Reliable Truth

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 YouTubePastor Chuck Reich is a featured podcaster on Overcomers TV. This inspiring network features everyday people and ministries across America who are putting God's love in action. Tune in to Overcomers TV on your favorite app or streaming platform. This episode originally aired on Overcomers TV ⁠here.⁠

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't curses him. Praise Him. And He will draw near to you in. In your worst pain and in your worst moment, you can make it your finest hour if you'll praise God.Then use that comfort you've received from God to give your life away. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-6"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer."Jerry Leachman of ⁠⁠⁠Leachman Ministries⁠⁠⁠ is a favorite speaker at The Center's events. Along with being an associate Chaplain in The NFL for many years, Jerry has done ministry in Guatemala, Scotland, Russia, Europe and Africa as well as all over the U.S. He and his wife Holly have been on Young Life Staff and continue to be involved with Young Life here and also internationally.

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 makes life difficult is that the process of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. Yet it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure.Hardship is a part of the human condition. But if you're going to be a healthy man with healthy relationships in a healthy business life, you've got to be willing to be confrontational.

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 culture—how to deal with those outside of the faith.Paul did not argue or try to convince people. He reasoned with them, starting with what they already knew. Acts 17:16-20 "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.”They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

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 about these other biblical words: sin, wrath, the cross, crucifixion, the blood of Christ, sacrifice, repentance, those words are called the theology of the cross. I think a lot of people find it offensive.In fact, there are a number of liberal theologians who really hate the idea of Christ's blood paying for our sins. They call it slaughterhouse religion. But if you take the cross, the crucifixion and the blood out of Christianity, it is meaningless because everything in the New Testament revolves around the forgiveness of our sins. There are no good people. We're all sinners. But this is what's so interesting. God has made it clear that the forgiveness of our sins is only possible through the shed blood of an acceptable substitute.Think about that for a minute. Without that substitute who bears the sin, we bear it. We bear it ourselves. And so today, I really want to consider the shed blood of Christ.A great place to start is 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved is the power of God."

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 it to the next generation.There is a very familial generational dynamic that's at work in the book of Deuteronomy. Godly instruction to enable us to flourish, enjoy and leave a legacy of faith to those going after us.Deuteronomy 5:32-33 gives us this call to action from the Lord:“So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.” >>Watch on YouTube⁠Dr. Mark Gignilliat is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches courses in Old Testament and Hebrew. Mark also serves as theologian in residence at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham. Dr. Gignilliat is married to Naomi, and they have four children.

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 thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." - Psalm 100 >>Watch on YouTubeDr. Mark Gignilliat is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches courses in Old Testament and Hebrew. Mark also serves as theologian in residence at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham. Dr. Gignilliat is married to Naomi, and they have four children.

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, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."In the last verse of Paul Gerhard's hymn "Awake, My Heart with Gladness", we sing, "Now I am safe from evil and sin I love to scorn, for Christ again is free in glorious victory. He who is strong to save has triumphed over the grave!">>Watch on YouTube⁠The Rev. Dr. Paul F.M. Zahl is a retired Episcopal minister and author, and served as dean of Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama for 10 years. His wife is Mary, and they have 3 grown sons, all serving in ministry. Paul and Mary recently moved back to the Birmingham area.In this season of retirement, Paul is actively waiting on God to send him the work the Lord has him to do, which currently includes mentoring younger ministers, and one-on-one meetings in a ministry of encouragement.>>You can find Paul's book "Peace in the Last Third of Life - a Handbook of Hope for Boomers" on Amazon here: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Last-Third-Life-Handbook/dp/173371667X⁠>>See the complete collection of Paul Zahl's books here: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001HCV1VW/allbooks

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.">>Watch on YouTubeThe Rev. Dr. Paul F.M. Zahl is a retired Episcopal minister and author, and served as dean of Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama for 10 years. His wife is Mary, and they have 3 grown sons, all serving in ministry. Paul and Mary recently moved back to the Birmingham area.In this season of retirement, Paul is actively waiting on God to send him the work the Lord has him to do, which currently includes mentoring younger ministers, and one-on-one meetings in a ministry of encouragement.>>You can find Paul's book "Peace in the Last Third of Life - a Handbook of Hope for Boomers" on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Peace-Last-Third-Life-Handbook/dp/173371667X>>See the complete collection of Paul Zahl's books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001HCV1VW/allbooks

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 power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.">>Watch on YouTubeTim Kallam is the senior pastor of Mountain Brook Community Church in Birmingham, Alabama. >>Learn more about Tim and his church here