Richard Ellis Talks

The Christian life is meant to be lived out in community, so we can have examples in godly men and women who model for us what it means to live a God-honoring life. As they follow Christ and we imitate them, we learn how to be disciples of Jesus. Not only that, but there are others behind us who are looking to follow our example, too.

No matter what each of us has done, God's chosen to forgive us and pardon us through the death of His Son. And when we realize how greatly we've sinned, we're able to realize how much greater God's forgiveness is towards us. Because of Christ's death on the cross, we have the opportunity to accept the pardon that He's offered to us.

Religion says we have to follow all the rules and check off all the boxes in order to earn God's love for us. But grace says there's nothing we can do to earn His love, and that He's been waiting to give it to us all along! Salvation's a free gift, and once we accept it, the best way we can respond to it is by letting Him live and work in us and through us.

The Bible tells us to pray constantly, but it doesn't tell us to pray fancy! God isn't concerned with the words we use, but with the heart that we bring to Him in prayer. Even if He doesn't answer the way we want Him to, He'll transform our hearts in the process.

There's an old song that goes, "...and they'll know we are Christians by our love." Notice how it doesn't say "by our clothes", or "by our cars", or "by our careers/cash worth/college degrees"! The world will know we love God when they see us loving each other -- even those we don't necessarily get along with or like. When we love one another we demonstrate to the world the love God has for them -- and we're able to love them because He first loved us.

God can't be contained in a box. He dwells in every believer, which is why the Church consists not of a building, but of His people! We can't "manufacture" the presence of God, but when His Spirit is evident in us when we're together in His name, people will be able to point to us as a Church and say, "God is in that house."

How often do "little white lies" come out of our mouths? The Bible clearly teaches us that lying is an abomination to God, but we often do it flippantly and without a second thought. If we want to live a life that's pleasing to God, then we've got to be truthful -- not only with Him, but with all those around us.

Throughout the Bible, God lays out a path to warn us against sin and to help us avoid the consequences of our bad choices. But in order to walk that path, we have to choose to follow His way instead of our own! Not only that, but when we commit to riding in God's lane, we should be on the lookout -- to take with us anyone else who's willing to come.

Have you ever tried to conquer your "biggest" sin struggle first? When we keep focusing on the one we can't seem to shake, we tend to keep losing on the small stuff, too. But when we win at the small challenges, it starts a snowball effect -- and eventually, with God's help, we can overcome the big things.

It's easy for us to get overwhelmed by all that the world throws at us instead of focusing on our earthly mission. Jesus has empowered us to take the world by storm with the Gospel and He's called us to get the job done. When we live in the mindset that He can use us to reach all corners of the globe and trust Him to accomplish it through us, there's nothing we can't do!