Richard Ellis Talks

Reading the Bible is one thing. Applying it is something else altogether. No amount of reading, knowledge, or study of Scripture is enough to change us. We will never be able to experience the full measure of the peace God has for us until we take the next step and apply His Word to our lives.

As believers, we need to have accountability not only with ourselves, but with each other. Part of the Church's purpose is for us to surround ourselves with those who can call out our sin and help us grow, while we do the same for them. When God prompts us to point out someone else's actions then we have to be prepared to speak the truth in love for the sake of their soul.

If we want to change the world, we have to be changed first. We can't make a difference in other people's lives until we allow God to change our own lives from the inside out. He wants to use us to be transformers for the Kingdom, and when we invest in our relationship with Him, He works in us and through us to bring glory to His name.

When we have Jesus living inside us, we have the full power of God working in and through us! But in order for us to "power on" and power through the trials we face in this life, we have to first accept His forgiveness for our sins and give our lives to Him. There's no situation that we can't overcome when we walk in His strength.

It's all too easy to cherry-pick Bible verses to suit our own agendas or to make us sound good. But taking Scripture out of context isn't only untruthful, it's also ungodly. In order for us to understand God's Word, apply it to our lives, and share it with other people, we have to read it in its entirety, not just in light of our own preferences and desires.

Scripture warns us to "mind the gap" that is the stumbling block called "sin". But in order to do that, another gap has to be bridged first: the gap between our sinful nature and a perfect God. The only way that can be done is through the cross of Jesus Christ.

From birthdays to anniversaries to proud accomplishments and milestone occasions, we take time to celebrate those we love. So why do we often neglect to do the same with Jesus? Just like we make the time and effort to show our spouse that we love them, we need to show the same love and intimacy in our relationship with God. And one of the best ways we can do that is by remembering to praise Him, even for the little things.

James 1:8 warns us that "a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways". In a world where we have an abundance of choices at our disposal, God wants us to be single-minded and make the decision to follow Him in all that we do. When we give up our fears and doubts and choose to trust in His promises, He's faithful to take care of us.

Jesus didn't just teach us WHAT to do to help others -- He taught us HOW to actually step up and do it! It's one thing to feel sympathy for someone, but having compassion on them is something else entirely because it requires putting actions to our words and walking our talk. Jesus was the perfect model of what it looked like to meet other people's needs, but we have to choose to follow His example and make the next move.

Feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, and witnessing to those we meet are all great examples of things we should be doing as Christians. But our ultimate PURPOSE in life is to reflect God's glory, so that when people look at us, they find themselves searching for Him. Sometimes, that means He'll use situations to break us in order to make His glory known.