Richard Ellis Talks

When you're part of a family, your family members don't just see you at your best -- they see you in your weakest moments, too. In the same way, as members of God's family, we need to allow people to see us for who we really are, struggles and all, so we get help and in turn help others. We can only grow in our relationships with God and with one another when we begin to peel back the layers and allow our Heavenly Father and our brothers and sisters in Christ into our lives.

We inherit our blood type from our parents. That's why Jesus had to be born of a virgin: as the Son of God, His blood was directly that of the Father. It was that same blood which was spilled when Jesus gave His life for us -- and because Jesus was a "universal donor", there is not a single person who cannot receive His blood and thereby be forgiven.

When we long for Heaven, it's easy to ask why God doesn't just "zap" us to be with Him and let us be free of the pain and suffering of this broken world. But part of being a disciple of Christ is fulfilling His command to reach other people with the truth of the Gospel. God's called and equipped each of us to accomplish His work in this life, which is to bring as many people with us into eternal life with Him as we can!

We're all invited to become part of God's family. And when we do, there's going to be some type of "spiritual DNA" that proves us as His children. That's why it's important for us to check our DNA by way of proclaiming Jesus as our Lord, confessing our sins, and asking His forgiveness. Once we enter in that relationship with Him, there's nothing we can ever do to separate ourselves from His love!

After Jesus was raised from the dead, His disciples ultimately went back to the lives they'd lived before they started following Him. If the people closest to Jesus returned from this break in "normalcy" with a commitment to continue preaching the Gospel and spreading the Good News, it's a good reminder to us, too: even though a break from the norm can sometimes serve as a good reset, it's important not to lose momentum in our discipleship journey even when the day-to-day grind resumes.

At the moment when God the Father, our Perfect Judge, raised His gavel to sentence us "guilty" for our sins, Jesus the Son, our Sacrificial Lamb, spoke up and said, "I paid for that." We can choose to run away from freedom and redemption and continue carrying the guilt and punishment for our sin, or we can choose to believe that Jesus paid our debt and accept the gift of eternal life He offers.

It's a human response for us to question the Gospel, until the Holy Spirit confirms its truth in our hearts. Even Jesus' disciples didn't believe Him when He said He'd rise from death after three days! But at some point, we have to choose to walk in faith instead of doubt, and to believe the truth of Scripture as the infallible Word of God.

In the world of magic, it's one thing to make something disappear, but the trick is only magical if you can also bring it back. Jesus' resurrection was anything but magic -- one after another, He fulfilled dozens of Old Testament prophecies throughout His life, including the prophecy of the resurrection itself. His death, burial and resurrection weren't just stunts to wow a crowd -- they were acts of redemption for all of humanity.

If we want something badly enough, we'll make time. If we don't, we'll make excuses. Our lives are consumed with busy schedules and earthly ambitions and things that we can't carry with us into eternity. But as Christians, shouldn't we be making time to grow deeper in our relationship with God instead of making excuses that leave Him last on our priority list?

From a limited human perspective, the story of Jesus' resurrection just doesn't make sense. The disciples didn't think so either -- that's why they didn't believe Jesus at first when it happened, even though He'd told them on several occasions that He'd be raised from the dead. The Gospel story is just as "crazy" for us to believe today, yet the testimony of those who do believe is both undeniable and life-changing!