Richard Ellis Talks

God has promised to protect us and give us power over the devil, and since He lives in us we have access to everything we need when trials come. Rather than fearing the circumstances which leads to disobedience, we need to praise God and have faith in Him and His promises.

The thing about white toilets is that you can't hide any filth in them because the white exposes what is there. Similarly, if we choose to live in the light as God calls us to, the filth and sin in our life will be exposed. The way to keep our “white toilets” clean is by living in obedience to God daily, understanding that it is a process and choosing to live in truth.

The world is full of people who are on a broad path, filling their lives with their own pleasures all the while headed straight for destruction. Jesus commands us to enter the gate that takes a difficult road but leads to eternal life.

Rather than appearing on earth as a man without having to go through all that we go through and working some magic, Jesus chose to enter this world through Mary's womb as a baby, grow up and die a human death. He did this because He knew that this was the only way for us to enter a new life through Him and join Him in Heaven someday.

Too often we let our mistakes take us out rather than choosing to pick ourselves back up and accept God's forgiveness right away. No matter how many times we mess up, God is always willing to give us another chance. Just as God forgives us and allows us to start over with Him, we should also show the same grace to others when they wrong us.

The Bible says that the prayers of a righteous man are heard by God. If we feel like our prayers are not being heard, we must first ask God if there are things in our lives that we must repent for. When we are made righteous through Jesus Christ, we can know God's will and pray anything according to it and the Bible says that He hears and answers.

Once we become Christians, the devil does not give up but rather he fights harder for us to be pulled back into the sins of our past. When we start to feel that pull we need to ask God to give us the wisdom to see the way of escape and to take it. We also need to help others who have been pulled back out and are drowning to get back to the shore.

Just because we receive salvation and become spiritually alive doesn't mean we are spiritually living. It's a daily choice to not just wake up physically but to wake up spiritually and offer our lives to God to use as He pleases in the world He has us in for a reason.

We all have certain sins that we keep falling into whether frequently or on occasions. When Jesus lives inside of us He gives us the power to overcome those sins if we would just tap into Him.

When God calls us to give our lives to Him, He does not intend for us to follow Him alone. We need to be involved with other people, letting them into our lives to keep us accountable. That is the only way that we will be able to stand strong against the attacks of the devil and to continue to remain in God's truth, unwavering.

The world is full of people who will try to get us off course when we make the decision to follow Jesus. It is essential that we study and learn Scripture and that we have godly people around us to help teach and protect us. As Christians, we have the most protection of all because we are held in God's hands.

When we face difficult times, it's easy for us to fall into the mindset that no one cares about us or what we're going through. Scripture tells us that God cares for us, provides for us, meets all of our needs and wants to be with us in close relationship as we walk through the trials of this life. Instead of sitting there questioning if anyone cares, we need to believe what He says is true and walk with Him.

We are all born once into this world, but if we stay born once we will die twice, first our bodies in this world and then our soul in eternity. If we get born a second time by salvation through Jesus Christ who overcame death, then we will only die once as our bodies in this world die but our soul will live forever with Him in eternity.

We don't have to understand how prayer works, but we do have to trust God when He tells us to pray. The Bible tells us to pray without stopping, meaning that we need to be constantly open to the Holy Spirit prompting us to pray, whether it be for our own situations or for other people.

There are numerous passages in the Bible that talk about giving money to the church. Although we may choose to keep our money from the church, we end up spending it somewhere else anyway. Everything we have really does belong to God, so we should obey Him by giving the first fruits to the church, and allow Him to direct us in how to use the rest of it.

Mothers often show an example of putting others before themselves. However, mothers are not the only ones called to this way of thinking. The Bible teaches us to think of others above ourselves in all situations.

Being a mom is a great calling that God gives to many women, but it is not an easy calling. The Bible instructs women to live and raise their families a certain way. God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus, to raise the man who would save the world, and what a job it was.

While the world may see us from the outside and cast us aside based on what we look like or where our talents are lacking, Jesus wants to come inside our hearts and live through us. When we let Him in, we join God's family and we can no longer be on the outside of what matters most.

