Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Isn't it sad that sometimes we gotta hit the bottom in order to head to the top? People say to me, "Oh, God's just a crutch for you." And my answer is, "No, for me He is a stretcher. He is not a crutch." It isn't about trying to limp my way in. When He came and got me, there was nothing in me left. It was, "Haul me in, God, or I'm not going to make it."

Guest (Male): Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Thank you for allowing us to share this time with you. You may be stuck in traffic or stuck in life. Either way, today's message is going to help you get on the right track as you learn how much God loves you right where you are.

Richard's unique style checks all the boxes with a lot of hope, insight, truth, and, of course, humor. Today's talk with Richard will get our conversation started, but we want to keep it going with you. So let's stay in touch through our website, richardellistalks.com. But right now, let's go ahead and get right into today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is "Make It Home." I was thinking this week about people I've talked to before who go back to their hometown. You're driving through their town with them and they'll drive by a church building, say, and they'll say, "That's the church where I grew up." And how we associate sometimes a building with a church.

And I want to start this message today by maybe making an appeal that usually is made at the end. In the time that we've been doing this as a church, as a family together, there are people who come and some who have been here a number of years, some a few months. And people come and go, but the great thing about it is when they come, they make it home.

And they make it their home, and they connect and they stay and they get plugged in and they commit to this process. I tell people when I meet them that already have a church, and they say, "Well, I go to church over here," we do not fish out of other people's aquarium. But if you do not have a church, then just straight up, right up front today, what I want to say to you is I want to encourage you and challenge you and invite you to make this home.

What my prayer for all of us is that one day you walk in here with a friend, a son, a daughter, whoever it is, and you look around not at this building or wherever we may be meeting at the time, but you look around at the people and you say, "This is the church I grew up in." And it's a bunch of people, not some place, not some bunch of walls and roof. It's a bunch of people.

And you say, "I grew up in this church," not just as a child to an adult, but spiritually from a newborn to maturity. And God has plugged me in here and put me in here for a reason, for a time, maybe for a season of sorts. And without any apology, the longer we do this and the more people that God sends our way, the more challenges there are and the more help we need.

And some people come and say, "Well, I'm here but I'm not here 100 percent." Let me tell you something, you need to get here 100 percent. I'm going to encourage you, and if it's not here, pick a place, but be there physically, financially, in every category. Be there. You can't do family halfway, and you commit.

You know, we got our challenges. If you think you're going to find a perfect church, if you do, don't join it because you will screw the whole thing up if you join it. Because the problem with church is until we get to heaven, we're a bunch of people and we've all got stuff. We've all got story, what I call story, and we haul it in here every day.

If you had any idea what's going on in this room right now and how some of the people that are here barely made it. And the things that have been done this week, said, behavior, habits, activities, unethical business deals that have gone down, just lies and half-truths and dishonesty and mistrust, just the things that have gone on, and yet somehow here we are gathered together.

And it's an absolute miracle that the thing holds together and survives. Only God can do this. And just right off the top, I'm going to invite you to make this home. Now, people say, "Well, how do you join this church?" This is simply how you do it.

If you are a believer, you understand that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried and raised from the dead, and you believe that eternal life is only possible because of His life, death, burial, and resurrection, and that eternal life is a gift to be received, and you have received that gift and because of that you have a personal relationship with the God of the universe. You are a Christian in a biblical sense.

If you are a Christian and have done what every Christian in the Bible did subsequent to being born a second time in a spiritual sense—they were baptized—if you are a Christian who has been baptized and God tells you this is your church, you're a member, period. People say, "Well, don't you have a list?" You know what? My list is right out here. Show up.

I've talked to people my whole life, meet people. "How are you? Where do you all live?" that little song and dance, little routine. "Where do you go to church?" Oh, we go to so-and-so. And then here's the question: if you want to find out whether somebody really goes to church somewhere or not, it's not to be mean or rude, but here's all you take: "Well, who's the pastor down there now?"

