Richard Ellis Talks

The Bible described the necessities for the Messiah to be a perfect Lamb sacrifice in order to completely fulfill the stipulations of our sin debt. Jesus had to be born of a virgin, grow up as a minor living in fully human form yet without sin, and only after all of that could He die as the spotless Lamb to take away our sin. He did all of this so that we may be truly saved.

Many times there are people who get saved by accepting salvation offered by Jesus through the cross, but they continue living their lives in their own power and trying to fix their own sin. God empowers us through His Spirit to overcome sin if we would just submit our lives to Him every day.

When God tells us something, whether directly or verified by others, we need to obey immediately no matter what it is He’s telling us to do. The only safe place to truly be is exactly where He has called us.

Family issues seem to often come up around the time of the holidays. Instead of growing more bitter towards one another, God calls us to love each other and to make things right. While we can’t control others, we can take responsibility for ourselves and do what we can to make peace.

Just as the shepherds and wisemen chose to worship Jesus when He was born on earth, we are given the opportunity to lay our lives down in worship to Him. Whether we choose to worship Him or not, in the end we won’t have a choice. It’s better that we choose now to worship Him so that we can spend eternity singing His praises.

God is so powerful that all He had to do was speak and the whole universe was created as vast and as detailed as it is. Within that creation, He ordained that a star would be near enough to the earth to proclaim the birth of His Son who was sent to save the world.

Every detail about Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection was fulfilling of every prophecy ever made about this Messiah. At some point, we have to come to a place of choosing to believe in Him or not because we will all face His throne one day and answer for the choice we make.

We didn’t get to be there when Jesus walked the earth, but we have God’s truth in Scripture to believe that He came. Another evidence of Jesus is the change that takes place when we believe in Him. We may not see Him face to face until we die or He comes back, but we can see His work in others and believe.

The same Jesus who was miraculously born of a virgin comes to live in us when we surrender our lives to Him, and He works in us in seemingly impossible ways to make us more like Him so that we can’t help but to speak His name to others around us. Rather than looking at what is humanly possible when God is involved, we should give ourselves to Him, trusting that He can do whatever He pleases.

The gift of salvation through Jesus Christ is offered to everyone, but we must choose to receive it. If we accept this gift, we get to spend the rest of our lives unwrapping all we are given in Him.

The Bible teaches us the importance of fasting and praying and the difference that can make in our lives. When we are faced with a situation, whether it be a sin struggle in our own lives or in another person’s life, we need to be willing to give up something our bodies need so as to pray more fervently.

In order for gold to be refined to purity, it must go through many instances of being in a burning fire until all the dross and other impurities have been removed. This is the way that God refines us to be more like His Son, Jesus. Once we have accepted His free gift of salvation, we have Jesus inside of us and must encounter times of “heat” in our lives until Jesus is clearly seen.

We may often find ourselves comparing our sin with others in order to try and look better than we really are. The truth is that we all fall short of God’s standard and we need to humbly accept our status as a “sinner” and allow God to come into our lives to change us. When we are repentant and let Him work in us, all of our goodness can point directly back to Him and bring Him glory.

If we are not faithful to give when we have very little, we will not be faithful when we have a lot. God wants to help us live a life that is pleasing to Him which in turn brings us joy and satisfaction, but we have to let go of our possessions to let Him take and give as He pleases.

The guilt and shame of all our sin is nailed to the cross with Christ when we repent. He washes us clean through the blood of Jesus, and we must not give into the accuser who keeps trying to pull out our past sins and hold us back from living in freedom. We have to forgive ourselves and leave our sin in the past, looking ahead with clear eyes and a clean conscience to live in the freedom that Christ bought for us.

Oftentimes we can find ourselves angry at God when bad things happen, but we must realize that He has not sinned against us but instead is present with us through our trials. He is gracious and merciful, forgiving our sins and offering us a way of life. We can trust that He is good, repent of our sins and move forward in the way He directs us towards deeper relationship with Him.

When we become Christians, we are part of the Body of Christ and together we all make up His bride. Jesus gives us a new life and we must submit our lives to Him as He continually works in us to clean us up to be presented to Him in the end.

There are times when it is necessary for marriages to have separation during difficulties, but in those times we need to make sure that we are listening to God’s voice and obeying Him. We will all suffer in life, but rather than giving up we need to work through that suffering and forgive each other when necessary.

The Church is full of people with different thoughts and beliefs on a variety of things from politics to economics, from legalistic rules to Biblical interpretations. The fact of the matter is that Christ’s blood covers us all and we must live unified, agreeing to disagree on some things, and love one another as He has loved us.

