Richard Ellis Talks

God's grace covers all of our sin, but we must not take advantage of that so that we can sin all we want. We are called to live lives of obedience to Him, and having faith in Him is the first step to pleasing Him. When we live our lives to please God then when we see Him face to face in the end He will say, “Well done.”

We all begin our lives under the law of sin, meaning that there is no escape from nature taking its course and that we will sin. Jesus made the way of escape through His death and resurrection so that we no longer have to live under the law of sin but rather live in freedom. When we choose to live in freedom, He changes our hearts and changes the world through us.

The Bible teaches us to remain connected to Jesus, as He lives in us through the Holy Spirit, in order so that our lives will bear His fruit. As He continually works in us, His fruits such as love, joy and patience begin to grow and others get a taste and want what we have.

A bummer lamb is a lamb that was rejected by its mother and is taken care of from birth by the Shepherd with tender loving care. Just as that lamb builds a special bond with the Shepherd, we respond to Jesus' love for us by following Him closely and knowing His voice. He has constructed His Church to do this for the lost, and our job here on earth is to seek those that are lost and bring them to Christ.

As Christians, we are children of God and therefore we need to set an example for everyone around us of what it looks like to obey our Heavenly Father. There are always others watching how we live, especially children, and many will imitate us. We must instruct them to honor God in the way they live by living it out in our own lives.

Just like the Israelites in the Bible had seen God provide for them in miraculous ways over and over and still they turned from Him, we can easily get caught up in making idols for ourselves out of the things in this world no matter how much God has proven Himself to us. No matter how wild we may get wrapped up in our sin, the wildest thing is that He will always accept us back.

There are circumstances in our lives that can affect how we receive God's Word, but despite our circumstances we can always choose to receive it the way He wants us to. When we hear God's Word we need to allow it to take root in our hearts so that it can change us and we can begin to bear fruit and multiply the impact it has onto others.

It is easy to slip into believing what the world tells us about our sin, that it's not bad and it doesn't hurt us. The Scripture gives us God's standard that does not change and tells us that sin is sin, and the more we sin the more He will discipline us because He loves us. We need to see our sin how He sees it, turn from it and obey Him.

We all deserve to be squashed like bugs because of the sins that we have committed, yet God has chosen to show us mercy and grace because of His love for us. When we humble ourselves and come to Him begging for mercy, we receive it and can then give it to others.

Too often we pick and choose what we want to relinquish control over in our lives but we don't give God everything. He doesn't want to share His rule over our lives, He wants us to completely surrender and let Him call all the shots.

The Bible teaches us that we only live once on this earth and that Jesus came to pay the price for us to live again with Him in Heaven. He promised that He would be coming back to take with Him all who are saved, but if He does not come back in our lifetime our earthly bodies will die. After that death, no matter how we die, the only way of living again with Him in Heaven is to be saved by His blood.

When we hold onto sin in our lives, we dirty our hearts more and more. God cannot live amongst sin and therefore brings us through fiery circumstances for the purpose of refining us and cleaning us up. When He searches our hearts and reveals sin in our lives, we need to immediately repent and turn away from the sin and towards God.

As Christians, we are called to use our time on earth wisely, doing the things God has called us to do and realizing that the stuff here on earth is just stuff and we can't take it with us. God has called us to run a race, and so let us run that race to the best of our ability, investing all that we've got and bringing others alongside us as we run.

All the things we have are given to us by God, and sometimes He calls us to give something away to someone else. When we trust Him and obey His call, He continues to provide for all that we need.

Rather than focusing on the things we don't like about a church, we need to step in and serve where God has called us to serve and do our part. When our focus shifts to serving and obeying God, the problems will work themselves out rather than if we sit in our discontentment and complain.

Though many people believe that the good things they do can outweigh the bad things they've done, the only way that a person can be reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ. He died to pay the price that we all owe because of our sin, and if we believe in Him and accept His forgiveness then we can stand before God debt free.