God has put us in certain places and among certain people so that He can use us to make a difference for Him right where we are. We must be available to Him and willing to let Him use us however He pleases. That is how the world will be changed.

All temptations fall into three categories: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. God has provided a way for us to escape the consequences that come with falling into these temptations by giving us His Spirit to walk with. When we stay in step with Him by submitting ourselves to His leading, we remain in the will of God and our lives become about Him instead of ourselves.

A common problem with American Christians is they are more tied to their American culture than to Christianity and spreading the Gospel. The Apostle Paul models for us the importance of not relinquishing his beliefs while adapting to different cultures and people groups.

When we are in the presence of Jesus through His Church, we cannot deny the truth that He is alive. His tomb is famous because it is empty, and it is because of His resurrection that we have the choice to become spiritually alive in Him and let Him use us to reach the world.

The Bible tells us that not only did God make us, but that He also cares for us as His children. When we come to that realization, we can no longer think too highly of ourselves nor on the flipside think of ourselves as worthless. He gives us value, and we can humbly walk as His child, sharing with others the gift of this new identity that is only found in Christ.

The Bible is filled with instruction for living our lives to avoid facing moments of wishing we could have, should have or would have done something differently. We must spend time in God's Word, heed His instructions, and take a stand when necessary for what He tells us is the right thing to do.

It is so easy to look for answers or for things to fulfill us, but it is only being in the midst of God's presence that our life will make more sense. We need to seek Him only, not the benefits He has to offer, and He will be with us to face any trial that may come.

It's okay to be a new Christian for awhile, but at some point we need to step up and take responsibility for the way that we live, following the standards that the Bible sets up for us. Men must stand up as leaders in their families and in their church, and godly women need to seek this kind of godly man.

We can read in Genesis that God saw the evil in the world and destroyed the earth with a flood, leaving only eight people and the animals to rebuild. The New Testament promises that the heavens and the earth will be completely destroyed by fire when Jesus comes again, and we must respond to His free offer of salvation for our only chance to be saved.

As Christians, we are given the task of reaching others as we continue moving forward and pressing on towards the finish line. It's okay to get tired and rest, but we must pick back up and get moving so that we don't coast to the end.

God calls us as a Church to be in communion and relationship with one another, carrying each other's burdens, praying for one another, and sharpening each other. The more time we spend with God, in His Word and with other believers, the more His Gospel truth will spill out of us when we're in a situation to share this truth with non-believers.

Too many times people will get saved and go back to their old lives and their old sin, not willing to submit themselves to the upward call of Christ for the rest of their lives on earth. God has set out a finish line for us, and we must fix our eyes on Him until the end, not quitting until we reach heaven.

Although weeping occurs, hope can still be found amidst the sadness. Jesus weeps with us, but also reminds us of a joy that is coming. When you have experienced great depths of pain and anguish, then you can also experience the incredible heights of rejoicing. Our tears are precious to God, and He desires for us to come to Him in our moments of weeping.

There comes a time when we have to stop coming up with excuses when God tells us to do something, whether it be to begin following Him or anything after that. We need to stop excusing ourselves from obedience and begin listening and responding to the things He says.

We are all broken people because of sin that is in the world. The good news is that God can heal our broken hearts, and He longs to do that because He loves us. When we see the scars from the times we were broken, rather than hearing the accusations of the devil, may we praise God for His healing in our lives.

The world looks at us and says we have no proof that Jesus is alive, yet the proof we have is all throughout our lives if we are truly living saved by His grace and walking in obedience. Scripture is full of verses and proof of Jesus' prophesied life, death and resurrection. Since His resurrection, the changes He makes in our lives from the inside out is proof of His life living in and through us.

The Gospel story is that Jesus died a brutal death, was buried as a dead man, and rose to life. It is because of His sacrifice and His resurrection that we can be saved from the inevitable spiritual death that is due to sin. It is important that we share this good news with everyone we encounter, knowing that it is only God who can give them the faith to believe it.

