Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: So where do our hearts go? They’re not on fire anymore. Lukewarm at best sometimes. Or with men especially, if you’re not on fire for Jesus, there’s a good chance you’re on fire for something else. There’s fire somewhere, and it’s a consuming kind of fire, and then you’re in trouble.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Thanks 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, richardellis.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 "Fire Men." Obviously, there are fire women as well, but I actually remember being a kid—and maybe you did this as well—they’d have you draw pictures of what you wanted to be one day. It was either a policeman or a fireman. I think little did I know what that involved when I was a kid. We talk sometimes about back in the blue, but firemen are interesting animals, interesting people.

Anybody that signs up and takes the test and the whole reason is to go fight fires, that’s pretty intense. Literally running into a fire to either save property or people, endangering their own lives many times. So I appreciate so much the people that I hope I never need.

There’s another kind of "firemen." I’ve shared this along the way. I don't know if I'd have been more dangerous, but when you raise three daughters, you find out things about women way too late. There’s a phrase about a person, and you’ve maybe heard this phrase, someone may say, "Man, he is just fire" or "She is just fire," just literally on fire. Do you know what that means? Fire.

If you think about yourself spiritually, is that a word that would be used to describe you? He, she, man, they are just fire. On fire for God, would run into a house, just who this person is. Who are these firemen and women? We are talking about men today. I’d like to start in 1 Kings chapter 18.

I don’t know if you go back and read the Old Testament. I’ve actually heard pastors just say, "Well, that’s the Old Testament, totally ignore it and only preach out of the New Testament." I don’t know what they’re thinking because you find out who God is so much of the time in the Old Testament and what He has capacity for physically, not just spiritual battles but physical battles and things that happened.

Elijah, and I’m not going to go read every—it would take a while to get all this, but Elijah prays that it’s not going to rain, and it doesn't rain for three-plus years, and the nation’s in trouble. Finally at the end of this period, 1 Kings 18:1: "And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.'"

Let me give you a little bit of a clue as to the best way to pray. Let God tell you what to do and then ask Him to do it. What does that mean? Don’t be jumping out somewhere. The safest place to start when you’re praying is, "You know what, Lord, before I even get started, what do You want? I could tell You, and You already know what I think I want, but I don’t want what I want anymore; I want what You want. So what do You want, and then I’m going to ask for that, and this is all going to be fine."

A lot of times we are pounding on the door of heaven asking Him for things He does not intend to give us, and sometimes He answers our prayers and we wish He hadn't. I think of men and women who beat the door down of heaven and say, "God, give me this man, give me this woman, I want to marry this person." He says—not that He would say this, but—"Okay, there you go. And now you don’t want that person. I thought that was the person you begged God for."

Elijah goes to Ahab, and God’s already told him, "I’m going to send rain on the earth." But before this happens, Elijah goes and there’s a throwdown showdown with all these prophets. 1 Kings 18:14: "And now you say, 'Go tell your master, Elijah is here.' He will kill me." Then Elijah said, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today." So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is that you, O troubler of Israel?"

He answered, "I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals," in other words, these gods. "Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel. Tell everybody to meet at Mount Carmel. The 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table." Do not name your daughter Jezebel. I don’t care who tells you it’s in the Bible, don’t name your kid Jezebel.

Ahab sent for all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. Elijah came to all the people and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." And then look at the end of verse 21: "And the people answered him not a word." That’s a problem. That’s lukewarm. That’s not fire. That’s, "Well, we’re afraid to say one or the other, so we’re going to say nothing." You cannot live the rest of your life that way.

If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him. The people answered him not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, "I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are 450 men." I’m outnumbered 1 to 450. "Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood and put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire under it."

"Call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the Lord God who answers by fire, He is God." All the people answered and said, "It’s well spoken. We’re in. Sounds good." Let me just ask you a quick question: What has your god provided you recently? What do you mean? God’s my God. If He were your God, you'd go back up there and you'd be following His commandments and what He says. You must have found somebody better. When you call out to him, what does he deliver? Chaos, pain, suffering. That’s what the enemy delivers.

You say, "I’m not worshipping the devil." Then what are we doing? They all agree. Verse 25: "Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one bull for yourselves, prepare it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.'" So they took the bull which was given to them and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, "O Baal, hear us!" But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped upon the altar which they had made. At noon, Elijah mocked them and said—now this is high noon, these 450 of them going crazy trying to get Baal to do something.

He mocks them and says, "Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, maybe he took a trip, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they cried aloud and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them. When midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." All the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Elijah took 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Israel shall be your name." Then with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood and said, "Fill four waterpots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood." In other words, this isn't good enough; I need it wet.

He said, "Do it a second time," and they did it a second time; and he said, "Do it a third time," and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said—no cutting, no jumping around on the altar—comes near and says, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word."

"Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood—look at this—and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. That’s a "fireman" right there. How did he do that? He trusted God.

How does that apply to my life? What was God after? Look at the last phrase up there in verse 37: "And that You have turned their hearts back to You again." Where do our hearts go? They’re not on fire anymore. Lukewarm at best sometimes. Or with men especially, if you’re not on fire for Jesus, there’s a good chance you’re on fire for something else. There’s fire somewhere, and it’s a consuming kind of fire, and then you’re in trouble. Passions of the flesh, whatever it may be, then you’ve got a problem.

