Richard Ellis Talks

God's faithfulness to fulfill His promises has been shown from the dawn of creation. We can trust God to be faithful in everything He's promised. The question is: can He trust us to be faithful to Him?

When God chose us to become part of His family, He sanctified us and set us apart to stand out from this world. And when we realize we've been chosen, we're inspired to "live differently" -- to show others His work in us. Let's live in such a way that we reflect not only the sacrifice Christ made for us on the cross, but all that He continues to do in our lives.

The world tells us that our value comes from being noticed and appreciated by other people. But true value lies in the knowledge that God loves us enough to redeem and sanctify us through Jesus. And when we find our worth in Christ, we can't help but pour out our appreciation to Him -- and help others find the same God-given value.

Jesus warned us against storing up treasures here on earth, because sooner or later, they'll wind up destroyed. Instead, He taught us that true value lies in the eternal investments we make. The best way to invest in eternity is to invest in other people -- and to give our earthly lives away in order to pursue heavenly riches!

Discipline is one tool that God uses to show us areas in our lives where we need to change. Instead of letting our hearts be hardened and allowing the root of bitterness to grow, we've got to be willing to see what He's revealing to us and let Him dig up the roots of that sin.

God is never surprised. God is never shocked. God is never caught off guard! Even when things happen to us that we never saw coming, nothing is unexpected from the Lord's perspective. He's promised to protect us when we walk with Him, and when we spend time with Him through prayer, Scripture, and fasting, He covers us with His grace and safeguards us against harm.

Jesus "assumed the position" when He hung on the cross to die for us. Now it's our turn to assume a position and take a stand for human life. As Christians, we have a duty to fight for the millions of innocent lives that are lost to abortion, and to be a voice for the voiceless.

The biggest requirement to become a leader in the Kingdom of God is to first become a servant. And the greatest example of a servant leader the world was ever given was Jesus. When we follow His example and humble ourselves to serve anyone and everyone, we also help them to grow spiritually and prepare their hearts to do the same.

The Bible tells us of God's character, and it describes all the things He created as "good". And when we surrender our lives to Him, He works in us to manifest goodness and mercy in our lives. If we claim to follow Jesus, our lives should be breaking off what's bad, holding fast to what's good, and trusting that His will for us is always better than what we could attain for ourselves!

God's given us the truth of Scripture not only as a gift, but also as a weapon! The devil uses lies to distract us from God's calling. But when we use both prayer and the Word to safeguard against the attack of the enemy, we're better able to fight his attempts at destroying God's work.