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Welcome to Reliable Truth with best-selling author Richard E Simmons III. Are you searching for truth in your life? Looking for talks that will get you thinking? Each week Richard talks on topics like how to find happiness in your work, or how to improve your marriage. Listen anytime – on the way to work or over a lunch break – and you should come away feeling challenged and encouraged.
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How do we know that heaven is real? I think some of you know that my brother passed away back in May. He had been sick a long time. Then I turned 70 back in December, so I'm getting on in years. Now I'm reading Randy Alcorn's book Heaven. So this is a topic that I think is important and as we get into today's study I think you'll see why. Be encour…
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Are you praying for God's protection over your life and for your loved ones? This is the last message in our 9-part series. I think it’s crucial that you ask God to protect your family, and for those of you who are married, to pray for your wife and your marriage. Marriage and family are truly under great attack. I really do think that one of the g…
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Are you anxious about the future? David Wells, who is quite the scholar, wrote a book about 15 years ago, called Losing Our Virtue. And listen to what he says about this as we think about the future and the present. Wells says: “The world today intrudes upon us as it never has before, and one of the surest indications of this is that the levels of …
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When a storm enters your life, what do you do? You know what I mean by storm, right? Something very difficult comes into your life. A hard circumstance. Adversity. How do I get it out of my life? Is there something I can do to deal with the storm? Sometimes to get out of trouble, people do things they shouldn’t do. But let’s look at the storms of l…
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What is our tendency when we become really satisfied? Often times we become complacent. We think we've got life figured out. We take it for granted. When we get to a point where we think we have everything we need, instead of being thankful to God, we start becoming arrogant. Once that arrogance starts creeping in, you are well on a path to forgett…
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Who is the greatest Christian in the world? 18th century theologian William Law beautifully answers this question, which is the theme of this episode: “Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world?...” (And whenever we use the word saint, that means Christian.) “...It’s not who prays the most, or fasts the most. It’s not he who gives most …
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What does sacrifice mean? Is it a bad thing? To sacrifice is to forfeit something of great value to you, but you do it for something of even greater value. When you understand the worth of sacrifice, it changes everything. In the Christian life, to come to Christ, you’re forfeiting your life and your will for something of much greater value - and t…
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What does total commitment mean to you? Whenever you truly commit to something or someone, you have to give up something in the process. In one sense you can see it as a sacrifice. This is where you forfeit something of great value for the sake of something of greater value. In our culture, the commitment we are most aware of is marriage. When a ma…
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Does how we pray matter to God? In Part 1 we discussed these 2 principles: the importance of approaching God with humility, and praying with the right motive. Today we discuss the value of persistence in our prayer life. In Luke 18:1, it says we should not lose heart and give up. Though Jesus gives us no real explanation, it does appear that persis…
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What is prayer? And what does it mean to have a prayer life? The last time that we talked on prayer, I commented that in order to have an effective prayer life, there are certain crucial principles that are involved. Perhaps the most important is this truth of approaching God with a heart of humility. Prayer requires humility. Interestingly, your p…
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How can you put science with faith? In this episode, my guest is Dr. Ken Boa. He is exploring a huge topic, so get your seat belt on! We are discussing science, faith and reason. The typical mindset is to ask. "How can you put science with faith?" Well, first of all, the actual origin of science occurred in a context of Christian faith. In fact, …
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Where is your hope? Is your hope in success, your accomplishments or in a comfortable life? In scripture, Jesus constantly connects fear and anxiety in the hearts of men. No matter how good people look on the outside, they’re shakier than you think they are in the inside. That’s me and you included - we’re all looking good but most men I work with,…
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If you knew you had one day left to live, and you wanted to leave your children some kind of final instruction, what would you say to them? Twenty years ago I had my kids memorize what I thought was the most important scripture of the Old Testament. I asked them if they still remembered it and all three of them did. "Okay, let's hear it!" I request…
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Understanding Human Desire Part 1 - Thirsting for Living Water
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What are you thirsting for? When you desire something, there's generally something out there that will fulfill or satisfy that desire. But, one of the problems of life is when you become convinced that there's something out there in the world that you believe will satisfy your life. Then once you obtain it, you discover, "you know, this really does…
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Dr. Mark Gignilliat - There's Fear, and then there's Fear
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Psalm 112 tells us about two kinds of fear. This chapter leans into both kinds, and it also tells us that these two fears cannot co-exist. They are like oil and water. Everyone is fearing something. But the question is: what are we fearing? and how is this fear shaping our lives? Psalm 112 tells us, "Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who great…
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Allan Chappelle - Be Ready: An Overview of Bible Prophecy
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How can you and I be ready for what comes after this life? Today Richard's guest is Allan Chappelle, teaching an overview of Bible prophecy. The Bible is a supernatural book, written by a source outside of our time domain. This book literally knows the end from the beginning - the whole history of the world that is in God's knowledge base. And God …
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Safe Passage Part 2 - Hope in the Message of Easter
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When facing death, where is your hope? Yes this is not the season of Easter, but the truth of the resurrection of Christ is where we find our hope in facing death and dying. Is it truly possible to “joyfully anticipate death,” as C.S. Lewis wrote about? Can we honestly reflect and come to terms with mortality so that we can live with a joyful expe…
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Safe Passage Part 1 - Our Struggle With Mortality
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What is your strategy for dealing with your mortality? Years ago, a friend of mine came to me, concerned about his father, who was a very wealthy self-made man. He was concerned because his father had no spiritual life, so he talked to his dad about it and his father said, "You know, I just don’t have any need for God in my life. I don’t have any r…
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As we lead up to Father's Day, I'd like to share a message that my good friend Jerry Leachman gave at one of our Mens Breakfasts a few years ago. One of the most important things that could happen in a man’s life is to become reconciled with his father or reconciled with his son. Forgive and be forgiven. Then cultivate that relationship, and pass o…
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When Jesus raises from the dead and ascends to the right hand of the Father, what is He doing? What is Jesus doing now? He does not sit idly in heaven. As our raised and ascended Lord, Jesus lives right now, praying and interceding for us, His people. Hebrews 7:25 tells us: "Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him,…
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What is the role of understanding in our lives? I remember years ago, driving back from a vacation with our kids, who at the time were about 4 and 5 years old. They were happily watching a cartoon. We happened upon a really bad storm, like nothing I had ever run into before. I finally had to pull over to wait it out. It really shook me up. Well, I …
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What is the purpose of planting? Of course, the purpose of planting is to yield something more than just the seeds that one plants. The purpose of planting is to yield something of value, like forests, food, shade or beauty. Jesus tells us in John 15:8, "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." Yet…
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How much would it take to satisfy my heart? How much is enough? Interestingly, there are people who don't have much that want more, understandably, and then there are people that have a whole lot, and they still want more. And neither group stops to ask the question: Do I have enough?
