Reliable Truth

Today I'm honored to share a talk with you that my good friend and former NFL chaplain Jerry Leachman gave at a large men's breakfast hosted by The Center. Here is an excerpt: "There is an incident that happened a few years ago in Cleveland. I had a guy from Cleveland in one of the groups and he said, that happened. They tell the story about the Cleveland symphony orchestra. Some seasons ago, the orchestra was forming a well-known piece by Mozart called “The Magic Flute”. Midway through, a powerful storm raging outside the symphony hall caused the lights to go out. Undaunted by the darkness, the musicians hardly skipped a beat. The members of the orchestra knew the music so well, they carried on the performance even though it was pitch black dark in the symphony hall. At the end of the Mozart symphony, the audience burst into thunderous applause, clapping and loud at this extraordinary feat. A stagehand illuminated the conductor with a flashlight, shined it along the front row. The musicians took their bows, the applause crescendoed again and again and again. It was a night never to be forgotten.This illustrates a great lesson. Do we know the Savior by heart? Have we rehearsed in the good times? Have we practiced the presence of God to the point if the times went dark and the lights went out, if we couldn’t see the conductor, would we still make the music? Dark times will come. Storms will for sure make everything seem pitch black, but, like you, I want to get to the point in my life where I barely miss a beat. I want to do that not for my own soul’s sake, but for the applause that will resound to the Lord, Jesus Christ. This leads me to ask you 3 questions:"What do I really want in life? How much am I willing to pay for it or suffer for it? And who or what gets my time?You need to decide what you really want, what your mission God has called you on. You might reply, "I don’t know if I believe. I don’t care." Yet you’re still called of God. He put you here for a reason. I encourage you to align up with the God who came into the cosmos and created you and everything else. You have a destiny. One of your missions is to find out what your destiny in Christ is. Put His jersey on and then find out what He has put you here to do."

Faith. Culture. Hope. Life. Longtime journalist and commentator Billy Hallowell has covered thousands of the biggest faith and culture stories. Today I am honored to share a recent interview I had with Billy discussing my book Reflections on the Existence of God. Either God exists or He does not - There is no third option. The question of God’s existence, in my opinion, is the most significant issue in all of life. As renowned French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal said, you are betting your eternal destiny that you are right. My prayer for you is that through this podcast you will encounter truths and reasoning to challenge and bolster your faith.Billy Hallowell is the director of communications and content for PureFlix.com, the former senior editor at Faithwire.com and the former faith and culture editor at TheBlaze; he has contributed to FoxNews.com, The Washington Post, Human Events, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, and The Huffington Post, among other outlets.Subscribe to Billy Hallowell's "Edifi" podcast today! https://edifi.app/podcasts/edifi-with-billy-hallowell-26031/

Today's podcast is a message that I’ve been sharing for over 25 years, and about 10 years ago, it made its way into a book. What I really hope to do this morning is to help you understand yourself as a man. John Calvin said that “all true wisdom consists of two things, knowledge of God and knowledge of self.” And yet, one of the things that I find is that we as men don’t really understand ourselves that well.So, let me start by just kind of laying a couple of thoughts out for you. Think about this. Growing up, I wonder how many young boys hear, during their adolescent years, these words: “be a man, be a man.” I wonder what they think when they hear those words, usually coming from maybe their fathers, a coach, an older brother, “be a man.” You have to wonder what they’re thinking when they hear that. What does that mean? Does it mean to be tough, to be strong, never cry, never show emotion? I think that most modern men have a real problem understanding what true masculinity is.I would like to pray for each of you listening to this podcast and for the men in your life:Dear Lord, Thank You for each one listening to this podcast. I pray that we as men would truly grasp the significance of building our life and our identity around You, to set us free to really live the life that You’ve called us to live. To not live in fear always wondering what people think. Being delivered from the fear of failing, not always comparing ourselves, enabling us to have true rich relationships with others, particularly with other men. And so, as we go forth, Lord, I pray that You would do a mighty work in each of our lives, that You would draw us to yourself in a very real way, and that we would truly be on the path that leads us to be the men that You have called us to be. And we pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Today I am discussing the struggles that men deal with. Life is difficult. I don’t care how talented you are, how wealthy you are, how knowledgeable you are, life is difficult and it’s full of pain. Most men tend to withdraw - we tend to isolate ourselves in reaction to the pain and struggles in our lives. We just withdraw.Did you know that eighty percent of the suicides in this country are committed by men? Eighty percent. What’s also interesting is of all those men who commit suicide, ninety percent of them are white males. There was an interesting article in the New York Times saying that researchers are really baffled over why so many middle-aged men are taking their lives.I had a chat with a man who had struggled with depression and yet he seemed to really be a put-together individual. He made this comment that powerfully struck me. He said, “You know, I have never contemplated suicide, but there’s been many times I wish that I was not alive.”There is a question that every single one of us men is always asking ourselves. And you know what? Often, we’re not even aware of it. The question is this: What are other people thinking of me? Join me today as we consider this question, as well as look deeper into how to deal with the deepest issues that men face.

