Richard Ellis Talks

Although weeping occurs, hope can still be found amidst the sadness. Jesus weeps with us, but also reminds us of a joy that is coming. When you have experienced great depths of pain and anguish, then you can also experience the incredible heights of rejoicing. Our tears are precious to God, and He desires for us to come to Him in our moments of weeping.

There comes a time when we have to stop coming up with excuses when God tells us to do something, whether it be to begin following Him or anything after that. We need to stop excusing ourselves from obedience and begin listening and responding to the things He says.

We are all broken people because of sin that is in the world. The good news is that God can heal our broken hearts, and He longs to do that because He loves us. When we see the scars from the times we were broken, rather than hearing the accusations of the devil, may we praise God for His healing in our lives.

The world looks at us and says we have no proof that Jesus is alive, yet the proof we have is all throughout our lives if we are truly living saved by His grace and walking in obedience. Scripture is full of verses and proof of Jesus’ prophesied life, death and resurrection. Since His resurrection, the changes He makes in our lives from the inside out is proof of His life living in and through us.

The Gospel story is that Jesus died a brutal death, was buried as a dead man, and rose to life. It is because of His sacrifice and His resurrection that we can be saved from the inevitable spiritual death that is due to sin. It is important that we share this good news with everyone we encounter, knowing that it is only God who can give them the faith to believe it.

The Bible tells us that Jesus was the perfect sacrificial Lamb that paid the price for all the sin of the world. When we don’t believe that and keep living in our own sin we are carrying the guilt and debt that our sin brings us, but when we choose to believe and give Him our sin and shame He takes it on Himself and freely offers us eternal life.

The thief on the cross next to Jesus who acknowledged Jesus as Lord and asked to be in His Kingdom was given what He asked for. God offers us a ticket to paradise free for the taking, but when we take it for ourselves we must also tell others that there are plenty more tickets for them, too.

Just as Christ’s passion was not only displayed on the cross but also in His suffering leading up to the cross, we are also to endure the inevitable suffering in life with passion for Christ. We are also to be passionate about others and serve them in the same way Christ served others.

When we give our lives to Christ, we hand over the keys to ourselves and let His Holy Spirit come in and clean house. He is the one that does the cleaning, we just need to submit our lives to Him.

God offers grace and mercy when we sin, but we could avoid the consequences that also come with disobedience altogether if we just do what He asks us to do in the beginning. One specific way that God may call us to obedience is by telling others around us about the Gospel.