You'd be amazed how many people look at you like, "Well, you know, I just can't remember his name right off the top of my head." If you go somewhere, you're probably going to know who the pastor is or somebody at that church. Pick a place and get in and stick with it. And if God says here for a season, great, or here for some reason, great. If He moves you, great. But pick a place, and if this is the place, make it home.

But if you've got a church home, then maybe your problem is not a church home. Maybe the problem is you haven't been there, you haven't been in a conversation or any kind of relationship, ongoing relationship with God in a long time. And your problem is you got to make it home in terms of getting back to this fellowship relationship on a daily basis with God Himself. Now turn to Luke chapter 15.

And for the first time in my life when a man was sitting down reading this story, somehow the way only God can do this, I realized that God was on my side. He wasn't against me, He was for me. And my fear of going back home, my fear of turning to God or repenting, changing my mind and saying, "God, I'm wrong, you're right," was that if I went back, somehow we get this picture of a God with a big club and if we get near Him, He is going to smack us into eternity and we'll be lucky if we make heaven and sit down and shut up and keep your nose clean. And it's this angry, mean kind of God.

Luke 15, you can't find that there. Now, there is a kid in this third story in Luke 15, and if we pick up here in verse 11, Jesus is telling this story. Says, "Then he said, 'A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me." So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living,'" or you may have "riotous living."

Now, I want you to listen with me today, the progression in somebody's life. And I'm never sure who this is for, but whether it's somebody here today, somebody listening on the radio, somebody in a car somewhere driving around—I don't know where you are and what's going on in your life, but you can make it home. And I don't care what the devil's told you, that you've gone too far, that you've committed the unpardonable sin.

If your mom and dad disowned you, your own family disowned you, there is a God in heaven who does not disown His own. And this kid comes to himself. Literally, it'll say this in a minute. Verse 14, it says, "But when he had spent all, he ran out completely." He had a ton of money because his dad was obviously wealthy, took his money, left and spent it all. And he had nothing.

And it says when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. Isn't it sad that sometimes we gotta hit the bottom in order to head to the top?

People say to me, "Well, God's just a crutch for you." And my answer is, "No, for me He is a stretcher, He is not a crutch." It isn't about trying to limp my way in. When He came and got me, there was nothing in me left. It was, "Haul me in, God, or I'm not going to make it." So he had lost everything.

Verse 17, now look at this phrase and this just resonates and rings in my ear sometimes. Verse 17: "But when he came to himself." Now, here's one of my questions today. What is it going to take for you to come to yourself? The way I describe this is some people have just unbelievable tolerance for pain.

And physically they can just go. If it's drugs, if it's alcohol, they just go and go and grit their teeth and say, "You know what? No, I'm not going to say yes to God. I'm going to do this by myself, I'm going to do it my way." And they push and push and push. And finally God in His grace—see, part of God's grace is to not crush you, but to break you. And only God knows that tension and how to do this.

And for some people this happens along the way. We come to ourselves and we make it home and we get home and then we get comfortable and complacent. What happens? And we sneak back out again. And we run away from home again. And we get out there again and things start falling apart and we come to ourselves again and we make it home again. And it's this back and forth.

What I'm trying to figure out for my own heart and my own mind and my own life is a way just to stay home. I don't want to run away from home anymore. You say, "Well, what do you mean you're running away from home?" We run away from home in our hearts. You can be sitting right here in a church service and be a million miles away somewhere.

You can be sitting here and having an affair with someone in your mind. You can be sitting here closing a deal tomorrow, here today. And God says, "You know what? I just need you to look me in the eyes and be with me for just a little while. Look at me, listen to me, talk to me, hold me, let me hold you, let me be with you."

"Don't go anywhere else. They don't have what you need anywhere else." It's Him that we need. And the devil is a snake and he comes along in the deceitfulness of riches and all these things, these tools, this bait that he uses. Some of you know I've been fishing down on the Amazon River. There are these big fish on the bottom of this river.

