Richard Ellis Talks

In Genesis, we read about how God saw the evil in this world and destroyed the earth with a single flood. He only left eight obedient people and a bunch of animals to rebuild. The New Testament promises us that one day, God will destroy the heavens and the earth -- and Jesus is our only way of escape.

Hebrews 12 tells us to run the race before us with perseverance. As Christians, part of our "race" is the responsibility of reaching others with the Gospel. There will be times when we're tired and in need of rest and that's okay -- but we have to get back up and keep moving forward so that we don't coast to the finish line.

God calls us as a Church to be in relationship with one another -- and that includes carrying each other's burdens and praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ. The more time we spend with God in His Word and in fellowship with other believers, the more His Gospel will spill out of us into our daily lives.

This life is filled with brokenness, and weeping comes when tragedy strikes. But even through our pain, hope can still be found amidst our sadness. Jesus weeps with us -- but He also reminds us of a joy that's coming. Our tears are precious to God, and He longs for us to come to Him in our times of sorrow.

If there's one thing human beings are good at, it's making excuses. But at some point, we have to leave our excuses at the foot of the cross if we're going to choose to follow Jesus -- and we have to stop excusing ourselves from being obedient in what He's calling us to do.

The bad news: Because of sin, we're all broken. The good news: Because of Jesus, we can all be healed from our brokenness. God longs to repair our broken hearts because He loves us, and when we repent, He heals our scars and gives us a fresh start.

It's true that God offers us grace and mercy when we sin. But it's equally true that we can avoid the consequences of our sin and disobedience if we just do what He tells us to do in the first place! If we know that God's called us to do something and we choose not to do it anyway, we're not just being unwise -- we're living in sin.

God promises to meet all our needs -- not just the "big" things! Often, He shows up in simple, small ways as a reminder to us that He cares about even the little details of our lives. Instead of spending so much time worrying about how to store up wealth and resources to take care of ourselves, what if we rested in the knowledge that God will take care of all of our needs?

The wages of sin is death. Because sin is inevitable for each one of us, we deserve that death -- yet because of Christ's sacrifice, it's death that's saved us and given us eternal life. The blood of Christ is the only thing that can make us clean, and it's only by being covered in His blood that we can find forgiveness for our sins.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we go from stumbling around in the darkness to living in the light. Like a baby sees the light of day for the first time when they open their eyes at birth, God reveals His light to us by opening our eyes when we're born again spiritually. And when His Spirit draws us out of the darkness, we then become His light in the world.