Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: You say, "But I do want to be successful, I want to be comfortable, I want to provide for my family." Let me tell you something. Think about this. Why don't you figure out a way to provide for your family spiritually first? Make sure they're fed spiritually. Then you are a success and they have a shot at being a success because you've shown them something that actually works.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're so grateful you tuned into the program. Richard wants to share with you some encouragement, words of hope, and probably a laugh or two. In today's complicated busy life, that's exactly what's needed.

Richard's talks are always straight from the Bible, filled with truth. Now, you may not be able to hang out with us for the entire program, but you can always pick it back up at our website, RichardEllisTalks.com. In fact, you can find all of Richard's talks right there waiting just for you. RichardEllisTalks.com. So, with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is "Wholly, Wholly, Wholly." I'd like to read you a few quotes and then we're going to read a lot of Scripture. "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." Vince Lombardi. "Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes but no plans." Peter Drucker.

Margaret Thatcher said, "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." I found that very interesting. Norman Vincent Peale said, "It's always too early to quit." Brett Favre said, "If I'm going to play, I'm going to be 100% commitment." Stephen Covey: "Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it."

Think about that. Without involvement, there is no commitment. Albert Einstein said, "Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason, mastery demands all of a person." Wholly, wholly, wholly. Leviticus chapter 6, verse 22: "The priest from among his sons who is anointed in his place shall offer it. It is a statute forever to the Lord. It shall be wholly burned."

Now, if something is wholly burned, wholly consumed, when you get done it is completely gone because you wholly burned it, the whole thing. Go to Matthew 22. Now someone says, "I know where he's going in Matthew 22." It is not about whether you know where I'm going or even if you can quote it. The question is, can you live it?

Matthew 22:35: "Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him and saying, 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?'" It was really a trick. He didn't care. He was just asking trick questions because there were hundreds of them. Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Everything hangs on these two, and the first one that He cites involves a word. And the word is "all." Wholly committed, all in, everything. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind.

Everything you've got. By the way, if you don't do the first one, you'll never make the second one. It will never happen. Because the only way you do the first one is to let Him love you first. Now, I'm not reading you these verses today, but if you go back and read Paul as an old man: "The thing that I want to do I don't do. The thing I don't want to do, that's what I do. Who will deliver me from the body of this death?"

This constant struggle. So you say, "I'm in constant struggle. I have passions, desires, I have temptations, I have issues." You've got to keep fighting. You say, "Will it ever go away?" I'm going to give you a promise. One day you will be tempted no more. You'll be with Jesus, but you will be tempted no more. You say, "I can't wait that long."

You're going to have to, because the enemy is not going to let up. And here's what is a little—I don't even want to scare you or make this worse—but even if you get a grip on what you think is your issue, they'll bring another one. So I've got issues I don't even know I have yet, because I won't graduate from the issues I've got now.

And we think, "I've got this specific sin, and once I get that dealt with, I'll be smooth sailing." They just have another meeting in hell and go, "Well, what else we got on this guy?" and then they show up with that. Matthew 6. Go back a few pages to the left. Now, these are very simple concepts. Don't complicate what I'm about to read to you.

Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." What does that mean? Mammon being money, giving your life to that. So very simply put, are you alive to make money? Are you alive to get rich or something?

If that's what your deal is, that is your master. That will run your life. You will end up giving yourself wholly to that. You say, "Oh no, it's that and God." It will never happen. You will love the one, hate the other, be loyal to the one, despise the other. It's one of two ways. So you show me someone who is eaten up with work, and I will show you someone who is not wholly committed to God.

Because He will not allow you to give yourself to anything but Him. You say, "I've got to work." Not that way you don't. People burn out. I've done it. Twenty-something years old, I completely fried myself trying to work for God. Throw it all together, and then you've got a real catastrophe. There has to be some balance. Paul, back to Paul. He was a tentmaker.

For whatever reason, he said, "I'm going to make a living. I don't want these churches saying I'm in this for the money, so I'll have a job." I promise you, he was a great mobile home manufacturer. He probably made the best tent in town, but he did that to support what he was really about. I hear stories occasionally about some guy—big law firm, big venture capitalist, whatever it may be.

