Richard Ellis Talks

Our lives are meant to magnify God through the hope, peace, and joy that He offers us -- regardless of the circumstances around us. Whatever He chooses for us, it's up to us to remember that our lives are meant to magnify Him in all situations. And when other people look at our lives, may they see His greatness through the hope we find in Him!

Would you describe yourself as the type of person to minimize drama, or the kind who loves to stir up strife? The Bible's filled with verses that instruct us to use wisdom when it comes to choosing every word that comes out of our mouths. The only One who can train our tongue and control our words is Jesus, and through Him we're empowered to speak in love and build one another up instead of tearing each other down.

The Christian life is about constant pursuit of God through Scripture and gathering together as believers. Instead of letting the change He’s made in our lives fade out and get to a point of rejecting Him, let's be intentional in pressing on to learn about Him more and allow Him to continue molding and shaping us.

Is there anything in your life that you'd die for? And is following Christ at any cost one of those things? A relationship with Jesus requires a commitment that we give our whole life to Him -- even if it means we have to lose it for His sake.

What God offers us is so much more than a ticket to Heaven. When we seek Him, He gives us more and more of Himself. As we allow Him to deepen our wisdom and understanding of His character, He fuels us with an ever-greater passion and purpose in living for Him.

When we're faced with sudden crisis, we have two choices: respond in despair, or respond in worship. Trials will come and go throughout our life on earth, but it's in those circumstances that our trust in God is built. And in the midst of it all, we've got to keep our eyes looking up, because Jesus promised He'd return out of the blue to bring us home with Him.

When we decide to follow Jesus, it's not a decision for that moment or that day -- it's a decision for life, even when circumstances are tough. It's tempting to want to go back to when life seemed "easier" whenever we encounter trials, but God wants to use those difficult situations to grow our faith in Him so we can receive the blessings He has for us that we'd have never experienced without Him.

Jesus challenges us to live in a way that seems backwards to the rest of the world. While culture tells us to hate our enemies, hold grudges, and sin as long as it makes us feel good, Jesus commands us to go against the grain and do the opposite. And when we live how He intended, we realize that His way was never "living backwards", but "living forwards" all along!

We like to put sin on a scale where our own transgressions wind up looking "less" sinful than those of the next person. But we don't get to say that other people's sins are too terrible to be forgiven while ours aren't bad enough to keep us out of Heaven. Jesus' death on the cross served as payment for ALL sin, and there's no person alive who cannot be declared forgiven thanks to His sacrifice.

Scripture tells us to seek God first, and to seek Him with our whole heart. But we can't do that unless and until we set aside all the other distractions that attempt to draw our focus away from Him. The question is: what do we feel so passionate about and desperate for that we're prepared to ask God for it with unwavering boldness and relentless persistence?