Today I welcome back my friend, Drayton Nabers. This time he is speaking on praying for your business life.Nabers says that, "Prayer connects us to God’s grace. As we pray, we are seeking God’s grace with respect to whatever might be the subject of our prayer. The access to grace is always through faith." In Romans 5:1, Paul says, "Since we have been justified by faith, we have access to God’s grace." So, if we are seeking God’s grace in prayer, we’ve got to pray with faithful hearts, believing hearts, and, as Paul says, with clean hearts that have been justified by faith in Christ.Christ has an important role to play in the life of our business life. As we seek Him in prayer and come to Him with a humble heart, He will give us wisdom. He will help us to see the work we’re doing in the business world as God’s calling on our life. God has placed us where we are to bring Him glory by what we’re doing.*You can download Drayton's 3 resources referenced in his talk here: The Practice of Prayer, Andrew Murray on Prayer, Drayton Nabers handwritten notes on prayer*

Today I'd like to share a principle that I believe is the most important principle in all of life. I want to start with a theory that has to do with this principle, then close with how to apply this in your life.Jack Welch, the well-known retired CEO of General Electric had this principle as the core of his management philosophy: the key trait of a vital, dynamic corporations is this: looking reality straight in the eye, then acting upon it with as much speed as you can. He shares,"At GE you could be a hero no matter who you were or what you looked like. All you had to do was face reality and perform... yet I found it hard for people to actually do this... Self-delusion can grip an entire organization, and lead the people in it to ridiculous conclusions..."Looking reality in the eye is to see things as they really are, not the way it was and not the way we wish it would be. Year after year Welch would tell a particular story to drive the point home to his employees. Tune in to hear his story, and more!

If you were to Google the question "What is the good life?", you'd be overwhelmed by the response. Some of the answers are shopping, consumption, places to live. You'll find a host of books that offer formulas on how to find the good life. There are many retail stores that sell goods that promote the good life. Buy this, and it will contribute to your life. But what you won't find is that the good life is a life of wisdom and knowledge that leads to a virtuous life. Instead, most of the entries involve material pursuits and games, which sadly, I think, reflects our modern definition of what's good.There seems to be a huge gap for so many adults between the life that we dream of and believe we deserve, and the life that we actually end up with. I believe this is why Pulitzer prize-winning author John Cheever made this observation. He said, "The main emotion of the adult American who has had all the advantages of wealth, education, and culture is disappointment." And for this reason, though we may never share this with anybody, I think we always seem to find ourselves looking for a better life. But the question is, where are we looking and what are we putting our hope in?

My message that I'm sharing with you today is, I believe, one of the most important messages to anyone that I would describe as a church-going person, or a person with a church background. This message is a result of two experiences I had. The first comes from a number of conversations I've had with men who are struggling with life and with their faith - church going men who intellectually believe in Christianity but who would acknowledge that clearly their faith has no impact on their day-to-day lives. Their faith is not a big priority in their lives, and they don't seem to be too concerned about it - this is where they are.The second comes from my experience closely reading the New Testament and what it says about having a real, legitimate faith in Christ.I would ask you to listen carefully, to think clearly about what I am saying, and to be honest with yourself in where you are. Ask yourself, "How does this message apply to me spiritually?

Today I want to continue discussing the heart of a man as we look at this question: What is it that men really want?In Dr. Armand Nicholi's book The Question of God, he says this is what he's observed about the faculty and students at Harvard, "They avoid examining their lives, and they do not seem to want to understand themselves. They are afraid of what they might discover."Is this true of us as men? Are we afraid to confront the truth about ourselves? I am reminded of a quote by George Gilder: "Men lust, but they do not know what for. They wander and lose track of the goal. They fight and compete, but they forget the prize. They spread seed, but spurn the seasons of growth. They chase power and glory but miss the meaning of life." We are all in search of something. What are you looking for?

How well do you know yourself? How well do you understand yourself? In John Calvin's massive work called The Institutes of the Christian Religion, he opens the volume with this: "All true wisdom consists of two parts: knowledge of God and knowledge of self." French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “One must know oneself. Even if that does not help in finding truth, at least it helps in running one’s life...”Yet in this, we come to realize we have a problem. King David realized this in Psalm 64:6 when he stated, "Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep." So what is this driving force in our lives? Join me today as I delve into this important conversation!