And there's some guy somewhere in the mix who says to the company, "I will produce for this company. I will bill my hours. I will make you a living. But I will not lose my marriage and my children. I will not sacrifice my family to your money-making machine." And because they have perspective, the company keeps them because they are productive.

They turn out to be extraordinary employees because they are happily married and their kids know them. And it's an anomaly too many times, but it can be done. You say, "Well, what if the company won't keep you under those terms?" Go somewhere else. You say, "It's not that easy. I have a standard of living to maintain." Back to who your master is, right?

So-and-so, he got his wife a new car. So I'm going to sacrifice my relationship with my wife to go make money to get her a car. And then she'll look at me and go, "We don't even know each other. What am I going to do with the car?" Oh yeah, but now Susie's got one and we've got one. What are we chasing? Who cares?

The people who really care don't care. You can't serve two masters. You've got to be holy one way or the other. Ephesians 1 talks about down in verse 4 describing us: "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame." So now the word "holy" starts showing up. 1 Timothy chapter 4.

This is Paul writing to one kid, one young man, a letter to him personally. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 12: "Let no one despise your youth." They act like you're too young? Don't worry about it. You do what you do. "But be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership." And then verse 15: "Meditate on these things." So these things that I'm saying to you, meditate on them. Think about this. "Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all."

How do people see that we are making progress? Not half-hearted. When you give yourself entirely to something, people see progress. If you don't give yourself entirely to something, it's amazing they don't see progress. We could leave this place today and go walking, pick a mall, pick anywhere, and say, "Okay, we're going to keep walking, we're going to keep searching until we come across a person.

And we're not going to ask them any questions. We're going to say, 'Holy Spirit, reveal to us people who are wholly committed to You.'" And I guarantee you we will find them and know them when we meet them. Because their countenance, everything about a person who is entirely committed to Him, you will be able to see that in their eyes, on their face, their countenance.

You can't hide this stuff. So it's a little disturbing for me to even preach about this. And the Bible talks about always being ready to give a reason for the hope that's within you. Why do I not have more people asking me for the reason for the hope that's within me? Maybe I am mean, maybe I have a terrible attitude, and when they see me and meet me, they see nothing.

So, at our office for about three months, our big air conditioning unit has been down. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. Only one unit cooling the offices; the big room in the back, no air. We have had electricians, AC people. We even asked Jesus to come by and look at it. I mean, nobody. Nobody. They would come in; the power company would come, check every, every, every thing.

And you're like, "This can't be possible. Are we going to have to just buy a new unit, rewire the whole building? What is wrong with this situation?" So it goes on and on and on and on. Finally, a guy actually in church offered to come by and take a look at it. And another guy who I love to death and already kidded me about it—he just doesn't have any game, couldn't figure this out—but he sent a friend of his, an electrician.

And so the guy that's here today and the electrician came and started looking at the problem. They traced every line and finally came across a junction box, I guess it's what it is, where wires connected. And these are big, thick, massive electrical wires. And they had not been connected properly in this junction box that was hidden up in the insulation and had been wrapped, I think with duct tape.

It was a disaster. So the duct tape had fried, and there was not getting a connection. And that was the whole problem. Some nutcase when they installed the building didn't know what he was doing. But in the process of them discovering what was wrong with the air, the electrician who showed up and the AC guy who I met with a few weeks ago and he made some tremendous progress, the electrician said to him—and I'm off in a closet somewhere and overhear this.

He said, "Wow, I think I'd like to work with you again. I have never worked with a contractor who had such a tremendous attitude and didn't get all upset and son of a—you know—just all screaming, hollering, whatever." So I come out of the closet and I said, "Tell him what that is." Because the electrician had picked up on Jesus. That's what it is.

And the guy had made a decision to wholly commit himself and deal with his issues and say, "Okay, God, I want to do what You want me to do." And you couldn't hide it in his face, in his attitude. I said, "Tell him what it is." And he made an attempt at it and didn't get the right answer. And so we ran it again. If you don't know what the answer is, the answer is always Jesus.

And you have to say it that way. That's the answer. Jesus. So because this guy had made a decision to follow Christ wholly, this guy picked up on it. And within about seven minutes, this guy becomes a Christian. So now we've got an electrician, and I looked at him and I said, "You understand what's going on here. This building was wired like you know what years ago, because God knew that no one would be able to find it but you and you needed to find Jesus today. And that's what this whole AC problem's about."

