Richard Ellis Talks

It’s easy for a lot of people to put off a decision for change in their lives, but that indecision is a decision to forfeit the benefit of change. When it comes to salvation, that decision needs to be made immediately because eternal life is at stake.

The Bible teaches us that our lives or like a vapor, here one moment and gone the next. We must value the life that God gave us by using every moment to honor and obey Him.

Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried and resurrected from the dead. He offers to us eternal life that He paid for by His sacrifice and made possible by His resurrection. We must now decide to either accept His offer and follow Him or reject it and die spiritually forever when our earthly bodies die.

Jesus was God forsaken when He submitted to His death on the cross so that we could be in right standing with God and never be forsaken. Not only does His death give us eternal life, but it puts us in right relationship with God so that He can help us walk through the trials and difficulties of everyday life.

Jesus was willing to leave Heaven, come into a sin filled world, live a perfect life, die for our sins, and be raised from the dead all so that we could have access to relationship and eternal life with God. If that’s what He was willing to do for us, what are we willing to do to reach other people with this Good News?

Just as the crowds in the Gospels worshipped Jesus one day and the next day turned on Him to crucify Him, we can receive His salvation and mock His grace. When we continue to live a life of sin, we proclaim Jesus to be our Savior but not the Lord of our lives. His forgiveness is always there, but we must not be so fickle to praise Him one day and crucify Him the next.

God designed His Church to live in community with one another as one Body. When one part is hurting then the whole Body needs to hurt and weep with that part, and when another part is rejoicing then the whole Body needs to celebrate. This is the mark of a truly healthy group of believers.

Scripture says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Just as in every situation He was led by the Spirit, we must also live our lives led by the Spirit so that in every step we are portraying Christ who lives in us.

There are plenty of people praying for themselves or for others that God would send help, and we are that help that God sends but we have to be listening to His calling and respond in obedience. Following Jesus means being willing to give up whatever it takes to reach others with the Gospel before it’s too late.

God offers us a free gift of salvation to anyone who will believe, and we all have just as much opportunity to take Him up on the offer and be saved. The other part of that is His offer to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus, and that is a road far less traveled but even more rewarding.