Just as people who work for a certain company represent that company, we, as Christians, represent Christ to everyone we meet. When we interact with someone, we need to make sure that we are always offering a sales pitch, showing them what it means to follow Christ and extending the invitation to them.

God is always at work and wants to use us to accomplish what He wants done. If we make ourselves available to Him so that if at any moment He calls us we respond, we become a more useful tool for His work. As servants of God we are all called to be available, prepared and useful for Him.

Just as a man and woman are able to reproduce physically as God designed it out of intimacy, we are to spiritually reproduce disciples as we grow in intimacy in relationship with God. He works in us to help us grow and mature so that we can seek out others to be reborn and help them in the growing process.

The Bible tells us that we will face suffering and persecution merely for living godly lives, but that our relationship with God is more valuable than avoiding that suffering. Everyone suffers, but the difference between the world and us is that we have the power of God in us and His presence surrounding us at all times.

As Christians, God makes us a new creation, transforming our minds to be yielded to His ways that are opposite the world's way. Oftentimes, we choose to remain living like chickens even though He has given us wings like eagles. We must change our thinking to live the way He intended for us to live and change the world around us.

The Bible warns us many times about watching the words that come out of our mouths because it indicates what is in our hearts. If the words that we speak are not God-pleasing, Jesus-loving words then we should be asking ourselves where our heart is at and get right with God.

Worry and anxiety are things we all feel when faced with a difficult circumstance. When we find ourselves worrying about things, we are not able to trust God in the situation at the same time. We need to go to Him in prayer, release our anxiety, rejoice in His faithfulness and trust Him to take care of the situation.

The Bible says that God has specifically placed those in authority in their positions for His plans and purpose. We must trust that He knows what He's doing, and follow His lead on when and where we need to take a stand.

Discipline is a necessary thing for a parent to inflict on their children so that their children can grow to live in obedience. In the same way, our Heavenly Father disciplines His children so that we can learn obedience to Him and live the life He intends for us to live.

God designed His Church, His children to function in such a way where we link arms with one another and help each other in our Christian journey. While we can worship God alone anytime, we cannot be a working member of His family without actually being involved and living life together.

Alcohol is something that many have used to ruin their lives, but alcohol itself is not a sin. When we choose to do something, whether drink alcohol or any other thing, we need to make sure that we are doing it for the glory of God. Rather than getting drunk with alcohol, the Bible instructs us to get drunk in the Spirit and let Him lead us and guide us in the things He wants us to do.

Since the Church is made up of human beings it is inevitable to be messy because sin is involved. We need to understand for ourselves and for others that change is a process and God works on His people in His own timing and we must extend grace while He works.

God wants a relationship with us more than He wants to give us whatever we ask for. Rather than letting our prayers be all about asking for whatever we want, we must first seek a relationship with Him and then He will change our hearts to ask for what lines up with His will for us.

It's never wrong to ask God for something, whether it be a way to make our lives easier or a way to avoid suffering that is coming. But when we choose to ignore the answer He gives us because we don't like it, we set ourselves up for more suffering in the long run. We must first be willing to say “Yes” to God in anything He asks, and that is when we will learn to be content with Him when His answer is “No.”

There are many examples in the New Testament where the apostles were persecuted for preaching the Gospel, yet they responded by rejoicing in the Lord and He blessed them for it. When we follow their example, we may not receive the blessing here on earth but He gives us peace to endure the suffering and promises to bless us in Heaven.

When we find ourselves in difficult circumstances we need to call out to God and ask for His help, then keep our eyes open to recognize how He chooses to help us. We never need to fix ourselves before approaching God because only He can fix us anyway.

The Bible tells us that Jesus took on our sin so as to heal us from it, but that doesn't mean we won't face suffering in this life. It is better that we suffer for obeying Him than for choosing sin.

