Reliable Truth

Do our words have power? If we are honest with ourselves we would say yes. The book of Proverbs tells us: "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” - Proverbs 18:21 James 3:9-10 tells us, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise a...

When crisis comes into your life, who do you turn to? Who do you trust? The question that God puts before His people again and again is, "Are you going to trust Me?" Where you going to put your hope and your trust when hardship comes? Psalm 4:35 says, "Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." What does this mean? It's very...

What would life be like if there is no God? ​ In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon writes about the meaning of life. He says a lot of the same things over and over. He also uses this phrase, "life under the sun." When Solomon says "life under the sun," he's asking you to consider—what would life be like if there is no God? Solomon says that it leads to a life that'...

How can we make a lasting impact? We have been called to be lights in a dark world, ambassadors for Christ and now we're called to be salt. Matthew 5:13 tells us, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." How can we be salt to the world? The a...

How do you influence people? What are you trying to influence them to do? Are you trying to influence them for good? Many influencers today are just really trying to entertain you. They're trying to draw a crowd and promote products. And they get paid by the brands that they promote. Influencers can change a person's behavior, their beliefs, their attitudes or outcomes without the use of d...

Can we understand our own hearts? What about the hearts of others? Today's episode is from Isaiah 30:9-11 "For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, 'See no more visions!' And to the prophets, 'Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave th...

Why am I here? For what purpose have I been made? These 2 questions rightly demand an acknowledgment of the Creator. He exists. He's not just the projection of my own wishes and fantasies. There is a Creator and He's created humanity for a purpose. And what is that purpose? "In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will...

"I sure I sure hope I'm getting into heaven. I'm working hard at it." Have you felt this way or heard others say this? I see this with men all the time. There's this hint of uncertainty. Whenever you hear someone saying, "I'm really working at it. I'm trying hard. I hope I get there."—what does it tell you about that person's perspective on salvation? To...

How do you respond in when life gets really tough? Jerry Leachman says to remember that we're just a baby in a basket. What does that mean, "a baby in a basket?" When Moses was just a few months old, Pharoah, the most powerful man in the world, had a hit order on his life. Moses' family put him in a little frail reed basket and set him afloat in the crocodile-infested Nile River....

Are you looking for wisdom with your finances? Today's Bible study opens with Luke 3:1-14, where John the Baptist is calling people to repentance and changed hearts. Several groups of people ask John what they should do—first the crowds, then the tax collectors, and then the soldiers. John answered in Luke 3:8,  "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance..." then he addresses each gro...

What does it mean to have God's favor? There's an important phrase in the Bible that I'd like to look at today - the phrase is God's favor . I'm not sure that we think about this much or even understand what it is. Psalm 90:17 tells us, "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and do confirm for us the work of our hands., yes, confirm for us the work of our hands." The ESV version of this ve...

Today Mark begins teaching in the first chapter of Isaiah. The first word of this titanic of a book is "vision." Isaiah is seeing something that goes beyond the normal activity of seeing. You and I are looking at the world around us, but seeing God's perspective on the world is a whole deeper level. We're talking about the difference between looking and seeing . The book of Isaia...

How has God made Himself real to you? Celebrate what Jesus is doing throughout the nation, and rise up to answer His call on your life. To serve the poor, heal the broken, free the captives, and bring joy to those in need. Today Richard is talking with Pastor Chuck Reich about his own faith journey, leadership and counseling with men at The Center. >>Watch on YouTube Pastor Chuck Reich is a...

Are you in a painful place in your life today? Do you feel like the wheels are coming off? Do you feel bitter toward God? Whenever you feel God may be far from you, whenever you feel the wheels are coming off in your life, choose to praise God. The worse it gets, praise God. And mathematically, God has to draw near because He always inhabits the praise of His saints. Don't question Him, don&#3...

What comes to mind when you hear the word confrontation? I believe confrontation is one of the most important practices of life. It's what the apostle Paul did. What we're talking about is a willingness to confront the truth. We are called to confront the truth as it relates to problems that we face in our lives. In Scott Peck's book  The Road Less Travelled , he writes: ​​ "What...

How are we to live in today's secular culture? In the book of Acts, what was Paul's approach to the pagan people of Greece? Most of the people of Athens were well educated, but they were also pagan, and worshipped many Greek gods. Paul's approach to his sermon to the people of Athens was very consistent with what he taught about going out into the world and dealing with a secular pagan...

Do only good people go to heaven? No. Good people don't go to heaven— forgiven people go to heaven. Think about these attributes of God: He's loving, He's merciful, He's holy, He's full of grace. He's all powerful. He's just, He's fair. And that's called the theology of glory . And it's all true of God, and it makes people feel good about Him. But think abou...

Looking for wisdom in your family relationships? The book of Deuteronomy is rich with guidance, focusing on two realities: our tendency to forget, and our call to remember. Deuteronomy was given to the Hebrew people as a teaching tool—to give them a kind of ordering of their own knowledge and understanding of their place in the world before each other and before their God, so that they can teach i...

Are you experiencing true joy? Richard's guest Mark Gignilliat continues in his discussion of Psalm 100. "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give...

Do you have pain in your life that is unresolved? Maybe a painful memory, unresolved relationship or self-inflicted wound that seems to be unusually hard to get over? There are things in our lives that can be absorbing, unresolved and unknown and yet really need the grace of God. Hebrews 9:23-26 tells us: Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites,...

Everyone wants peace and hope. As we grow older, we feel a special urgency to make peace with the past and to discover hope for the future. In doing this, it's important to be thinking more and more about eternity. Let the gospel be the lens through which we act and move and have our being. I John 4:19 is the key to our motivation for life: "We love because He first loved us." >&g...

Have you given much thought to what God can do through you? Today my special guest is Tim Kallam, senior pastor of Mountain Brook Community Church. His message highlights the life of Barnabas through the book of Acts. From Acts 4:32-37 " All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great pow...

Is anything holding you back from fully embracing Christ? Today's message from Jerry Leachman closes with this prayer, interceding for all istening: "Dear God, there's no catch today. We don't have anything for anybody to join. We don't want anybody's money. We don't want anybody's anything. We're a band of brothers in here this morning. Lord, if there are men...

The father of the prodigal son gave a hugh banquet to celebrate his son's return home. His son was lost, but now was found. Does this remind you of what awaits believers in heaven? In Revelation 19:6-9, John describes the Lord's future banquet in heaven for those who have trusted in Christ: "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of th...

What was Paul's legacy to Christians? Paul was a man that was given a real vision. He was an apostle to the Gentiles and he was a man on the move. In many senses we might think of the Apostle Paul in today's terminology as a church planter, but not one who would plant a church in Jasper, Alabama and then stay there for the next 20 years. Instead, he would be like one who planted a church at Jasper...