Richard Ellis Talks

The words we speak about others reveal the state of our own heart. Words can build people up, but they can also tear people down. When we talk poorly about someone else, all we're doing is revealing our own insecurities. Instead of using our words to destroy, we should be using them to communicate the power of the Gospel and the impact of Christ's love.

To do an "about face" is to turn around and go in the opposite direction. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the grave, He made it possible for us to do an about face from our sin and follow Him instead. And one day, we'll be face-to-face with Him in Heaven, and we'll live with Him for all eternity!

When God designed His plan to bring glory to Himself, He factored us into that plan. We're here to fulfill the unique purpose God has for each one of us. We may not know all the details, but we can learn our purpose by learning to follow Christ and in doing so, find meaning for our lives on Earth before we spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

The Church isn't supposed to be a museum for the saints to be revered -- it's supposed to be a hospital for the broken to find healing. Everybody needs a place to belong, and everybody needs to see that they belong in God's family. When we invest in and love other people, we're modeling to the world what "church" is supposed to look like.

 

 

Too often we wait for other people in the Church to stand up, step out, and reach the lost. But we're all part of the Church and we all need to use the specific skills God's given us to minister to others instead of assuming it's someone else's job!

God isn't looking for us to come up with fancy phrases or extravagant sayings when we speak to Him -- He just wants us to speak to Him, period! He longs for us to come to Him as His children, with simple, genuine prayers from the heart. And when we talk about Him to other people, we should do it in a way that's easy for them to understand, too.

If you think you're not hot-headed, just try sitting in rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon! Anger is something we all struggle with -- probably more than we'd like to admit. For some of us, that anger governs everything we do, and we can spend our entire lives walking around just looking for things to get mad about. But when we allow the Holy Spirit to take over our lives, He replaces our own angry impulses with fruits like love, joy, and peace that can only come from yielding our lives to Jesus.

Jesus left His disciples with the Great Commission -- the instruction to spread the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. But that command didn't stop there! It was passed to every generation of believers to come, including each of us alive today. Sometimes it can seem impossible, but with God, all things are possible...if only we're obedient to His call.

We often look at other people's success and have one of two reactions: either we get jealous, or we come up with reasons why God won't do the same for us. Sometimes He holds back on financial blessing because He knows we wouldn't be able to handle it. Other times, He might be waiting to pour it out, but we're not willing to receive it. Whatever the circumstance, it's important for us to learn to be content and give Him glory in all that we give and in all that's given to us.

Whether we grew up in the healthiest household or the most broken home, we've all experienced some level of family dysfunction along the way. But when we become Christians, we enter into God's family -- and with that comes the commandment to love one another, no ifs, ands, or buts about it! When we're relationally aligned "vertically" with God, the love that comes from that relationship spills out "horizontally" onto our relationships with other people.