Reliable Truth

Back around 1984, I came to the conclusion that I had committed my life to a religious faith that had as it's source, a book. The Bible. A book that claimed in fact to be God's divinely inspired revelation to mankind. And though I had discovered personally that it was experientially true. I had to admit that the primary reason I believe that the Bible was God's Word is that, that I'd been told that all my life.

Maybe you've experienced that as well. But for me personally, I needed to go deeper. I needed more of an intellectual foundation on why Christians throughout the centuries have staked so much there - even their very lives on the words from a book that claimed to be God's Word. And that's the basis of this message this morning. It is a work in progress because I'm continually refining it.

For more on this topic, check out my apologetics book Reliable Truth.

Have you given much thought to the big questions of life: Why am I here? Why do I exist? Author Peter Kreeft observed that, "We are the first civilization that does not know why we exist." 

Author and pastor Tim Keller says this about our Western culture, "We're the first culture in history where men define themselves solely by performing and achieving in the workplace. And because of this," he says, "in men's lives, there's never been more psychological, social, and emotional pressure out in the workplace as there is today." 

In the traditional social order, work was seen merely as a functional means of providing for the family and improving the quality of life within the community. In other words, work would not and could not define your life worth and value in a more absolute sense, as it does today.

“How relevant is God in my life, and do I get a sense of meaning and purpose from Him in my relationship with Him? Does he impact who I am as a person? Do I really matter to anyone? 

Today I want to discuss the evidence I have found for the existence of God. 

Christian author Tim Keller said, “Though you may not realize it, how we relate to God, either whether we believe in Him or whether we don’t believe in Him - it is the foundation of your thinking. Because it determines the way you view the world, whether you believe God exists or not, this belief is the foundation in which all of your reasoning proceeds.”

I believe that the greatest influence on your world view - the way you see the world - is based on how you see God. Your worldview really informs you about everything; it informs you on on life's biggest questions: Why am I here? How am I supposed to live? How do you find meaning in life? And, what is my ultimate destiny once this life is over?

More about this talk can be found in my newest book Reflections on the Existence of God. Read Chapter 1 for FREE - Click Here! 

Today I am going to address a very important question: Is Christianity the only valid religion, or are there other paths to God? As we live in this world full of religions and full of diversity, this question is going to continually come up. 

Is it true, as some religions teach, that there is one God, but many paths to that God, or is Jesus the ONLY way to God? 

Today I’m going to tackle a very difficult topic - to tackle this in 45-minutes is difficult because of the nature of the content. If you read the book of John, there is a very important word that’s mentioned 27 times. And, yet, when you look at the other gospel books of Matthew and Luke, this word is rarely mentioned. This word is almost exclusively used by Jesus. 

The word I am referring to is the word TRUTH. In John 8:31-32 Jesus says, “If you continue in My word, then you will truly be My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Then in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me.”

In the Christian life, truth is paramount. When Jesus was speaking the truth with Pilate, Pilate asks Him, “What is truth?” and then walks away as if he doesn't actually want to know how Jesus would respond. 

In its simplest definition, TRUTH is that which is real and actual. It’s that which conforms to reality. C.S. Lewis said, “Once you embrace Christianity, it's not because it makes you feel good, but because it’s true. Christianity is not a patent medicine. Christianity claims to give an account of facts to tell you what the real universe is like.”

In today's podcast I share about two different meetings with 2 different men, both who had some type of belief in God and Jesus, but they didn’t want Him to play an integral role in their lives. Clearly, there were certain barriers in their lives that kept them from coming to a legitimate faith. 

What is it that causes men to keep God out of their lives?

I wonder, how many of us, when it gets right down to it, really don’t want any part of Christ because of the fear that He might disrupt our lives. I really believe this is a barrier in many men’s lives. A barrier to faith. A barrier to belief.

Today I want to continue discussing the relationship between wisdom and the principles of life. In Part 1 we discussed the Principle of the Path. In this talk I discuss 3 other principles that are crucial to leading a healthy life. You don't want to miss this!

This is Part 2 of my 2-part series. I hope you enjoy it!    

We have a great need in the challenging days we are living in for wisdom. In today's talk, I want to introduce to you the relationship between wisdom and the principles of life. Principles are not good or bad - they are not moral. They are simply true. And what's important to know is that principles make life predictable. They give life order. Are you in need of order and peace in your life?

This is Part 1 of a 2-part series. I hope you enjoy it!

One of most enlightening things that I have learned this past year, especially when I counsel men, are some words from Blaise Pascal, who says this, “One of the primary reasons people struggle so much with life is because they have false ideas about reality.”

We need to work on our perspective so that each of us will know how to have a strong foundation to weather the storms of life. I think it’s important that we realize that maybe, just maybe, God’s perspective on the struggles we face is different from our view. So, the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: What is it I need to know about God and His truth that will enable me to properly interpret what I’m experiencing in the hardships of life? 

This is Part 4, the final message in this 4 Part series. I hope you enjoy it!

How do we view difficulty when it comes into our lives? In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we looked at the issue of perspective, which is a critical part of having a strong foundation for life. 

Pastor and best-selling author Tim Keller says, “We all have a basic motivational drive. Every human heart has something that drives them. It gets us out of bed and it gets us through life. It moves us to do what we do and for most of us, I believe what drives us is fear. After all these years of pastoring, I truly think this is it. The fear of missing out, the fear of not proving ourselves, the fear of not living up, of being somebody, the fear of failure, the fear of death.” Today and for Part 4 we’re going to go deeper and look at how we live our lives and how we respond to the storms of life.

This is Part 3 of a 4-Part series. I hope you enjoy it!