No matter how hopeless we think someone is, when God prompts us to speak to them about the Gospel we need to obey and watch His power work to make a spiritually dead person alive in Him. It is in those moments that God gets the most glory because He made possible what seemed to be impossible.

God has offered us forgiveness that covers over all of our sin, but often times we are reminded of our mistakes and we continue to live in bondage. In order to truly move on from the past, we must forgive ourselves and others who have hurt us so that we can live in freedom.

God allows different trials and suffering in our lives so that He can work on our character, build our hope in Him, and exercise our endurance. Waiting on God involves keeping our faith in Him, even when we don’t feel like it, and it helps us avoid the consequences of when we try things our own way.

When we are lit about Jesus and what He’s done in our lives, others see the change in us and want the same for themselves. Once we get lit by first becoming a Christian, we can stay lit by remaining in His Word and following Him.

When we become Christians, Jesus lives inside of us and all of His power is, therefore, in us. God may call us out to do simple acts of obedience, but when we live in disobedience we are not only effecting ourselves but others around us as well. We need to live in obedience to God so that He can use us as a lifeboat for others.

There are times when we do not want Jesus to come in and work on certain parts of us, but what we need to realize is that Jesus has purpose in His work in our lives, even in discipline. Rather than continuing in out own ways, which are not working for us, we need to let Him into our hearts so that He can work on us and show us His way for our lives.

The Bible is full of relatable stories of broken relationships and messed up people. When we stop focusing on how other people have hurt us and start focusing on how God wants to change us, we start to change and see the ripple effects around us.

Jesus taught that we are to look around for those who need to be spoken for in the midst of their struggles, then step in and advocate for them. He modeled this in the ultimate way when we needed a Savior and He stepped in to take on our sin upon Himself, and He continues to step in for us as He intercedes to the Father on our behalf.

God can use anyone and everyone, no matter how intelligent or ignorant we are and no matter what sins lie in the past. When we feel Him calling us to Himself, we need to let go of our own insecurities or pride and accept His unconditional grace, love and forgiveness. When we live in obedience to Him, it’s amazing what He can do in and through us.

The best witness for the world to see is the family of God living at peace with one another. When a situation arises and we get hurt or hurt someone else, we need to not let time tick away but rather go to the other person and make things right with them.

Just as Jesus followed His Father’s direction to the Olive Garden and then the cross, leading to His death and resurrection, we must be willing to give up our own lives, take up our cross of suffering and follow Him. The only way our lives will work well is if we give up control and let Him have it all.

There may be times when God tells us to do something, but He may also tell us that we need to wait on Him to do it. When God’s power is present in our lives because we are waiting on Him, it is evident to everyone around us. When we try to do something in our own power we will always fail, so it is better to wait on God for His leadership, guidance and power.

Sometimes it’s the most religious people who question the truth, rather than the unreligious atheists, because they are too caught up in their traditions that they fail to see the light. We need to evaluate ourselves and make sure that we are not too caught up in our own ways and playing the devil’s advocate to what God may be trying to show us.

Giving thanks is something that does not happen as often as it should. As we look at our lives, we need to make a point to thank the people around us who deserve our gratitude, and we need to thank God for all the blessings He gives.

The world is full of things that we think may be good for us, but instead they come with consequence in the long run. God gives us instructions in His Word to follow that keep us on a path that truly is good for us. When we choose to submit our lives to Him, we find fulfillment in obeying Him and staying on the right path.

While becoming a Christian gets us a ticket into Heaven, it’s about so much more than that. Jesus offers us freedom from sin in our lives that continually drags us down and brings consequence. When we apply Scripture to our lives we can live in that freedom.

The Bible clearly states that we are slaves, but the master is up to us. We can choose to be slaves to sin, allowing the devil to run our lives, or we can be slaves to God and live in obedience. Even when we disobey God, His grace is still extended to us and sometimes that comes through consequence.

There are people in this world that have no idea that there is a spiritual battle going on for their soul and they live wickedly, allowing the devil to win. We must put on the armor of God and fight for them, telling them passionately about God’s love and His offer for salvation.

Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we are saved from facing any kind of storm in our lives. However, when we stand firm in Christ we become weathered to face those storms and not crumble under them.

We all face situations in our daily lives that can grind on us and often seem unbearable for much longer. While it is important that we pray with persistence in asking God to change the situation, we also need to be open to allowing Him to change us. Our peace comes from faith in Him regardless of our circumstances.

We all have capacity to screw our lives up by living in sin and doing whatever we want to do. We will keep cycling back to the same consequences until we finally yield and say “uncle” to Jesus, repenting of our sin and turning away from it to follow Him.