Richard Ellis Talks

The world teaches us that how we love others is dependent on how they love us first. But Jesus teaches us that how we love others is dependent on how He first loved us! When we have a healthy relationship with the Lord, and we fully grasp and accept His love for us, we can't help but love others with the same kind of selfless and unconditional love He showed us first.

The world teaches us that how we love others is dependent on how they love us first. But Jesus teaches us that how we love others is dependent on how He first loved us! When we have a healthy relationship with the Lord, and we fully grasp and accept His love for us, we can't help but love others with the same kind of selfless and unconditional love He showed us first.

Unforgiveness is a heavy burden. And when it comes to our "exes", the bitterness we sometimes carry around has the potential to haunt us for the rest of our lives. God tells us that we're not only to forgive our enemies -- we're to love and pray for them, too.

Unforgiveness is a heavy burden. And when it comes to our "exes", the bitterness we sometimes carry around has the potential to haunt us for the rest of our lives. God tells us that we're not only to forgive our enemies -- we're to love and pray for them, too.

It's easy for the devil to draw people into his lie that this life is all there is. But the reality is this: there's eternal life after this temporary one, and for those who follow Jesus, Heaven's waiting on the other side. Until then, God's commanded us to fulfill His purpose here on earth -- but as long as we hold out hope for the reality that's to come, we'll have the strength to carry on until the day He calls us home.

It's easy for the devil to draw people into his lie that this life is all there is. But the reality is this: there's eternal life after this temporary one, and for those who follow Jesus, Heaven's waiting on the other side. Until then, God's commanded us to fulfill His purpose here on earth -- but as long as we hold out hope for the reality that's to come, we'll have the strength to carry on until the day He calls us home.

Sometimes we feel like failures, flops, and fiascos...but God sees us as worth fighting for! When He gave His Son, God went all in to save us. In return, we've got to go all in and give Him our lives -- no matter the cost.  

Sometimes we feel like failures, flops, and fiascos...but God sees us as worth fighting for! When He gave His Son, God went all in to save us. In return, we've got to go all in and give Him our lives -- no matter the cost.  

We can track our genealogy to people who lived generations before us, and we can often see how the choices they made then continue to impact our lives still today. But how many of us have realized that we can track our "spiritual genealogy", too? The obedience we show to God now makes a difference, not only to other believers around us, but to those who have yet to believe -- for generations to come. The question is: whose life will be changed by the way you live yours?

We can track our genealogy to people who lived generations before us, and we can often see how the choices they made then continue to impact our lives still today. But how many of us have realized that we can track our "spiritual genealogy", too? The obedience we show to God now makes a difference, not only to other believers around us, but to those who have yet to believe -- for generations to come. The question is: whose life will be changed by the way you live yours?

When it comes to reaching the world with the Good News of salvation, the most harmful thing we can say is...nothing at all. We need to be on "stand by" mode so that when an opportunity presents itself for us to speak up and share our faith, we'll be ready to step in. God wants to use us to expand His Kingdom -- let's always be prepared to given a reason for the hope people see in our lives!

Jesus made the Church -- all of us who follow Him -- the "bride of Christ", and He loved her enough to die for her. Now it's our turn, as the Church, to respond to Him in love. In the same way that physical foreplay is used to lead to intimacy in marriage, spiritual foreplay is used to lead to intimacy with the Lord. And when we give Him our time and our attention in worship and adoration, we demonstrate that our hearts truly love the One who first loved us.

When we're walking in relationship with the Lord, it's impossible to live joylessly! No matter what trials we endure in this life, God's promised to fill us with joy when we follow Him. We'll still face sorrow and suffering -- but nothing will ever take away the hope we find in Him.

Is there a place that you go to feel completely safe? We live in a dangerous and broken world, filled not only with physical struggles, but spiritual ones, too. The Bible teaches us to tuck ourselves away in God and let Him be our safe place, knowing He'll protect us from anything that comes against us.

Jesus offers us the "Bread of Life": Himself. He comes to live in us and work through us, and He has unlimited resources of love, grace, and mercy that He uses to change the world! But we can never forget how He's provided for us, and how He commands us to extend that provision to those around us, too.