And there's this big bait that weighs a ton and you throw this stuff and you figure out where these fish are. And every once in a while this bubble of air comes up or a fish moves under the water, big fish. And they stay on the bottom, they don't come out much. But what do you do? You throw this wood-chopper bait, massive thing, nine hooks, Japanese hooks you have to put on because the fish will just bend these things right off the lure.

And you figure out where that fish is. And you know how you get that fish out? You just keep throwing that bait past him and dragging that propeller across him. And past him, and you have to do it over and over and over. And you know what that big fish sits down there and watches that thing going over his head? And sooner or later he can't take it anymore.

And out of the bottom, the safety under a tree, under a rock where he should stay, where he would live and be just fine, he can't take it anymore and he comes launching out of there and boom, explodes on that thing thinking he's got it. To find out that it's got him.

And guys, what I'm encouraging you to do is go home. If you make it home, stay home. And no matter what bait comes by you and how fancy and colorful and enticing it is, stay home. Don't bite anymore. Don't pay attention to it anymore. Stay home. So this guy comes to his senses.

Verse 17: "When he came to himself and said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I'm dying here of hunger? I perish with hunger.'" Verse 18, he's thinking in his head. And some of you listening today are thinking through this process. I mean, you know you're in trouble. And you know you're not home, and you think you might be able to get home.

You're not sure how you're going to do it, but you're thinking through the process. And that's a good place to start. He comes to himself, he starts thinking, "I will arise and go to my father, and this is what I'm going to say." He even rehearses his prayer to God like God doesn't hear our prayers anyway. You ever rehearsed a prayer before you pray it to God? "Okay, this is what I'm going to say to God. And I write my dear down now. Okay, dear God."

Like where was He when you were writing it? He's heard the whole process. He says, "I'll arise and go to my father. And this is what I'm going to say: 'Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, and I'm not even worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'"

And there's a lot of discussion on this passage, whether this applies to believers or non-believers. My personal belief on this is that part of what's going on here is this son was just that when he left home. He was a son. And it is possible to be a Christian and be a long way from home.

And sometimes you meet someone and I ask guys this all the time. I say, "Do you think this girl or your wife or husband, they don't know?" I say, "Do you think that person..." "Well, they say they are." You know what you say you are too sometimes, and it may not be provable by the way we live.

There are moments in my life I call myself a Christian and there are thoughts, actions, behavior, and you say, "Well, that doesn't look like a Christian to me, buddy." We are all questionable at times. Just don't superimpose some judgmental thing just because someone is a long way from home doesn't mean they weren't at home at some point and can't get back.

He comes to himself. "I'm not worthy to be your son." Verse 20. Now, I'm not asking for you to take an action right now at this moment, but somehow in your heart I am asking to take action. Something happened in this kid. Verse 20: "And he arose and came to his father." You are going to have to act. You're going to have to move. It's not enough just to come to yourself. It's not enough to think about it. It's not enough to rehearse it.

If you're going to make it home, you gotta go home. Now let me tell you one of the amazing things about going home and that the devil tries everything I think possible to blind us and to stop us from seeing this. You can be one second so far away from God, so far away from home, so far down in the dumps, so in a pit, so covered by sin and just the sickness of it.

One second you can be there, and by a simple act of repentance and saying, "God, help me, I am wrong, you are right, make me clean, make me pure, make me holy," you can go from dingy, stinky sinner, boom, clear over to another place of being completely whole. And being washed clean as white as snow, just like that.

It's not this long, trudging process you have to go through to get clean. Now, there are some consequences of your sin that you may have to work through and work out, but don't let the devil tell you you got some ramp-up time to go through before you can get home. In a spiritual sense, you can be home now. You don't have to wait till the end of some service where there's an invitation to go home. Sitting there right now you say, "You know what, God? Enough's enough. I'm coming home now."

