Richard Ellis Talks

When believers "delight themselves in the Lord", their hearts' desires change! When we desire what He wants for us, we can be truly free from our lives of wickedness, trading it for God's righteousness.

Before God even created the world, He had a perfect plan already in place that the blood of Jesus would wash away our sin, because He loves us more than we could ever imagine! He provided a way back to Himself through Jesus, so that we may be saved from the destruction of this world’s end and spend eternity with Him.

Our world believes that there are many different ways to get to God, and that the Jesus who was written about in the Bible is just one way. By our faith, and by the MANY prophesied accuracies contained within, the Bible is the only true Word of God, and Jesus is the only way to God!

The Body of Christ is made up of all believers who can never be alone once they join that Body. We always have Jesus with us, but we also need to remember to plug in with other believers around us!

When we're living in obedience to God and affliction comes, we can trust Him that He's using it to refine us and purify our hearts to make us more like Himself. No matter what difficulties we face, our hope and purpose are all found in Him!

Suffering. It's part of the human experience, and for the believer, there's an even greater purpose - to mold and shape us into who God wants us to be. Perhaps one of the reasons that we don't suffer more than we do, is that we're not patient enough to suffer. And one of the reasons we get into trouble, is we usurp suffering with trying to "fix" it, rather than trusting God in faith that He'll see us through the suffering!

The term “coup de grace” means a deathblow for the purpose of ending suffering. When Jesus died on the cross, it was the ultimate “coup de grace”, when God offered to wipe out all our sin with one blow, offering all of mankind a new life in Him!

At the perfect and God-planned time in history, in Mary's virgin body, that egg dropped down and allowed the Holy Spirit to cause her to be with child. Instantly, Jesus went from being seated at the right hand of the Father to being the soon-to-be-born Messiah!

When Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished", it finished it for everyone forever! The sin of every human ever born, living today, and yet to be born, has been paid for once and for all time. The cross of Christ provided the grace to forgive the sin of the world!

The Gospel story is this: Jesus died a brutal death, was buried as a dead man, and rose to life. It's because of His sacrifice and His resurrection that we can be saved from the inevitable spiritual death that we deserve because of our sin. Let's share this good news with others, allowing the Holy Spirit to make that message come alive in their hearts as well!

Jesus came to earth as a baby, breathing in our air. Then He died on the cross, breathing out His last human breath. And because He rose again from the dead, He offers to breathe into us a new everlasting life, that all we have to do is receive!

When Jesus rose from the dead, even His own disciples doubted Him and raised questions. God's big enough to take on any questions and doubts that we have, so let's be ready to put our faith in the truth that He gives us. Jesus is alive and sits at the right hand of God interceding for us, and He'll always provide for all that we need!

We don't see things, situations, and people the same way that God sees them. That's where faith comes in! Scripture reminds us time and time again where God makes and keeps His promises, despite what things might look like. Let's walk in faith and trust that He'll ALWAYS keep His promises!

You know that sense of joy we get when we're truly generous to someone else? That's an emotion that God has planted within us, as a reflection of His generous heart! He's called us to use what He's provided us with, to bless and help others in need. May we trample over our selfishness with God's generosity today!

Billy Graham once said, "Our checkbook says a lot about our spiritual priorities". Money is a resource that God desires to use for His glory, just like our time and talents. Let's invite God to work through this area in our life, so we can see Him use our resources in powerful ways, blessing others and furthering His Kingdom!