Richard Ellis Talks on Lightsource.com - Audio

You get to the end of the month and there's nothing there. Again. You're not reckless, you don't think you live large, and you still can't figure out where it went. Somewhere in there you meant to be generous, and it just never had anything to come out of.I'm going to show you why you never have anything left to give, and it has almost nothing to do with what you earn. It's an order-of-operations problem. I'll be honest with you about my own version of it, including the thing I do to avoid getting asked, which is not something I'm proud of.If that's you, this is the one to watch.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

There have been moments you could not explain away. A conversation that landed harder than it should have. A song at the exact wrong time. A near miss on the road. You told yourself it was coincidence, because the alternative is that God is trying to reach you and you would have to do something about it.I'm going to show you that it does not stop at a gentle nudge. I'll walk you through what it looks like when the pursuit escalates, from a quiet pull to somebody sitting across from you refusing to let it go. I'll tell you about the man I sat with who had days left and could barely get the words out. And I'll be honest about the angry version of this I was raised around, and why that was never going to work on anybody.f any of that hit home, don't skip this one.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

You've had moments you can't quite explain away. A song at the wrong time. A conversation that landed too hard. A near miss on the highway. You brushed past it and kept moving, because sitting with it would mean admitting something you're not ready to admit.I'm going to trace something with you that runs from the first pages of the Bible to the last, and it's the same thing every time: a God who comes looking for people who are hiding. I'll tell you what I was hiding behind, what it cost me to stay there, and the phone call I made from my car decades ago that changed how I live.If that's you, this is the one to watch.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

You believe and you don't believe at the same time. Something happened that you cannot explain away, a loss you cannot fix, a night you still ask why nobody stopped it. And every honest voice in your head keeps asking the same question: if there really is a God and he really is good, why did he let that happen? If you have ever had doubts about faith and felt like that made you a fraud, you are closer to the truth than you think.I am going to be honest with you about the days that are not good, the ones no verse tidies up. I have buried a newborn. I have more grandkids on the other side than I have here. I am not going to hand you a slogan. I am going to show you people in the Bible who stared right at the answer and still doubted, and what happened to them next.If you have been there, sit with me through this whole thing.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

There are mornings you wake up next to the person you chose and feel nothing. Not anger, not love, just flat. And the culture tells you that when the feeling's gone, the thing is over, so you start wondering if you married the wrong person or missed your real shot.I'm going to show you why almost everything you were taught about feelings being the measure of what's real is backwards. I'll use marriage, money, and a construction screw in my tire to show you what actually holds when the feelings drop out. Some of this is going to land easy and some of it is going to be hard, because it cuts against how most of us have run our whole lives.If you've been there, sit with me through this whole thing.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

Somebody asks how you're doing and you say fine. You're not fine. You've got the job thing, the money thing, the marriage thing, the health thing, and none of it is anyone's business, so you smile and say fine and keep moving. And everyone around you is doing the exact same thing.I'm going to show you what's actually going on under the surface of the people you wrote off this week, the rude waitress, the angry guy, the friend who disappeared. I'll tell you about the times I got it wrong myself, including on the drive over here. And I'll show you the only way I know to be patient with people carrying things you can't see.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

You notice people. The guy at the coffee shop who's clearly carrying something heavy. The coworker who is not okay and is doing a bad job hiding it. You see it. And then you say nothing, because it isn't your business and you wouldn't know where to start anyway. And underneath all of it, you've had a quiet sense that God is calling you toward something, and you keep hitting ignore.I'm going to tell you about three strangers I talked to recently, including a man who got hit with a question he'd never been asked in his life and had no answer for it. I'll show you why the problem was never that people aren't ready to hear something real. The problem is that almost nobody is willing to open their mouth.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

Richard Ellis, Richard Ellis Talks, Sunday sermon, standing up for what you believe, fiery furnace story explained, Shadrach Meshach Abednego, how to have courage under pressure, refusing to compromise, fourth man in the fire, Daniel chapter 3, faith and standing firm

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

You've maybe taken one of those DNA tests. You spit in a tube, mail it off, and a few weeks later it tells you where you actually come from. No opinion, no guessing, just what's in you.I'm going to walk you through something like that, except it's about whether the faith you say you have is actually in you or just around you. There's a real difference between having Jesus near you and having him living in you, and I'll show you the markers that tell you which one is true. Some of this is going to be uncomfortable, and that's the point.If you've ever quietly wondered whether the whole thing is real for you or just a habit you inherited, stay with me on this one.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29

Most people have prayed the Our Father at some point. A funeral, a wedding, a hard night. You said the words even if you weren't sure anyone was listening, and then you got up and went back to your life feeling about the same as before.I'm going to show you why those words don't do anything until you're actually in the family, and what it looks like to go from saying a formal prayer to talking to God like he's your dad. I'll walk you through what a real father is supposed to be, and why so many of us have a hard time believing God could be one.If you've ever said the words but never felt like anyone was on the other end, stay with me on this one.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.lightsource.com/donate/1513/29