concept is just common sense.  Unfortunately, many modern people don’t seem to use common sense.  I'd like to start with some words that I know you’re familiar with: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed...

What is it about the human condition that causes us to want to “one-up” someone else all the time? What is it that causes us to, and it makes us feel superior to others? What causes us to always compare ourselves to other people and why is it we’re always worrying about what other people think about us? This is what’s called the pride of life.  C.S. Lewis says that each of us have this great flaw...

Today I am discussing Jesus' parable about the pearl of great value, taken from Matthew 13:44-46 . "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid, and, for joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price,...

Today is the last message in my 4-part series on pride and humility. I want to look at how God has special regard for the humble, and then I want to look at how to integrate this life of humility into our personal lives. I want to share a few verses with you and look at how God has special regard and honor for the humble. Psalm 10:17 . “Oh, Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble. You will s...

This morning, I want to share a few more words with you about pride so that we can truly see how destructive it is in our lives. And then I’m going to share some words on humility. As I’ve said before, pride is so insidious and that it slowly grows and develops in our lives and becomes well-established without our knowledge. God hates it because of what it does to us. And I want to look at one mor...

Today I want to look at the pitfalls of comparison. Comparing ourselves to others impacts our lives, our behavior, our relationships with others, and ultimately it impacts our relationship with God. Now, I’ll start by looking at some scriptures that I think will be helpful, staring with I Thessalonians 2:4 , where Paul says, “Just as we’ve been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so w...

Today I am starting a new series on the issue of pride and humility. In the first two episodes we’ll look at the issue of pride and just how deadly it is in our lives, and then, in the final two episodes, we’ll look at God’s promises to those who live humbly as they walk through life. There will be a major application in Part 4, so you don't want to miss it.  I want to start with the book of Isaia...