Richard Ellis Talks

Have you ever heard the saying, "God loves us the way we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way"? Too often, Christians take the amazing step of accepting God's gift of salvation, but then stay in their sin, content to keep living life the way they did before they were saved because it means they don't have to change anything. God desires for us to always be growing in relationship with Him, and that includes changing from our old ways of doing things to sacrificing our own desires and laying down our lives in obedience to Him.

James 1:27 tells us that "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." We aren't called to be of the world -- but we are called to be in the world, and to bless those we meet the same way the Lord's blessed us. When we obey God and care for the most vulnerable of His people, it's as if we're caring for Jesus Himself.

What is it that you're passionate about? What is it that you think makes your life worth living? Jesus was passionate about us -- even when it brought Him to the cross. God's created us to bear fruit, to be passionate about spreading the Gospel. But in order to do it effectively, we've got to first be passionate about Jesus!

 

Just like a fire goes out if we don't bother to stoke it, our excitement about our faith can dim if we don't consciously maintain it. When we take the time to remember all that God's done for us, it rekindles the fire in our hearts and renews our passion for His plans. And when that fire's stoked, it can set our lives ablaze to carry out His work for His glory!

If you've ever wondered what God thinks about injustice, you only need to read about the reaction Jesus had when He entered the temple in Jerusalem, found people bartering and selling goods like it was a street market, and starting flipping over tables right there in the courtyard! Just like Jesus got angry about seeing His Father's house abused and misused, God wants us to stand up and speak out when we see wrong being done. But instead of wishing harm on the people causing the injustice, we can develop a "righteous anger" towards the injustice itself -- and use that anger as motivation to make a positive change.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "The time is always right to do what is right." Throughout its history, our nation has justified actions that were morally wrong -- like slavery -- by dehumanizing people in an effort to see them as "less than" or not equal. In the same way, if we hold the perspective that a fetus is somehow "less than" any other human being, we're justifying the violation of another person's God-given right to life. As Christians, we have a responsibility to fight for the unborn.

There's an old hymn that goes, "The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people!" But it's more than just a nice rhyme -- it's the truth. As Christians, God dwells in us, and that means we bring Him with us everywhere we go. When we congregate in a "church setting", it's more than just a ritual or a tradition; we're coming together as the Church, the Body of Christ!

God calls us to step into the unknown, to walk away from what's easy and comfortable and to trust that He's got better plans for us -- even when we can't always see them. Often, it's not until we look back that we can see specific markers in our lives that point directly back to His faithfulness. But we're not the only ones who see those markers; when other people can witness the miraculous work that God's done in us, it's a reflection of His glory and a testament to His love!

We weren't put here to just ride out our lives until it's time to join the Lord in heaven. God's given us a purpose, and it's to share the Gospel and reach the lost with the love of Jesus. But in order to get people "hooked" on what He's offering, we've first got to be genuinely experiencing it ourselves! Only when we have an active relationship with Jesus can we bear true witness to His love, His grace, and His gift of salvation.

Jesus encourages us through Scripture to ask our Heavenly Father for the desires of our hearts. No prayer is too big or too small for the Lord, and He wants us to ask and believe in faith that He'll give to us according to His perfect will. When we decide to follow Christ, His Spirit resides within us, and like a remote control, He enables us to access His power through prayer wherever we're at!