Reliable Truth

How do you respond when you experience hardship? How many of us face moments in our life when we don't have a plan? Serious illness, financial loss, failure... how we need to have this as our prayer from 2 Chronicles 20:12 "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You." Our guest is Jerry Leachman, sharing this message at our recent Men's Breakfast. James 5:16 tells us that  "The fervent pra...

What is the power of a humble life? Two verses sum up how God views pride and humility: Proverbs 16:5 tells us that, "The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this, they will not go unpunished." James 4:6 "But He gives us more grace. That is why scripture says that God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Those are powerful words: God detests the proud . The word oppos...

How important is unity in ministry? After an interval of 14 years, Paul goes back to Jerusalem to confront 2 false brothers - false teachers. And he also went to see all of the 12 disciples, to make sure that they were unified in their mission of Christ with him. Tim Keller writes: "If the other apostles had not confirmed Paul, if they had not renounced the false teachers, it would be very hard fo...

Do you think God has things that He wants us to do - that He appoints us to do? It is an interesting thought! When Jesus appeared to Saul (Paul's previous name) on the road to Damascus, Jesus told him, "Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the...

Today's episode previously aired on this podcast with the title "Seeking the favor of men or God?" I share it again today as it is Part 2 of our study of Galatians. Isn't it interesting to think about how we let other people have such an influence on how we live our lives. I think we would all agree that the people in our lives are important to us. In fact, relationships are the substance of life....

When I first became a Christian, I didn't think much of the book of Galatians. I didn't understand what Paul was saying. But now here I am some 47 years later, I have a much better understanding of Galatians, and I love it. I deeply appreciate it. Paul wrote this letter just 17 years after Christ's death and resurrection. He emphasized the many eye witnesses that were still alive at that time and...

What is God like? What are the most significant attributes of God that you think of? Many people would respond that he is a righteous God, a holy God. He is all powerful. He is loving, he is merciful. He is a just God. But maybe his most important attribute is one that we don't think about very often. The prophet Jeremiah tells us in chapter 31, verse 34 that God is knowable . Think about that. He...

Today my guest is Dr. Michael Green, bringing us a message from Acts 18, to begin the new year with renewed hope and courage.  Lift up your eyes to see what just one man can do for the cause of Christ. Remember, one person plus God is always a majority!

Are you a part of the remnant? Jerry Leachman of  ⁠Leachman Ministries⁠  joins us with a message for men - to help us examine where we are in life. Many people are wondering in our culture today, "Am I seeing the America I have known fundamentally change before my eyes?" And maybe it’s never coming back. I’m going to talk about the remnant today, because in the Bible and all the way thro...

Today Dr. John Guest brings a message of hope in the certainty of Jesus Christ. "I wasn’t raised to go to church. I did think Christians were soft. Pastors in England would talk in a rather slow and boring tone, and it was sort of remote. I didn’t go to church, but I picked them up on the radio and when there was no such thing as television when I was a child and from time to time, you’d hear one...

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...