Richard Ellis Talks

Loving our enemies. It doesn't mean just putting up with them, or pretending they don't exist. It means truly loving them to the point of responding to hate with kindness, forgiveness, and genuine compassion, knowing that God can use our authentic reciprocity to bring them to Him!

The only way we can experience the power of Christ's resurrection is to die to ourselves and commit to living for Him. And it's in planting that "dead seed" into God's fertile soil, to use for His purpose and plan, that we come alive in Him, producing spiritual fruit!

"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16) God has integrated direct communication to Him - via prayer - by Jesus bridging the gap between God and mankind. It's our "connective spiritual tissue" with our Creator! He's provided prayer as a powerful weapon in His armor arsenal for us to battle against the enemy!

God has designed His Church to have shepherds who lead the flock, and protect them from spiritual "wolves" whose only intention is to devour them. When we plug into a church and submit to those in Godly authority, we have leadership that's necessary for our growth and protection, and to help us pull others in to their own experience of God's hope and love!

When it comes to a believer falling short in the "obedience department", God forgives and gives. After ignoring His urging for us to take an obedient action, we can come back to Him in repentance and He'll forgive us. Then, because of His love, He'll give us another chance to be obedient, acting on what He impresses on our heart to do for His glory!

The devil's goal is to destroy our lives, sometimes even to the point of contemplating suicide. However, Jesus offers us a complete release from our old lives, so we can step into a whole new purposeful existence with Him, as He lives in and through us! So let's die spiritually to ourselves, inviting Jesus into our life, thus locking out the enemy, so that we can then yield ourselves completely to Jesus and His leading.

Picture that scene with the fear-riddled woman curled up against the wall, as the incited crowd gathered to stone her because of her sin. Then these words filled the dusty scene: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Know what? That powerful phrase is applicable even unto ourselves! Receiving God's gift of eternal life doesn't mean that we'll never sin again, but it does mean that we're forgiven, and we can look up with hope, instead of looking down in shame!

We can either live in the Way, or we can live in the way. We can live in the power, forgiveness, and hope of Jesus, ready to be a light in this dark world that needs Him, or we can live "getting in the way" of His desire for us to put our past, our pain, and our excuses behind us, and live forward in His victory!

Of course we don't expect a newborn baby to instantly start walking, talking, and providing for herself! So why should we expect new Christ followers to "have it all together (as if any of us really do!)" instantly? Our expectations certainly aren't God's expectations on new believers, and their spiritual formation and growth is up to mature Christians to help and guide them, by feeding them spiritual milk until they're ready for solid food.

We can all look back on our lives and see where God has provided all we've needed time and time again! Yet we still sometimes may find it difficult to trust Him. Rather than sitting around being comfortable our whole lives, let's hear whatever God's calling us to do, step out in faith and do it. Because, just as a loving father will catch their child every time that child jumps from a high branch, we can trust that God will catch us every time that we take a leap of faith!

Skin color, bank account, country of origin, wardrobe, (even someone's choice of phone!) can potentially be a divisive dynamic in culture today. But where the world sees differences, and keeps score on those (surface level and temporary) differences, God sees us all equally who, because of Jesus' death and resurrection, are able to be called His children, and can freely accept His grace and mercy!

The story of God is this: It’s NEVER TOO LATE to begin to become the person He created you to be! It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, and the mistakes that you’ve made in the past. God wants to give you a new life, and write a new story for your future, if you'll just give your life over to Him!

As believers, we’re most effective for God when we’re fully present where He’s placed us, and focused on where He’s moving us forward. Rather than being like a fish who jumps out of an aquarium because it thinks the other side of the tank is better, let’s be content where God puts us, because it’s there that He provides all that we need!

As Christ followers, we’re representations of the change that God can make in someone’s life, so let’s be willing to share His message of grace and hope with others. When we spread the Gospel, we’re literally engaging in spiritual warfare with hell, and it won’t be easy. But it’s what God’s called us to do, so He’ll give us the strength to do it!

The Word is our source, our sword, our wisdom, our insight, our clear look into the heart and will of God! So let’s not “buy the bull” that the world’s selling, and instead, crack open the Bible to learn how to live our lives according to God’s plan. It’s only in prayerfully studying the Scriptures, that we learn how to live our lives according to His instruction.