"I've thought about it. I don't think I'm worthy. I haven't lived like your son, your daughter, your child, but I can't take this anymore out here by myself in this pigpen with nothing." You say, "Well, I'm getting away with it now." You will not get away with it. Go home while it's your choice before God allows something to happen that forces you to go home. Be wise enough to go home by choice and respond to what He's trying to get you to do.

So he says, "Arose, came to his father." But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. That's the reception you're going to get. And the son said to him, "Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight, no longer worthy to be called your son."

But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. Let's party." Now let me tell you, guys, I've been to some parties and you think you've been to some parties.

You want to go to a party? You wait till we get to heaven. And if you could be in heaven the moment that you and I decide to make it home, all heaven breaks loose. It says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. Who is in the presence of the angels of God? There's only angels and God. In my opinion, it is the angels who have to stop and go, "Here he goes again."

And the Father Himself begins to rejoice and say, "My son, my child, he was dead, he's alive again. He was lost, he's found." There is no greater joy in heaven. Jesus came to seek and to save those that were lost. That's you, that's me. You say, "Well, I'm not lost, I'm a Christian, I'm saved, I'm going to die and go to heaven." You can die and go to heaven but you're not dead yet, you're not in heaven yet. You're here, and you can be a long way from home here before you get to heaven.

So maybe you need to go home in that sense. Now, for some people it's not that. Some people need to make it home and it's in terms of a relationship with God. And I want you to turn to John chapter 14 with me. Jesus says to these people here, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions," or the word here may be dwellings or dwelling places.

He says, whether you have one here or not, you're troubled what's going to happen, where are we going to go, what are we going to do. He says, "You know what? In my Father's house are many dwellings, many dwelling places, many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." What better person to go build you a house than a carpenter?

"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know and the way you know." No matter what happens here, I'm leaving, but where I'm going is to make a place for you, to prepare a place just for you.

We've lived in 14-something places in 14 years of marriages. And there are things, there's showerheads in one place I like and a shower I like over here and a bathtub over there. And you see all these things, you start getting these things. If I could just build one house and live in it, there are all these components that I would put in that house, right? You ever think about this?

There'd be cool stuff and a gym and a racquetball court, whatever you think you come up with. Now think about this: God who loves us so much, Jesus came, gave His very life, lays it down, He says, "Guys, don't worry. Don't be troubled. I'm going to build you a house. A dwelling place that will last forever, a place that you can be with me forever. I know just who you are, just what you like. I'm building you a home."

"And I'm going to come back and get you." Why? "I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also." I want you with me. He wants us with Him now, He wants us with Him forever. Now look at what Thomas said in verse five. Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we don't know where you're going, and how can we know the way? What are you talking about?"

I mean, I think half the time the disciples were like, "What are you saying to us? You're talking all this gibberish and stories and parables." And he flat out says this: "Lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way?" And Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

Philip said to Him, "Well, Lord, show us the Father and it's sufficient for us. Well, if you'll show us Him, we'll believe everything." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long and yet you've not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, and how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I don't speak of my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works."

"Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else just believe me for the sake of the works themselves." If you can't figure that out, just look what I can do. "If I'm not God in a man, how could I do all these miracles, Philip?" And trying to explain to them who He was. God is not going to ditch us, He's not going to leave us here.

You make it home here in terms of the family, the relationship, the body of Christ that we have, this oneness, this fellowship together. But guys, this is not all there is. There is a day coming when the trumpet will sound, He will descend from heaven with a shout, and we are out of here.

And this God who gave His only Son has prepared a place for me and for you, and I am going to make it home sooner or later. Thank God we don't live 700, 800 years. I just can't imagine that. See, some people, believe it or not, and I have to—I try to stay talking to people. And sometimes preachers get so trapped in church stuff and studying and just the minutiae of church that you don't even get near sheep anymore.

I try to talk to people, and you'd be amazed at how many people, the bottom line for a lot of people is they are scared to death of death. What if you woke up every day and lived your whole day wondering, "If I died and there is a God and there is a heaven, there is a hell, I don't know where I'd be, and I'm going to try my best today to do my best because if I do die today, I hope I make it"?

