Richard Ellis Talks

Because God knows the future, He knows the number of days that we'll be on this earth. However, since we don't know that number, then we ought to treat each day as a precious gift, not wasting it, but living it to the fullest for His glory! Let's make the most of our time here by serving Him each and every day.

We never want to live our life looking through the rear view mirror, we want to press on down the exciting path that God's laid out for us! However, looking back does give us great perspective, that God's faithful. So we can continue to live by faith, trusting Him regardless of the circumstance, trial, or challenge, knowing that He'll provide the wisdom and strength to press on within His will.

Some day when we stand before God, we'll ALL give an account for our actions, and we'll either be forgiven by Jesus’ blood or we'll be judged by God. His grace is extended to us and our sins are covered if we've accepted Christ as our Savior. But we'll also be rewarded for the things that we do for Him, and those are the kinds of rewards that last!

After Judas “sold out” Jesus to the soldiers in the garden for a bag of silver, he was so filled with remorse, that he threw the silver back at the priests, went away, and took his own life. Such a vivid example that NOTHING this world can offer is worth trading for a relationship with the living God through our loving Savior!

There are bodyguards, then there are the Body guards. The Church - the Body of Christ - is protected from fear and the enemy by God Himself! Now, do bad things and tragedies happen to believers? Yes. But even earthly death isn't a reason to fear any circumstances, because of God's ultimate control.

We're messy creatures, us humans! So when it comes to God, we need a LOT of forgiveness. And when it comes to each other, we need a LOT of forgiving. No matter how many times we mess up, If we come to God with a repentant heart, He's always ready to forgive. So let's rest on that truth, and "pay the grace forward" to each other as well.

Living by faith doesn’t mean proving the realities of a personal God, a Savior born of a virgin, and an eternity beyond this world. But Jesus knew that the only way for humankind to be provided a way into eternity with Him, was to enter this world via the “matrix” of a virgin womb, to live a human life, and to become our once-and-for-all Sacrifice for sin.

Christ followers are called "salt and light". And especially being referred to as light, we represent something that exposes darkness. This Light of Christ within us can also expose any dark areas of our own life! So let's be sure to lay it all in front of God, choosing to live in truth and obedience. Then we can truly be His salt and light to the world.

A believer is called to share the light of God's hope with a dark world of despair. So in order to be obedient to that call, we must be IN the world, but not OF it. And being in the world, we may be exposed to past situations or environments that used to cause us to sin. So when we start to feel that pull, we need to ask God to give us the wisdom to see the way of escape and to take it!

The enemy has a "divide and conquer" mentality, much like a pack of wolves when they come upon a potential meal in the wild. Isolation is extremely dangerous to a believer, so let's be sure to stay connected with, supported by, and accountable to each other, as we continue to remain unwavering in God's truth!

The bottom line, as a believer, is that if we WANT to stop sinning, we CAN, because we have HIS power within us. We all have certain sins or temptations that are "trouble areas", but God gives us the power to overcome these sins if we tap into Him!

The powerful little 25-verse book of Jude is a reminder to "keep ourselves in God's love as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life". Although believers may face many obstacles from the world that try to make us stumble, let's remember to continue to pray, study scripture, and surround ourselves with Godly people, all to remind us that we're safe in God’s hands!

Remember this timeless hymn? "There’s a garden where Jesus is waiting, And He bids you to come meet Him there, Just to bow and receive a new blessing, In the beautiful garden of prayer." We don't have to understand how prayer works, but only to keep the lines of communication open so we can intercede for our concerns, and the concerns of others!

As a believer, one has the actual Spirit of God living within! And the Spirit is our liaison Who cries out to the Father on our behalf, connecting us with the God of all eternity, to help us in our time of need!

Psalm 68:5 calls God a "Father to the fatherless". There are so many people today who didn't have a loving father figure in their life. God can fill that role. And even for those who've had a father in their life, it's probably not been perfect. So God can help build trust, communication, forgiveness, and grace into that relationship!