Richard Ellis Talks

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.

There is a difference between reading the Bible and applying what it says to our lives. We only start growing spiritually when we allow what we are reading to be applied to our lives. Once Scripture starts making a difference in us, we can begin to seek out other people to help them learn to do the same.

Once we become Christians we are only supposed to act like babies for so long until we begin to grow and mature. Too often Christians allow malice, envy and anger in their hearts that prevent them from growing. Baby Christians need to find someone to feed them pure milk, and then, letting go of certain sins in their heart, grow from there.

The Old Testament spoke of multiple temples that were built over different time periods used to worship the Lord and hold His presence. Now that through Christ we are offered salvation and relationship with God, our bodies become the temple of God where His Spirit resides. We must now walk through this dark world to bring light and rescue the lost.

We tend to be excellent at things that will not last forever such as our jobs, our families, or even our sin. Some of those things are not bad things to be skilled at, but we need to make sure that we are putting in all that it takes to be excellent in our spiritual lives rather than settling for being so-so.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we begin to learn the sound of His voice so that we walk in obedience to what He calls us to do. Our relationship with Him grows the more that we stay in two-way communication with Him and not just hear what He says but actually do it.

As Christians, we may face push back from people anywhere but when we take a stand no matter what it may cost us, it brings glory to God and we fulfill our ultimate purpose. Just as David was able to defeat Goliath because He had God on His side, we have God in us to protect us and be with us no matter what we face.

God did not have to create things so intricately, so beautiful, or even pleasure-filled, yet every bit of His creation speaks of His love for us. All we have to do is look around at the ways that He has blessed us, even in such a small thing as popcorn that is a seemingly silly treat.

Too often, we hold onto the life we have, no matter how hard or consequential, because we're more afraid of the unknown. God promises a future that is better than we could ever imagine, but the first step to getting there is letting go of all that we know to put it in His hands and see what He can do.

Instead of looking at people who are different as a barrier to connecting with them ourselves or for Jesus, we need to view people as equal in God's eyes. He made us all in His image, and it is only because of sin in society that has created barriers between the beauty of His creation on display in humanity.

God has already done the work for so many people in the world and calls us to gather His harvest. Instead of hesitating because of our own insecurities, we need to listen to His leading, step out in obedience and gather His harvest.

While we all desire independence to avoid vulnerability, we can learn to trust God as our rock and strength when we finally come to a place of admitting that we need Him. Knowing that we are secure in Him brings us peace beyond understanding in the midst of all adversity.

Even after accepting salvation, we often remain in our cell of bondage. That bondage could be to a number of things such as sin, religion, guilt, etc. Until we come to a full realization of God's love for us and His gift of freedom to us even in this world, we will remain in our cell. However, living in freedom does not mean that we should do whatever we want. God's grace still covers us, but there are consequences. Rather than falling on either side of the spectrum, God teaches us to live in freedom, but in the kind of freedom that is beneficial.

We can choose to wait around and do nothing for the Kingdom while waiting for the end of the world to come or we can serve as soldiers in the Army of God fighting for the souls of others. We need to focus on the work God has given us to do, and when He comes back we will be ready.

A sign of a mature believer is one who is involved in a biblical community. The Christian life was not meant to be lived alone, but instead God designed the Church to be His Body that supports each member through the struggles of life.

God had designed each unique person to accomplish His work in the world. When we discover what it is that we are passionate about, we can use that passion to help grow the Kingdom of God.

Once we are saved, there is nothing that we can ever do or that can ever be done to cause us to lose our salvation. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we become children of God, and there are various “DNA” tests that we can check to make sure that He lives in us. We need to pray to God, proclaim that Jesus is Lord, ask for forgiveness of our sins, begin a relationship with Him and move forward in that.

Many people see Christians as hypocrites, and that is because we proclaim one thing and do another in secret. If we're going to actually win anyone over to Christ, it is essential that we are vulnerable with them, showing them how Christ has redeemed us from our own sin and be transparent about how He is currently working in our lives and hearts.

