Richard Ellis Talks

When we come to times in our life that we realize that Jesus is all that we have, we also realize that Jesus is all that we need! It's in our repentance that He becomes our "more than enough", and being mindful of that truth will help us avoid a hardened heart and dependency on "stuff", that could lead to Him saying "enough"!

There's a huge difference in knowing about God, and knowing God. Truly knowing God can only come by spending time in His presence, face to face. We can look for fulfillment in everything - even working for God - and NOTHING will satisfy our soul like meeting Him regularly face to face. Then everything else can be faced without fear!

Sometimes in life, we attract the lifestyle that we ourselves are living. We spout off and say, "There are no Godly men!", or "There are no Godly women!". The first thing we need to make sure of, is to live the way that we would attract Godly potential mates, by being Godly ourselves!

As a believer, the time we're given between the "here" and the "hereafter", is a strategic and important window of opportunity to spread God's Good News! It's a chance to continue living as though we’re running a race, never stopping to coast, but rather to press on all the way to the finish line!

A sponge is a perfect analogy of a Christ follower in this way: When you immerse a sponge into a bowl (church body) and saturate it with liquid (Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, community, accountability), then when you take the sponge out of the bowl (and into the world), the "liquid" can be "squeezed out" into the dry world around it!

"Weep with those who weep..." The key word here is the word "with". When someone experiences tragedy, pain, suffering, aguish, that's a "battle cry" for brothers and sisters in Christ to RUN to that person's side, and make sure that they're never alone in their pain.

Excuses. They're easy to conjure up, especially in this world of conditional love, relaxed accountability, and dwindling spiritual maturity happening in the "American Church". Bottom line is, if we call ourselves Christ followers, we need to stop excusing ourselves from obedience and begin listening and responding to the things God says!

The Gospel story of hope makes no sense to the world... until someone's brokenness drives them to it. When we realize that "my life, my way" doesn't work, and our scars of brokenness are in full view, that's when we turn to God in repentance. He'll heal our brokenness because of His great love!

"And our God shall supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) Part of the process of trusting God means being content with our needs, and being generous with everything else, freely giving to others in need!