Reliable Truth

How do we make wise decisions? It is learned through making mistakes, or is it more than that? ​ I believe that the more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the complexities of life. But the more our minds are clouded by falsehood, misperceptions, and illusions, the harder it will be for us to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions....

Imagine that you're at work and, and things aren't going well in your marriage, or you and your wife are going through a dry season. You're invited to go to lunch with an attractive single woman. And you reason to yourself, there's nothing wrong with going to lunch. There's nothing morally wrong with making that decision.  Several weeks later you're working late on a special project and you're fin...

In your eyes, what is a good man? To be caring? Honest? To put others' needs ahead of your own?  Now, what does it mean to be a real man? Many men would eagerly answer: "a real man takes charge, takes risks." Some might say "a real man walks like a man, talks like a man, and never cries." There's a real disconnect between the description of a good man and of a real man....

Is there more than one path to God?  You see, all of the world's religions make certain objective truth claims about the nature of God, about spirituality, and most significantly about what happens to you when you die. Either only one of them is true or none of them are true. To say that two or three of them are true or that all of them are true is absurd. It's logically impossible. In today's epi...

Who is caring for the caregivers? Today Richard's guest is Phil Reddick, along with a panel of speakers, each giving their perspective on decision making, coping with these issues, grieving, and how to prepare for your loved ones during this critical time. This special seminar was hosted by The Center and YBL 2nd Half. Here is our panel of speakers: Robert Atherton - Sales Executive with Temen...

The most important thing that you bring to your marriage relationship, and really to any relationship, is yourself . And the healthier you are individually, the healthier your marriage will be, the healthier your relationships will be. Your character, your humility, your willingness to be transparent, to be honest, to be vulnerable, your ability to love, the wisdom that you attain, will all ultima...

What is love? Dr. Mark Gignilliat from Beeson Divinity School, joins us today teaching on the book of Song of Solomon, also called Song of Songs. This book of lyrical poetry is a collection of 10 simple poems, where the couple speaking are freely describing their marital intimacy with joy and freedom. Song of Songs gives us a biblical example of God's beautiful gift of physical intimacy in marriag...

What would you say to Jesus if He asked you, "What do you really want?" Jerry Leachman of Leachman Ministries joins us today with a message to inspire you to get creative - to get off the sidelines and get onto the field. With the time you've got left, when you're around people - build them up. Give them a lift. Be a blessing. Point them towards Jesus Christ. Every great coach will tell their team...

Do you find yourself in a game of comparison?  Dr. Tim Keller says that we are the first culture in history where men get their sense of worth and significance based on how well they perform and achieve in life.  It’s not that you want to be the greatest coach in America. What you find is that you just want to be a better coach than you, and you, and you, and you, and you. It’s a comparison thing....

In the work that I do, I have noticed a frustration in people’s lives. It usually starts in their 30’s and continues on for the rest of their lives. This is the frustration they express, ”Why is there such a gap between the life I’ve aspired to and dreamed of, and the life I’m actually living?” In evaluating my own life, I have asked myself, "Have I come, even partially close, to doing my very bes...

Today my guest is champion golfer Bubba Watson, who candidly shared about his victories and struggles over the course of his life at our recent Men's Breakfast.  Watson is a multiple major champion, with victories at the Masters Tournament in 2012 and 2014. In February 2015, Watson reached a career-high 2nd place in the Official World Golf Ranking.  Growing up in the small-town of Bagdad...

Does it really matter what we put our faith in? If you’re going to really put your faith in something, it has to have a strong foundation to undergird it - otherwise it’s just blind speculation. Think about it this way: you can have very little faith in thick ice and it will hold you up just fine when you walk out onto it. On the other hand, you can have enormous faith in thin ice, and you can dro...

We live in a time where the ideology of religious pluralism is becoming more and more dominant in our culture. A religious pluralist is one who believes that all religions are different paths that lead to the divine, and therefore, all religions are valid. In other words, it’s like there’s this one God out there but He just wears many faces when you look at the landscape of all the world’s religio...

How do we know the Bible is a divine book? What makes it different from any other ancient history book or book on philosophy? The answer to it is quite simple. Christians believe the Bible is the Word of God for one main reason. Because Jesus says it is.  Think about that for a minute. Jesus puts His stamp of approval on the Old Testament. In fact, on 92 occasions, Jesus and His apostles supported...

How can we know that the Bible is the inspired word of God? Amos 4:13 tells us, "Behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind, and declares to a person what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth, the Lord God of armies is His name." You see, human speech that can be clearly understood, documented through the written word, is the model t...

Are moral choices just a matter of individual taste?  During the summer of 2008, the imminent Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith led a research team that conducted an in-depth interview with 230 young adults from across America. When asked to describe a moral dilemma they had faced, two-thirds of the young people couldn’t answer the question. Instead, they described problems that are not moral...

Why doesn’t God speak to us from Heaven in an audible voice? Why doesn’t He just speak and let His presence be known? I believe the primary reason is that if the infinite God of the universe regularly spoke to us from Heaven, we would be terrorized into loving and listening to Him. Such a direct and demonstrative communication would create a situation where God actually forced Himself on mankind....

Is there good reason to believe that the Bible is the Word of God? I am convinced that true faith has to have a foundation, and the stronger that foundation, the greater your faith will be. The Christian's faith is not blind faith. Blind faith is worthless, based only on certain conclusions but not on any evidence. Christianity is the only word religion where spiritual truth depends on the veracit...

Are science and religious beliefs at war with each other? There are three different ways that people see the relationship between science and God.  The first is the belief that science and faith are at war with each other. This is the approach that Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris take - that science has the edge in credibility because it’s about provable facts, and religion depends on faith. The se...

Is there credible evidence that shows that the Biblical story is in harmony with secular history? Unlike other religious literature, the Bible is not centered in a series of moral, spiritual, and liturgical teachings. The Bible centers around what God did in history and what He revealed in history. Peter Moore, the founder of Trinity Seminary said that Christianity is the only world religion to ma...

How do we know that the Bible is truly God’s written revelation? It’s a legitimate question. This question always seems to come up in our culture and in our world today, and it plagues the skeptical mind.  And how can such an ancient document have any relevance to modern life? As C.S. Lewis was on his search, he stated honestly, “ What I could not understand was how the life and death of someone e...

How well do we know ourselves? How well do we understand the deep longings of the heart? I believe that the better we know ourselves, the healthier we are and the better we can relate to others. Healthy people know themselves. Each one of us is searching for something, but sometimes we're just not sure what we're after. I contend that if we could peel back all the layers of our lives and get to th...

Where is God in the midst of our pain and our suffering? Is it possible that God has a much different view of pain than we do? In the book of I Corinthians, Paul tells us that the wisdom of God often appears to be foolishness to mankind.  I contend that often God’s greatest blessings are a result of the painful events of life. And the opposite of that is true as well - that often prosperity and co...

If there is a loving God, if He is kind and loving, why is there so much pain and evil and suffering in this life? Maybe this is not important to you. Maybe right now you’re at a point in your life where you’re kind of insulated from it, you haven’t had any big waves of difficulty come your way, but this question will be important to you one day, I predict. I had lunch Wednesday with a guy who, a...

In celebration of Father’s Day today, Richard‘s guest is Jeremiah Castille , University of Alabama football legend and All American, who went on to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos. Jeremiah has a heart for mentoring young people, and currently serves as the chaplain for the University of Alabama football team. Jeremiah gave this message to a large gathering of fathers and...