Richard Ellis Talks

Real spiritual "heart change" begins with a kind of godly sorrow that leads us to repentance. But when we've repented of our sin, we should always follow it up with action steps. When we truly repent, we don't go back to doing the same thing over and over again -- we allow God to help us and strengthen us to make permanent changes in our lives.

Before Jesus came for us, people had to make constant sacrificial offerings as atonement for their sins. But even with those sacrifices, the guilt of their sin never went away. Jesus' death on the cross not only paid for our sins -- it removed them from us so that we could be cleared of guilt forever.

When Peter shared the Gospel with Cornelius -- a Gentile -- it served as an example that sometimes, God will push us outside our comfort zones and cause us to break traditions for the ultimate goal of reaching others. It's important to listen for the voice of God so that we're not venturing out and doing things on our own. The people He calls us to reach and the places He calls us to go might stretch us personally, but every person is in need of a Savior, and it's our responsibility to share the Good News.

Scripture tells us that everything in creation is held together by God, and He's present in every place. We can never get away from Him -- and when we surrender to Him, He begins to live inside of us through His Spirit. With God in us, we are never alone.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He showed the disciples that even death cannot stop Him. Yet when He Himself died and was placed in a tomb, they doubted what He'd promised. When we question whether God can do all things, including working miracles in our own lives, let's remember and trust that nothing is impossible for Him.

This world is filled with people in need of God's grace. But how can we show them His grace unless we've experienced it ourselves? Because of Christ's death on the cross, we've all been given the opportunity to be forgiven and accepted as children of God, no matter our sin. And once we experience His grace in our own lives, we can share it with those who are hurting all around us.

What does it actually mean to become dead to our sin? Once we've been made alive in Jesus, we're no longer slaves to the sin of the past. It might be difficult to give up old sinful habits and patterns, but we've been made more than conquerors in Christ and given God's grace as we strive to walk forward in freedom.

We can call ourselves Christians and be pro-choice, but we cannot call ourselves mature Christians and not be pro-life. The evil in the world today has led to millions of unwarranted deaths of unborn children. As we mature in Christ, God produces in our own hearts the value of the life He's created in the womb.

Every moment on earth could be our last. None of us have any idea when God will say our time here is done. That's why it's so important that we don't waste it! We have to choose to obey God -- not just every year, every week, or every day, but every second of our lives -- so that He can work through us to reach as many people as possible.

God specifically designed the Body of Christ in such a way that we are able to comfort each other during times of trial and suffering. In fact, it's one of the ways we demonstrate our obedience in following Christ: by showing the same compassion, care, and love to others that He first showed us.