Reliable Truth

What has shaped your ideas about life and about God? Where did you get those ideas and beliefs? Where did you get the perspective that you bring into your life? If God came and spoke to us, I think He would tell us to listen to the words of Jesus. Listen to what He has to say to you, and about where you are in life. "But why should I listen to Him?" you might ask. What does He have to say that’s relevant to me and my life?The first reason is that His words are true. In Matthew 24:35 Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” Whether you lived a thousand years ago, or whether you live today, Jesus' words will have an everlasting application to your life.A second reason is that one day, our lives will be judged by His words. In John 5:22-23, Jesus says, "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father." That sure gets my attention.And lastly, Jesus warns us in Mark 4:24 to “Consider carefully what you hear...” Our lives are shaped by so many things, by so many influences. What if the influences that have shaped my life turn out to be wrong? What if I’ve been misguided?I believe that we all need someone who serves as a true compass to lead us to what is true, what is accurate, and what is wise. I contend that Jesus is that compass.

What is the object of life? And what are you hoping to achieve in this life?American Trappist monk, Thomas Merton said this, "If you really want to know a man - to know what's at the core of his being," he said, find out what he's living for now - in the present. Jesus gives us some good insight on this in one of my favorite parables, found in Luke 12. It's about a businessman who stores up treasure for himself, but he is not rich towards God.It's not so much that prosperity corrupts men. It's what prosperity makes available to us that potentially can corrupt us. Prosperity can cause us to live for ourselves, to want to be left alone so we can pursue our own dreams. Ahh, a life of ease... is it really as great as it sounds?

How great is my desire to know God and to truly find Him as a living reality for my life? For many people, God is nothing more than a concept or a distant being that’s out there, but not One that's alive and that you can have a relationship with.Jeremiah 29:13-14 says, "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD..." If this is true, God should be a living reality to everyone who truly seeks to find Him. But if God is not a living reality in our lives, maybe it’s because we haven’t sought Him. And maybe it’s really because we have no interest in having Him in our lives. Is this willful blindness?

Today Richard joins Dr. Michael Easley of Michael Easley inContext to discuss Biblical Manhood in a Man-Hating World. Dr. Easley’s experience in ministry spans four decades as a gifted Bible teacher and church leader. He was the 8th president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois  He shares a passion for ministry, heart for people, and love of God.Michael Easley inContext wants to help you understand how God’s Word applies to the context of your life through interviews with subject matter experts, and men and women striving to obey Christ and His Word. Find out more about Richard's book The True Measure of a Man - Read Chapter 1 for free. This episode originally aired on Michael Easley inContext. Click here to listen. 

HG Wells was one of the great historians to have ever lived. He was not a Christian nor a religious man, but in his book The Outline of History Wells concluded that Jesus was the most dominant figure in all of history. How did Jesus do that? How did he become the most dominant figure in all of history? Not by power, prestige, influence nor outward appearance. He chose the path of humility.Watch the video of this message here!

Is the hope of Easter real? 11 Corinthians 4:16 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." The apostle Paul was saying that with the passage of time, if you don't have a strong, vibrant spiritual life, you cannot help but naturally lose hope. Most of us know that the body is dying. We also know that everything in this life that we've accomplished and worked for will be lost the moment we die.We should build everything in our lives around Jesus, if indeed He is the risen Christ. And yet this is the struggle that so many of us have: we might acknowledge Jesus as Lord of the universe, but we just don't want Him to be the Lord of our lives. Who is Christ to you?

How can the events of Easter transform the heart?Let's consider the events that took place on that first Good Friday and that first Easter morning. If they actually happened as events of history, then they are the defining events In all of life; in all of history. As Blaise Pascal observed, apart from Jesus, His crucifixion, and His resurrection, we cannot know the meaning of life, of our death, of God, or of anything else. I contend that these Easter events have the power to convert and change the mind and the intellect, and to transform the heart. Today I want to consider how the cross and how the resurrection impact the mind and the heart. This is an important place to start as we live in an age of skepticism.What is the foundation that I can build my faith and my belief on? Hebrews 2:9 says, "But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." When the gospel of grace truly penetrates your heart, it will change you. It will transform you.

When thinking about manhood or what really defines what a man is; what do you usually think of? Money? Success? Women? Today Richard joins Brett on The Brett Snodgrass Podcast to discuss what the true measure of a man really is! We talk about fear of failure and unnecessary shame that comes with being a man. We also discuss why fathers need to be teaching their sons about masculinity at a young age and how God plays a role in being a man.Brett Snodgrass is a successful entrepreneur and host of The Brett Snodgrass Podcast. Brett’s vision is to build a community of entrepreneurs and businessmen who truly desire to learn from and help each other to live their purpose. This episode originally aired on The Brett Snodgrass Podcast on March 14, 2022. Click here to watch the complete episode.

I believe we have a tendency to live out the future in our imagination before it arrives.For many of us, our lives are truly out of sync with time because we’re always anticipating the future. We all are always trying to rearrange our lives around future expectations of happiness. Blaise Pascal says this:“We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up... We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does... We almost never think of the present and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future.The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone, our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”If we have dealt with our past and we live at peace with our future, as we look to the future, you know what C.S. Lewis tells us, then we’re able to truly love in the present, in the now. He says, why? Because we will have dealt with all of the obstacles to love.Now think about it. The past our faith is built on. The future, there’s hope. In the present, there is love. If you’re familiar with the great love chapter, Paul says faith, hope and love. He says, this is the essence of life.

You are what you remember.I believe that what we remember affects who we are and what we experience in this life. Many people are haunted or weighed down by baggage from the past. Others try to live in the future, thinking that when they get to a certain point later, then life will be full and complete. Either perspective makes their lives in the present miserable. God designed us to live a full and joyful life each day, with no impediments from the past or the future. Today we're looking at how to deal with the past. Next week, we'll cover dealing with the future. If our lives are healed of past wounds and moral failures, if we are able to let go of anger, hatred, and bitterness by forgiving others, and if we have a strong faith built on God’s Word, on God’s revelation from the past, just think of the life you could live. Think of how free and how vibrant and how healthy you could be, and think of how abundant life would be in the present. Right now.