Richard Ellis Talks

There's a difference between reading the Bible and applying it. As long as we skim the surface, we're never going to grow spiritually. But once Scripture starts making an impact in our day-to-day living as the "meat and potatoes" of our spiritual foundation, we're able to make a difference in the lives of others as we help them go beneath the surface, too.

We don't expect babies to stay newborns forever -- we expect them to grow and mature! So why, as Christians, are we so often content to keep living in spiritual infancy? In order for us to let go of the sins that keep us from developing properly, we need to surround ourselves with mature mentors who can lead us to pure biblical nourishment and help us grow in our faith.

 

We have just one purpose in this life: to bring glory to God, no matter the cost to us. The devil will send all kinds of attacks and schemes in order to stop us from fulfilling that goal. But in the same way that David defeated Goliath because he had the Lord on his side, we have God on our side to protect us no matter what giants come our way.

Scripture reminds us time and again that God cares about everything -- not just the big stuff, but the little things, too. We just have to look around us. He didn't have to make Creation so intricate and beautiful, yet every piece of it speaks of His love for us -- even the simple and seemingly silly things, like (you guessed it) popcorn!

 

 

There's a harvest of people ready and waiting for us to gather them up and bring them into the Kingdom of God. The Lord's already done all of the hard work -- but He calls us, as His workers, to go and gather His harvest. We need to set aside our own insecurities and step out in faith where He leads in order to collect what He reaps.

God made us all in His image -- beautifully displayed in a variety of ways, but still members of the same family. Instead of using physical differences as a barrier to connecting with one another, we should recognize that we're all equal in His eyes. It's because of sin that we've allowed our differences to separate us -- and it's because of God's redeeming grace that we can instead celebrate the beauty of His work on display in the humanity He's created.

Every day is one day closer to Jesus coming back. We can either sit and bide our time waiting for the end of the world to come, or we can serve as soldiers in the Army of God and fight for the souls of other people. When we focus our lives on the work God's called us to do, we'll be ready for Him when He returns.

There are certain marks of maturity in our spiritual growth -- and being part of a biblical community is one of them. We were never meant to live in isolation from one another, which is why God designed the Church. As members of the Body of Christ, we're part of a family of believers who support one another through the ups and downs of life.

So often, we ask God to align His plans with our desires. But when we flip that script and instead choose to pursue God with everything we have, He changes our desires to align with His plans. And when we pray persistently about the God-honoring things He's placed on our hearts, He promises that He will give us those desires according to His will.

The biblical story of Samson serves as an illustration for us of what happens when we continue to make the same bad decisions, over and over. Eventually Samson's choices resulted in severe consequences, and likewise, so will ours. God gives us warning signs against repeating our sin, but we have to open our eyes and pay attention if we want to avoid paying the price like Samson did.