Richard Ellis Talks

Our lives are marked by two things: millstones and milestones. Millstones are moments where we've made major mistakes, while milestones are moments where we've experienced God's greatness. Part of the Church's role in our lives is to help us turn our millstones into milestones -- not only for our benefit, but so we can turn around and help others do the same.

In Genesis, we read about the moment when God called His servant Abraham to take his son, Isaac, up a mountain named Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice there. In obedience, Abraham carried Isaac to an altar and prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice -- all because he trusted God. Sometimes, God tests us with the very gifts He's entrusted to us, to remind us to hold Him greater than we hold what He's given to us. It might cost us dearly, but in the end, He'll always come through -- and the sacrifice will always be worth it.

It's easy for us to blame the devil when bad things happen to us or we go through tough stuff. It's a lot harder to accept that sometimes, it's actually God working in us so He can change the world through us! There are times when the only way for God to grow us is to work on us from the inside out, and no matter how painful that process is, when we allow Him to do an "inside job", we have the privilege of experiencing the abundant growth He has to offer.

God doesn't have "opening hours" and "closing hours" -- He's available and accessible to us through prayer 24/7! Instead of living from Sunday to Sunday with only an hour of church to sustain us, our relationship with the Lord is meant to be a daily walk and a constant conversation. The best recipe for continual growth is to allow Him and His Word to fill us every day of the week.

The Bible tells us that our battle's not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). It's easy to make people the target of our anger and to view them as "the enemy" when we're in the middle of conflict, but Jesus came to save us from the real Enemy -- and our battle against evil is with Satan, not with others. When we feel ourselves tempted to point our anger in the wrong direction, let's focus on Jesus and let Him lead us to victory in the spiritual battle at hand.

It feels good to receive God's amazing love...but if we're honest, do we always reflect that love back to Him and to others? When we understand God's incredible love for us, we can't help but love Him back! And it's out of joy, not out of guilt or obligation, that we serve Him -- by loving other people the way He first loved us.  

Isn't it amazing to think that the same God Who created the entire universe cares deeply about each one of us?! From the "macro" level of creation to the "micro" level of each and every individual person, the Lord has the power to make anything happen in our lives. And the more we acknowledge His greatness and His almighty power, the more we can trust Him with any circumstance or situation we face in this life!

You've probably heard of the "Three Monkeys": see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. As Christians, we should conduct ourselves differently than the rest of the world. It's important for us to be aware what we're allowing into our minds and hearts through what we see and hear, and what we're letting out of our mouths when we speak. At the end of the day, though, no matter how hard we try, the only thing that can purify our thoughts and actions is Jesus.

During the Holocaust, concentration camps sprang up in and around European cities, and many of the people who lived in those cities turned a blind eye to what was happening because they were afraid to go against the grain of society. Today, millions of unborn children are murdered in our country each year, and we as a society find ourselves in the same situation: turning a blind eye and doing nothing. God calls us to fight against the "hollow cost" of abortion, and to fight for those who can't fight for themselves.

It's important that our bodies get physical rest -- but even more important that our souls get spiritual rest! And the only place to find that rest is in Jesus. When we go to Him and give Him our weariness and our burdens, we're given the ability to come out of any situation more rested than when we went in.

Before Jesus can be Lord of the (wedding) rings, He has to be Lord of our lives! Marriage is not only designed by God, it's also a picture of God's love for us. When we first make Him the Lord of our personal lives, the resulting effect on our marriages demonstrates His Lordship to the world around us.

Before Jesus can be Lord of the (wedding) rings, He has to be Lord of our lives! Marriage is not only designed by God, it's also a picture of God's love for us. When we first make Him the Lord of our personal lives, the resulting effect on our marriages demonstrates His Lordship to the world around us.

Who lives on the inside of us is more important than what we look like on the outside! When we become Christians, Jesus moves in our hearts and cleans us up, starting on the inside. Instead of focusing on "following all the rules" and making outside adjustments to our appearance and behavior, let's focus on giving God full access to our hearts so He can clean us up and transform us from the inside out!

Who lives on the inside of us is more important than what we look like on the outside! When we become Christians, Jesus moves in our hearts and cleans us up, starting on the inside. Instead of focusing on "following all the rules" and making outside adjustments to our appearance and behavior, let's focus on giving God full access to our hearts so He can clean us up and transform us from the inside out!

Jesus gave His life, His all, everything He had, just so that we could be saved. But do we give Him the same in return? We're called to be a living sacrifice for God's glory and yield our lives entirely to His will -- so are we giving "all we've got", or are we holding back?