The Bible tells us that Jesus was the perfect sacrificial Lamb that paid the price for all the sin of the world. When we don't believe that and keep living in our own sin we are carrying the guilt and debt that our sin brings us, but when we choose to believe and give Him our sin and shame He takes it on Himself and freely offers us eternal life.

The thief on the cross next to Jesus who acknowledged Jesus as Lord and asked to be in His Kingdom was given what He asked for. God offers us a ticket to paradise free for the taking, but when we take it for ourselves we must also tell others that there are plenty more tickets for them, too.

Just as Christ's passion was not only displayed on the cross but also in His suffering leading up to the cross, we are also to endure the inevitable suffering in life with passion for Christ. We are also to be passionate about others and serve them in the same way Christ served others.

When we give our lives to Christ, we hand over the keys to ourselves and let His Holy Spirit come in and clean house. He is the one that does the cleaning, we just need to submit our lives to Him.

God offers grace and mercy when we sin, but we could avoid the consequences that also come with disobedience altogether if we just do what He asks us to do in the beginning. One specific way that God may call us to obedience is by telling others around us about the Gospel.

We are either serving God or our riches; it is impossible to serve both simultaneously. No matter what or how much He entrusts in our hands, we must seek His permission for how we use every bit of it, trusting Him to provide for us all that is needed.

Instead of looking to become rich and take care of ourselves, we must rest in trusting God to take care of all of our needs. Whether we are blessed with little or blessed with much, He promises that our needs will be met and we can freely give to others.

Because of the inevitable sin in our lives, we deserve death, our own blood shed, and yet it is death that has saved us. The blood of Christ is the only thing that can cover us to make us clean. May we seek to be covered in His blood so that we can find the forgiveness of our sins because of the sacrifice that He made on our behalf.s

A guarantee in this life is that we will face pain, sorrow and struggle. The Bible promises us that there can be joy and peace in the midst of any trial because God is faithful, and He will bring all these things to pass. We must look to Him, trust Him, and persevere.

Even the Bible says that believing the Gospel is a seemingly foolish thing, but those who do believe it find life in it. When others look at us who believe as though we are out to lunch, we need to keep proclaiming the Gospel anyway because when their lives take a turn and they need some answers they will come to us for help.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we go from stumbling around in the darkness to living in the light. Like a baby sees the light of day for the first time when they open their eyes at birth, God reveals His light to us by opening our eyes when we're born again spiritually. And when His Spirit draws us out of the darkness, we then become His light in the world.

We may not always see the result of God's work until we get to heaven. That doesn't lessen our responsibility to obey when He directs us to pray and to act! The Holy Spirit is in all those who believe and trust in the Lord, and as we walk in the Spirit, we need to be ready to respond when we're prompted.

When we decide to follow Jesus, He offers us a clean slate and a fresh start. But when we continue to live in sinful ways, sooner or later, God can say, "Enough already!" and leave us to suffer our own consequences. Before we get to that point, let's turn to Him and repent, knowing it's not in our sin that we find what we need but that He alone provides us more than enough.

We've all messed up, and God is holy, so He takes sin seriously. The punishment for sin is death, but because of His love for us, He sent His Son to die in our place, so His blood can wash away our sins. We're called to share this amazing news with others, so they can find forgiveness and be saved too.

One of the most difficult parts about following Christ is this hard truth: most of the time, things don't change overnight. Our lives don't suddenly become problem-free. Even after making the decision to follow Him, we'll still face struggles day in and day out. The difference is that when we keep ourselves focused on Christ, He gives us peace, joy, and strength to overcome those battles in a way we couldn't manage on our own.

Discipleship is critical when it comes to the Church -- because without it, all we're left with is a bunch of born-again spiritual orphans with no one to look after them. Every Christian is commanded to make disciples who will grow spiritually and be able to disciple others in turn. As believers, God will call each of us to seek out someone new to the family of God to take under our wing, and pour into their life in a way that helps them mature to a position of doing the same for someone else.