And it's all hope, hope, hope, hope. And there is no assurance of anything. I mean, what a nightmare way to live. I have moments of fear like that, just reality check. But what if you got on a plane and you were terrified that if it did crash, it's hell forever if any of this is true? That's a hell of a way to live, guys.

Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse one. And I love these words that are in the Scripture. Verse one, he says, "For we know." Not what do you think, what do you hope is true? What do you know? And sometimes I think people misunderstand this conversation and I say to people, "Look, I'm not trying to be cocky, I'm not trying to be arrogant or proud or something, but I'm telling you, if I drop dead right now, I'll be in heaven so fast you can't imagine."

It has nothing to do with who I am or what I have done or that I deserve it or that God owes me something. Somebody explained to me one day in my life that Jesus is God in a man, that He loved me so much that He was willing to lay His life down and shed His blood to forgive me of my sin, to offer me forgiveness of sins and eternal life, and it's a gift. And I reached out the hands of my heart and I said, "God, I will never deserve this, but I accept the gift. Come live in me and through me and change me."

And just like that, the God of the universe came to live in me and filled me and changed me. Now, if I die, where am I going? Straight to heaven. You say, "Well, how do you know that?" Because if I don't, the whole stinking Bible's at stake. The character of God, the word of God. Because He has to do what He said He would do. I trusted Him, He gave me what He said He would give me, and I know that. The confirmation of that is in me.

So we can know certain things. Verse one: "For we know that if our earthly house, this body, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Go home. If this is where you're supposed to be, make this home. If you know Christ and the relationship with Him basically sucks and you don't know what to do about it, I'm telling you right now, don't wait till later today, go home right now in your heart.

And if you don't know God at all and you're terrified to get in a plane or even move because you're afraid your heart will stop or you won't breathe and you'll be lost forever, it's literally in your mouth, it's on the tip of your tongue. If you confess with your mouth that He is the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, the Bible says you'll be saved.

It's a simple prayer away. "God, I know I'm a sinner, I need your forgiveness. I don't want to live anymore without you. I don't want to die without you. You got to come get me, God. I accept the forgiveness of my sins. I ask you to come live in me and through me. I accept this gift of eternal life. I know I'm going to live forever with you, God, but I need a life, abundant life between here and heaven."

"You got to show me how to live this, how to listen, how to obey, and not run away from home anymore. I'm here to stay. Help me stay."

Guest (Male): Before Richard comes back to wrap things up for us today, I'd like to share a couple important things with you. Let me encourage you to take a minute and check out our website, richardellistalks.com. You'll find today's talk right there in the talks page along with all of Richard's audio and video messages. You can even forward them to a friend so they can hear them too.

You'll also find the prayer wall to add your prayer requests, a link so you can connect with us, the contribute page for you to be able to give to this ministry, all of our social media links, and much more. So check it out, richardellistalks.com. And Richard's back now to wrap up today's talk.

Richard Ellis: Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this time that we have together, for these people, for this amazing process that you're so intricately involved with, Lord, in our lives. Lord, there are still daddies and mamas and brothers and sisters and coworkers and neighbors and friends that we've known for a long time that don't know you. They don't get it, God, they don't see it.

And the only way they're going to get it is maybe for you to break them, Lord, like you've broken us. And if they're going to get a glimpse of you, God, they're going to have to get it through us individually or us as a church, the body of Christ at work. Father, use us as you see fit, however far out of the way you have to take us, whether it's to some other country or to the person that lives next door to us.

Father, make our lives count. And I pray for those that are making it home right now. Thank you that you don't wait for us to get to the house, Lord, you come running down, throw your arms around our neck, and let us know that we're your children. We thank you, we praise you, Father, we love you. We can't imagine, there's no way we could do it without you. And we pray it all in Jesus' name who makes it possible. Amen.

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