There are many women who have lost a child, either by their own sin of choosing to give up that life or by other causes. Though it should not be the reasoning for becoming a Christian so as to see a child who has passed from this world to be with God, there is hope for mothers who follow Christ that they will once again be reunited with their children who have gone to be with the Lord.

We all face moments in our lives where we feel under pressure, sometimes more than others. That pressure can either cause us to run to sin or run to God. We need to make sure that we are running to God because He promises to bring us through it.

The Bible tells us that as a child may not always understand the reasons of a parent, we may not always understand God's reasoning for things, however we are still called to trust Him even if we don't get it. God's Word may not always make sense but we know that He can be trusted, and so when He makes promises that declare His love for us we can cling to those promises in the midst of trials and pain.

There are times in our lives when we face suffering and pain, and we may pray fervently that God would just take it all away. Sometimes it is His purpose that we face those things in order to bring us closer to Him, and we know that we never face them alone.

The world offers all sorts of pleasures, falsely promising to be satisfying but always finding to be leaving you more empty than before. God offers us a full and abundant life through Jesus Christ. Because of His death and resurrection, we can live a life where our soul is satisfied in the Most High.

Mother's Day can be a difficult day for many women, as well as men, as it can bring up painful topics of loss. God addressed problems of motherhood in many places in Scripture, and He proved His ability and power to perform miracles. When we are in His family, He looks after us and discipline our disobedience because He requires obedience from all His children.

The sin of prejudice in all of us keeps us from being the unified Body of Christ that God calls His Church to be. We need to let go of our differences and love each other equally so that the world looks at us and sees that there is no way we could be unified like this unless God is at work. When we love each other and worship together, it is as if we are practicing for the way it will be in Heaven.

There is a difference between humble confidence and fake humility, and confidence is rightly available to us in Christ. There is nothing wrong with seeing ourselves how God sees us, and once we realize He loves us and we grow to love Him, we can then love others just as we love ourselves.

Instead of being intimidated by the Bible we need to open it up and read it, allowing God to use it in our lives to speak to us and change us. If there is something we don't understand then we need to find someone who can teach it to us. The Bible is full of treasures that God has given to us to reveal Himself and His love for us.

If there are things about ourselves that we are displeased with but can change, we should change those things. But for the things we cannot change we must learn to accept them and ask God how He can use those things for His glory. We can't spend our whole lives complaining about the things that feel unfair.

We all try to portray a certain image through the way we look, the things we have and the careers we choose. When God made us He put His own image inside each of us and the only way we can reflect who He is in us is if Christ is working and changing us from the inside out.

The Bible says that the only way we can get into Heaven is through Jesus alone, not our good works. Jesus paid the full cost for all of our sin, forgiving us completely and providing us with the free gift of salvation.

Just as going without food for a length of time can make us hungry, we can feel the spiritual need we have for God the more we go without Him. The problem is that we try to fill that need with other things. Jesus is the only one who can truly satisfy us and so we need to go to Him and allow Him to wine and dine.

Proverbs 31 describes a virtuous woman that every woman should strive to become. No matter how difficult or easy our circumstances, we cannot achieve this without Christ who gives us strength and who works in us and through us to make us more like Himself.

There are plenty of things about Scripture and the Gospel story that could bring a person to question its truth. If we are truly seeking God, He will reveal Himself to us. Then we must choose to put our faith in Him, follow Him, and love Him, ourselves and others as He calls us to.

When Jesus lives and is working in us, we can't help but to speak up and tell others about it. God will bring opportunities our way to tell others about Him and we need to have the boldness to step out of our comfort zones and say something.

The way God designed the family to work is for the man to be the head and take the responsibility. The only way this can work in the greatest way is if that man is following God as his head. God is good and full of grace to help pick the man up when he has stumbled so that he can continue moving forward, following after God's model of perfect love.

Encouragement, like dessert, is something that we can all live without but is wonderful when it happens. God can use things in our own lives to encourage us out of the blue, and when we are fulfilled by His encouragement then He can use us to help encourage others, too.