God may not always give us the things we ask for, but He wants us to keep asking. As we grow in our relationship with Him, He begins to put things on our hearts to ask for that are according to His will and we see Him provide those things over and over.

Putting aside the influences that we may have been raised around when it comes to people who are different than us, Jesus unites us together and asks us to love one another. God's family does not differentiate by race, economics, social standings, or anything else that our culture uses to distinguish people. We are all invited into salvation, and we can equally love Him, be loved by Him, and love each other.

When we experience consequences for the sin that we are partaking in, we need to respond in worship, thanking God for loving us enough to discipline us. The Bible is never supposed to be used as a weapon against us but rather as the Good News that there is forgiveness for those who believe and repent.

The Bible is full of stories of God using people who committed their lives fully to trusting and obeying Him. Once we receive Him into our lives and give ourselves completely to Him, He dwells in us and can do amazing things through us.

Too often we find ourselves reacting in the battles in our lives rather than acting only as God leads. When we worship God in the midst of our battles, our focus is on Him rather than the dangers we face and we can follow Him as He leads to overcome all that is in front of us.

The story of Samson shows us a man who continually made the same mistakes and ended up paying severe consequences. If we are watchful, we can see warning signs when we are approaching sins that we've paid consequences for in the past so that we can avoid it this time around.

Even though God is a big God who watches over everything, He also cares about every single detail in our lives. He watches over and protects us, and so therefore we can have peace knowing that we are safe in His hands.

Jesus was known for spending time with sinners and tax collectors, and it was the religious people that looked down on Him for it. Just as Jesus was sent to seek and save those who were lost, we have been given the same mission and need to be in the world spreading the Gospel.

Living in God's family involves putting our fears aside and letting people see us for who we really are, struggles included, so that we can get help and then help others. Growth in our relationship with God will only happen when we begin peeling back our layers and letting Him and others in.

In today's society it is easy to be swayed from what the Bible calls sin and begin believing that certain sins are okay. We, as Christians, need to be careful of this and stand firm in what Scripture says, while at the same time proclaiming the love and forgiveness that God has for everyone who believes and repents.

Without Christ working in us we are all bound to a life of sin and consequences that could've been avoided had we heeded wise instruction from Scripture. Rather than living childish lives that run after the pleasures of the world, we need to submit to God and allow Him to change us from the inside out.

Jesus modeled a life yielded to the will of the Father, no matter what sacrifice it called Him to make. Because Jesus obeyed, we now have access to receive the free gift of salvation and become children of God. As His children, we are called to submit our lives to His will and follow Him.

Jesus is the Son of the virgin, Mary, and God the Father Himself, making Jesus' blood directly from the Father. It was that blood that was spilt when Jesus sacrificed His life for us so that we can be washed clean and be given a new life, eternal life with Him forever. There is not one person who cannot receive this blood and be forgiven.

The reality is that we are in a spiritual battle, and the devil attacks us where he knows us to be weak. It is crucial that we put on the full armor of God and surround ourselves by our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can help protect each other from temptation and the attacks of the devil.

The Bible is very clear in the simple instructions it gives us to repent, follow Christ and do what He says. No matter if we see how something is possible, if God tells us to do something we must respond in obedience, trusting that He can even do what seems impossible.

The Bible is very clear when it comes to sin that we, as believers, must abstain from when we choose to follow Christ. God disciplines those He loves, and we need to respond to His discipline with gratitude, repentance, and worship for His forgiveness.

God wants us to pursue Him because when we do that our hearts begin to change and He places specific desires in us to pray about. When we pray with persistence about these things that He has put on our hearts, He promises that He will give us those desires.

A jerk is someone who thinks they have the answer to all the problems and tries to quickly fix things so they can move on. What we need to be, as the Body of Christ, is a Church family who weeps together and rejoices together. The only way we can do this is if we stop trying to fix everything and simply sit and listen, loving well and patiently letting someone process however long it takes.

God always sees a bigger picture than we do and He often calls us to trust Him when we don't see how something is possible. When we put our faith in Him and step out as He leads, we will be astonished at what He can do.