Richard Ellis Talks

The powerful little 25-verse book of Jude is a reminder to "keep ourselves in God's love as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life". Although believers may face many obstacles from the world that try to make us stumble, let's remember to continue to pray, study scripture, and surround ourselves with Godly people, all to remind us that we're safe in God’s hands!

Remember this timeless hymn? "There’s a garden where Jesus is waiting, And He bids you to come meet Him there, Just to bow and receive a new blessing, In the beautiful garden of prayer." We don't have to understand how prayer works, but only to keep the lines of communication open so we can intercede for our concerns, and the concerns of others!

As a believer, one has the actual Spirit of God living within! And the Spirit is our liaison Who cries out to the Father on our behalf, connecting us with the God of all eternity, to help us in our time of need!

Psalm 68:5 calls God a "Father to the fatherless". There are so many people today who didn't have a loving father figure in their life. God can fill that role. And even for those who've had a father in their life, it's probably not been perfect. So God can help build trust, communication, forgiveness, and grace into that relationship!

If we've accepted Christ as Savior, then our destiny is Heaven with our Father. However, there's so much more to what's called an "abundant life" to be enjoyed here on earth! It's not about material abundance, it's about being good stewards of everything, to make sure we're using our time, gifts, talents, and resources to spread His good news, resulting in that day when God says, "Well done, good and faithful servant"!

God's designed the Church/Jesus relationship not only as bride/Bridegroom, but also sheep/Shepherd. And as sheep, believers should know the Voice of their Shepherd, in order to protect from and avoid the very real enemy - the wolf who only seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.

A very wise person once said, "Show me a person's checkbook, and I'll show you their priorities." As believers, when we realize that it's all God's anyway, we should be generous over and above our "first fruits", He'll then give us the wisdom in how to utilize the rest of our resources to meet our needs and build His Kingdom!

The world judges people by what's on the outside, and when the inevitable happens (growing old, sagging skin, going bald, the weight "going south"), then it's seem like there's nothing worthwhile to live for. THANK GOD that He sees people from the inside out, and desires that everyone would receive Christ as Savior!

The tombs of history's great teachers are famous because of who they contain. The tomb of the Great Teacher is famous because of Who it doesn't contain! Jesus is alive today, and believers have the opportunity (and the commission by Jesus Himself) to spread this Good News of a risen Savior!