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Dr. Mark Gignilliat - Wisdom from Proverbs
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Are you passing wisdom on to the next generation? Do you have young men in your family or life? The book of Proverbs is an extremely important book for finding practical truths and principles to help us in wise living. As we are gaining wisdom, it is a worthy endeavor to look for ways to share it with others, particularly to those younger than us. …
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Dr. Mark Gignilliat - Election: Objects of God's Grace
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The doctrine of election can be a matter of division among a lot of Christians. Today's Richard's guest, Dr. Mark Gignilliat, discusses some overlapping and important theological concerns that the Bible itself raises, in terms of what we are as human beings and the necessity of God's grace to enter into our lives and to raise us into new life in Je…
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What is the quality of your work? Would you like to get understanding on how to live a more fruitful life? In today's message, we continue looking at the metaphor of the different types of soil that the Word of God fell on. We'll look at three things that keep us from being fruitful: worry, deceit and the desire for other things.…
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The most widely used metaphor in the Bible is farming. Metaphors are clearly one of the ways that God uses to teach us spiritual truth. In John 1, we learn that John the Baptist leads Andrew to Christ, and Andrew, one of the 12 disciples leads his brother Peter to Christ. And then Phillip, one of the 12 disciples leads Nathaniel to Christ - Phillip…
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What would it mean for the world if Jesus truly did rise from the dead? And what does it mean to me personally - or does it mean anything at all to me? For many years C.S. Lewis thought the Bible and the stories of the resurrection were all a bunch of myths, kind of like Norse mythology. But I would just say that the evidence for the resurrection i…
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What is Lent, and why is it important? Much like Advent leading up to Christmas, Lent is a season that's really a gift for us. It is a time to become conscious and to take some time to enter into thought, prayer and repentance as we prepare for Easter Sunday. Christians have an unusual relationship with the concept of time. We live in the present h…
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Being a Healthy Man Part 5 - Friendship and Community
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How did God design us, and what were we made to long for? God is a relational being, and we are in His image, so we are also relational beings. Relationships are inherent to who we are as people. If we were not made relational, then there would be no such thing as loneliness. Why do people get lonely? Life is bankrupt without relationships. Former …
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Being a Healthy Man Part 4 - Confronting the 3 Deadly Sins
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What would say are the biggest struggles in your life? In Part 3 we discussed how to grow in wisdom as men. Now, using that wisdom, let's look at how to confront the three deadly sins - pride, greed and envy. My desire is that these messages help bring you wisdom and freedom to live as healthy men. >>Watch on YouTube…
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Being a Healthy Man Part 3: Physical and Spiritual Discipline
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What role do our choices play in our health? In Part 1 we learned the importance of being centered on truth. Last week we discussed how to guard and look after your heart and mind - even recognizing that the heart and the mind are one. Now in Part 3 we dive into growing in wisdom as men. Proverbs 24:5 tells us that "A wise man is strong, and a man …
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Being a Healthy Man Part 2 - The Heart and the Mind
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What has more power over you - your mind or your heart? Which one rules over you? The heart can easily overcome or override what you know. The heart is the seat of the emotions and has the ability to take charge of your thinking. Last week we looked at the foundational principles to living a healthy life: - Being transparent - Dealing with the past…
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Being A Healthy Man Part 1 - Centered on the Truth
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What does it mean to be a healthy man? This is a complex issue. One definition of the word healthy is, "a state of physical, mental and emotional well-being. A healthy person functions well in their day-to-day living, as opposed to being dysfunctional. I propose to show you how the foundation of our health is actually spiritual, along with being ce…
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Jerry Leachman - Praying in the Trenches: Courage When it Counts
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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 Bre…
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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 powe…
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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 reno…
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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 …
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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.…
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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…
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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, ve…
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Dr. Michael Green - It Started With One Man
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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!
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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, bec…
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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 …
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Dr. Mark Gignilliat - Isaiah: Advent Hope
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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 i…
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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 sing…
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Russell Levenson - In God's Grip: What golf can teach us about the Gospel
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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…
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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 …
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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 Mast…
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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,…
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