Now you say, "Well, but you're a preacher, it was a church office, you were going to witness to him anyway." I wish that were true. I got a lot of help that day. Because a man showed up and let Jesus show up in him. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Everybody will know you're making progress.

I am not talking about acting like a Christian, because you can't do it but so long. You either love people or you don't. You're either following Christ or you're not. It's going to fall apart somewhere. But if it's who you are and what you've committed your life to, it's going to be seamless. Yes, you will go down. Yes, you will be a piece of work. 2 Timothy 2, again to Timothy, another letter.

Verse 1: "You therefore, my son—" He's not his—you say, "Oh, what's his dad?" No, spiritually it is his dad. "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

So in the context of discipleship, endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Verse 4: "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." Don't get entangled with the affairs of this life if you're going to fight in His army. Now, where these things collide is we have been told that we have to be successful.

And we have been told that being successful is houses, cars, money, 401(k). I heard about a guy the other day, they said something about a 401(k), he said, "I could never run that long, I'm not going to enter that race." So, well, anyhow. So we've been told all this stuff and we've bought it. You say, "But I do want to be successful, I want to be comfortable, I want to provide for my family."

Let me tell you something. Think about this. Why don't you figure out a way to provide for your family spiritually first? Make sure they're fed spiritually. Then you are a success and they have a shot at being a success because you've shown them something that actually works. You say, "But then I might be poor." Since when is being poor such a horrible thing?

And by the way, if you got food and clothing, Jesus says you can do it. Because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, and that's the context of that. You say, "Well, I hate to tell you what the real answer is. I don't want to be poor for Jesus or anybody. I want what I want." Exactly. So you're not going to wholly commit yourself to Him.

You're going to wholly commit yourself to whatever you're wholly committed to. And it's not going to be guesswork for anybody watching you. Patrick's sitting right over here. His dad was a mailman, right? Mailman. Had opportunity for promotion, right? And turned it down. Why? Because it would not allow him to focus on his family.

So they lived in a tiny little house. I think the bunk beds were like eight high. My story's better than yours now, right? Nothing fancy, nothing whatever. But you know what? His dad knows Patrick, Patrick knows his dad. Passed on a promotion. Who would do that? I don't know who would do that. But you meet his dad and you meet a godly man and you know it before he opens his mouth.

Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12:1: "Therefore we also—" Hebrews 11, the chapter on faith, these great heroes of the faith. "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Let me tell you something about Jesus. He was wholly committed to us. He didn't kind of die. They didn't whip up—you know—whip Him and put a crown of thorns on His head and go—you know—put Him on a cross and hold the nails and the hammer and go, "Ah, just kidding, we're not going to really kill you." They killed Him. He gave Himself.

He sacrificed Himself. The Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. It happened. So He has given Himself for us and He comes to us and says, "Now I'm asking you, give yourself to Me." And I promise you one of the major fears we have is, "If I wholly commit myself to Him, what is going to happen to me? My plan is bound to be better than His plan.

Because my plan I have control of. My plan involves pleasure. These sins and the sin that so easily—I don't want to give that one up. These weights and sins, I want to keep them." You're going to die with your little stash and wonder why nothing ever happened. You hold on to your life, you're going to lose it. You lose it for His sake, you're going to find it.

It's a fact. Let us lay aside every weight, the sin which so easily ensnares us. I, for whatever reason, I hated running track in high school, but I love watching Olympic track and field. And they've got this thing down now, the garment people. They are barely wearing anything. It weighs nothing. I bet if they took it off and put it on the track, it would blow away.

Maybe a chain, maybe some hair. Some of that hair looks pretty heavy, but you know. But they get down to what? Light shoes, light outfits. They are trying to lay aside every weight, anything, anything that could keep them from running the race to win. You go read the story about Paul being shipwrecked and they're all going to die and he says, "Throw everything overboard."

You say, "Well, they're going to lose the cargo." Let me tell you something. You throw everything overboard when you realize you could lose you. So what have you got on board that you don't need? Throw it overboard. Even the sailors with Jonah on the boat knew that. He's the problem. Get him off the boat. "We hate to do it, dude, but you're out, because we're going to die because of you, because you're not wholly committed to Him doing what you're supposed to be doing." Get him out of here. Big fish or not.

