Richard Ellis Talks

There are times when we might want Jesus to come in and work on certain parts of us! However, Jesus has purpose in His work in our lives, even in discipline. Rather than continuing in our own ways - which never ends up being the best result - let's let Him into our hearts so that He can work on us, and show us His way for our lives!

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!" When believers 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.

Just like the Matthew 14 story of Jesus walking on the water out to Peter and the disciples' boat in the storm, if Jesus is on our boat, we have no reason to be afraid, and we can do powerful things when we live in obedience to Him. May we too live by faith and in obedience to God, so that He can use us as a lifeboat for others!

We all face the same consequence of death because of our sin. However, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can receive His forgiveness and live forever with Him in Heaven! Instead of hiding our sin from God - Who sees it anyway - let's fearlessly step into His light, and allow Him to work in us 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 we hurt someone else), let's be sure to not let time tick away, and go to the other person to make things right, being mindful that we're a reflection of God to others around us.

Jesus said "I have come that you'd have life, and that you'd have it to the full!" In having life, He of course means eternal life in Heaven offered through His sacrifice for our sins. Then, having life "to the full" means living here on earth in His freedom, hope, purpose, and in the joy of not being chained to our sins anymore!

Talk about 3 people from the Bible who had eternal impact on the rest of the world forever! They all had very different backgrounds, very different moments of conversion, and very different relationships with Jesus. But when they let go of their past, God used them in mighty ways. And He can do the same for you and me, regardless of our past!

There may be times when God tells us to do something, but there are also times when He also tells us to wait on Him. When God’s power is present in our lives because we're waiting on Him, it's evident to everyone around us. When we try to do something in our own power, the result is ultimately failure, so it's better to wait on God for His leadership, guidance and power!

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

Every one of us has a deadline on our lives, but we don't get to know when that day is. So rather than wasting our lives with meaningless things, let's approach every circumstance and relationship as if it’s our last day on earth. Today is the day to give our lives to Christ because it could be too late in the end.

Hearing "thank you" is nice! We all respond positively to being shown appreciation, especially in our relationships. Well, it's no different in our most important relationship - the one with our Savior. As with any parent, hearing only a steady stream of "gimme gimme gimme", without any thankfulness, is a warning sign of a one-way relationship! Let's be sure to communicate regularly our gratitude to our Heavenly Parent.

There’s no grey area when it comes to sin. Either what we’re doing/thinking/viewing pleases God, or it doesn’t. We’ve GOT to stop rationalizing away our “lusts of the flesh” as just little bad habits that won’t get in the way of our relationship with God. It ALL hurts us, and God deserves our obedience!

Just because we're Christians doesn’t mean we're spared from facing any kind of storm in our lives. In fact, the Bible says that we can EXPECT it! However, when we stand firm in Christ, we become "weather-proofed" to face those storms without crumbling under them.

It’s basic God-math really… The Light and Life of Jesus is greater than any fear and darkness! “Perfect love drives out fear.” “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.” “Jesus brought light to guide us in the darkness.” “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness.” When the Spirit of God dwells within us, we have nothing to fear, no matter how the devil tries to scare us!

When we become Christians and God transforms our lives, He makes us more like Jesus in that we find ourselves loving others like He loves them. Jesus was willing to take on hell itself on the cross for our sake, providing for us to then become passionate about sharing the Gospel with others, so that they might be saved as well.