Go to Revelation chapter 3. And by the way, you say, "Oh, he's reading all these verses. He's trying to inspire us. He's trying to challenge us." You know what? I've done all this before. It doesn't work. Because some of you are going to listen to this and go, "Oh, for a minute, oh, wow, I'm going to—you know—I'm going to join a gym. I'm going to—something. I'm going to do something now."

You're going to do nothing. You're going to do nothing unless you make a decision. "Oh, I feel like serving the Lord now." Forget the feeling. It will go away. This is an act of faith. You make a decision: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, period, end of story. No matter what comes against us, that's what we're going to do." Not, "Oh well, He didn't tell me this was coming. I'm out."

And then you're back where you started. Straight is the gate, narrow's the way, few there be that find it. You say, "Oh, now you're trying to discourage us." No, I'm just giving you the facts. You sign up and you sign up wholly, everybody will know it. And if you don't, we're going to love you anyway, but you'll know it too.

Because you'll just be half-hearted and half whatever else you've decided to be. Revelation 3, verse 14. And this is written to a church. I've read some commentary and they say, "No, everybody in this church was lost." It's written to a church. It's a church. Verse 14: "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.

I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."'" What was the problem? He's saying, "I wish you were cold or hot. Anything but lukewarm. Anything but halfway." And I've had a number of people come see me and they are 100% on the other end of the spectrum, cold.

Let's just say cold is the bad end. And I tell them, "I have tremendous respect for cold. Because you're at least not in the middle lukewarm, acting like everything's okay and living like hell like it doesn't matter." And a lot of times people who are cold, when they decide to repent, which this talks about, they go hot.

They blow through lukewarm. It doesn't exist. Because if they're going to go hard this way, they're going to go hard that way. So give me a lost prodigal son in a pigpen every day over some big brother at the house who's not there anyway. Never left home, but never did the deal. By the way, that's why this is so much fun. I hate to tell these other preachers out there.

We don't get a lot of lukewarmers. We get people who are crawling out of hell sometimes. A team has gone in and literally through the gates of hell, which can't prevail against us, and they've been pulled out. And they know what hell feels and looks like because they've had it all around them. And they're done. It doesn't mean they never screw up again.

But when they shift, they go hard right, hard chasing after Him. And those are the people that I am blessed to pastor. Isaiah 6. Just give me a second. Let's go to Isaiah 6 and we're almost done. Isaiah has an encounter with God. Isaiah 6:1: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

Above it stood seraphim—these angelic beings—each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with His glory!'"

Guest (Male): Richard will be back in a moment to wrap up today's talk. But first, I want to share a couple thoughts with you. Let's be honest. Real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others to see. Most people have deep hurts, questions, and struggles. We get it and want to help you in any way we can.

So, let's keep this conversation going. Give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD or connect with us at our website, RichardEllisTalks.com. You can even put in your prayer request right there on the prayer wall so others can pray for you as well. Call us at 855-6-RICHARD or online at RichardEllisTalks.com. And now, let's get back to Richard with a final word on today's show.

Richard Ellis: And then Revelation chapter 4. As it turns out, they haven't gone anywhere. Verse 8: "The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes all around and within. And they do not rest day and night, saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!'" Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever.

The twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created." When you are wholly, wholly, wholly committed to following Jesus, you will be much more likely to cry out with the Seraphim, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts."

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning in today to Richard Ellis Talks. We all have busy schedules these days, so it means the world to us that you would take this time to listen. Richard would love to know how today's talk has touched your heart. So give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD, 855-674-2427. You can also share your story with us at our website, RichardEllisTalks.com.

One last thing. Richard Ellis Talks is a daily program that is always expanding to reach the world with the good news of the gospel. But it also has daily costs. And being a listener-supported program like ours means we rely on the financial partnership of our listeners, which means you. We believe that these talks with Richard are making a difference in your life.

So this is how you can make a difference to ours. You can contribute by calling 855-6-RICHARD or at our website, RichardEllisTalks.com. Thank you for your generosity. God bless and thanks for listening to Richard Ellis Talks.