Keep reading this story. The fire consumes everything. Verse 39: "Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, 'The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!'" They wouldn't say anything a minute ago, but then fire falls. What is it going to take for us to say, "The Lord, He is God"? What do you have to see? What’s got to happen? Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain." Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. He bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees and he said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked and he said, "There is nothing." And seven times he said, "Go again." Then it came to pass the seventh time that he said, "There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!" So he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.'" It’s about to rain so much your chariot won’t make it through.

You say, "Well, that’s Old Testament, that’s some prophet." Let me tell you about New Testament. The way I read scripture, the God who created the entire universe when I was six years old and prayed a simple prayer, moved into this physical body and He has not left me yet. I do not have God with me; I have God in me. What does that make possible? You walk into a room, there’s light. It can be a dark room. You walk in, you are the light of the world, the scripture says, unless we’ve hidden it under some kind of basket trying to mask it and hide it.

What is possible? I’m speaking of these things and I’m telling you I’m going to have to give an account for this one day when I’m going to meet Jesus. I think there is way more possible than even I know about, and I’m probably going to get to heaven and He’s going to go, "Okay, so what was so hard about asking, knocking, seeking, and all this stuff I wrote down? And you preached up to this edge, but you didn't keep going. You were afraid, you didn't want to mislead someone. But dude, I’m God. Why didn't you ask? Just take a shot."

Go to Daniel chapter 3. These are great stories. I’m reading you stories about the same God that lives in me. It’s not a different God. Same God, same name, lives in me. This background on this one is they’re trying to trap Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, get the king—he builds this big idol, everybody’s got to bow, they crank the music up, and if you don’t bow, you get thrown in a fiery furnace. Daniel chapter 3, go down to verse 16.

They get caught not bowing, and you know by the way that’s what you want to have happen. Get caught not bowing. The world says, "Well, this is what you’re supposed to do," and you say, "I’m out. I’m not bowing to that. I am not doing that." Daniel 3:16: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case—you’re going to throw us in a fiery furnace—okay, if that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace.'"

"He can deliver us from the fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king." In other words, either we’re about to be delivered from the fiery furnace or from you, but one of those two things is going to happen. If we get delivered from you, we’ll be with God; we’ll be dead, but either way, you’re not in control. "But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." Say that to your country, say that to your politics, say that to your wokeness. We’re not doing it. And what our culture says, "Oh, this is what everybody’s doing." Stop doing what everybody’s doing. Get you a verse to back up what you’re doing.

We’re out. We’re not going to serve your gods, we’re not going to worship the gold image you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression of his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. He commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind—it gets very important, to bind—tie them up, to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.

Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They died throwing them in the fire. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose—he gets up off his throne. He’s close enough to the fire to see what’s going on obviously.

He rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" "We threw three in, right?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." "Look!" he answered, "I see four men"—and this is a big piece of the story, and I love this word—"I see four men loose." Now there’s a word. You got three guys thrown in a fiery furnace, kills the guys throwing them in, and the three guys—there’s four guys now, and they’re all loose.

Who untied them? Pretty nice when Jesus shows up and unties you in the fire. Pretty nice. Get you some of that. "Lord, I’m in trouble. I’m all tied up with this sin or whatever this situation is." He goes, "I’m here, and I’m not just with you anymore; I’m in you now. Old Testament I was with you, I could be on someone, the Holy Spirit, but now I’m in you, I’m about to untie you. I’m with you, I’m in you, this is going to be okay. I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire." Now where are they going? "Oh, let’s walk around in the fire."

And they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. You got a fire so hot it’s killing people throwing people in, and somehow you can see the fourth new person because they are like the Son of God, meaning you can see him brighter than the fire. Has Jesus ever shown up in your fire? I’ve got a buddy in the room today. His little girl was born. They did what was supposed to be a simple procedure. The new doc doing it used an adult needle instead of a child’s needle and almost killed her.

She’s 36 today. Never was the same. Healthy little girl, everything fine. You say, "Well, where’s God when that happens?" Same place. Why does God let these things happen? I don’t know, ask Him. "I don’t want to talk to Him; I’m angry." What are you going to do? What did he do? He and his wife. You finally get to a place and you’ve only got a few options. You either kill yourself, you curse God and just wait to die, just be bitter and angry, or you do what scripture says and say, "Okay, I don’t get this, but no matter what, I will trust You and I will thank You, and let’s see what You bring from this."

You say, "I’m not interested in that." Let me tell you something about becoming a Christian. You signed up for the package, the whole thing. You say, "I did not sign up for that kind of suffering." Yes, you did. You say, "Well, I don’t want that kind of suffering." It’s not your choice. Now I can tell you this: my friend in this room and his wife would not be the same people if it would not have been for what God allowed to their little girl. I don’t understand it.

There’s unspeakable tragedy in people’s lives. But you have to help them get to Jesus, get Jesus, and then hold onto Jesus. One of the best ways to do that is show them how you got to Jesus, that you got Jesus, and you’re holding onto Jesus. And they say, "Well, I know a little bit about you and what you’re going through and what you’ve gone through. If He can sustain you, I’m going to have to let Him sustain me or I’m not going to make it."

All right, let’s shut it down with Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6. First part of this: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." You want things to go better and live a long time? The first commandment in the Old Testament that has a promise attached to it is what? Honor your father and mother. Verse 4: "And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."

Are you doing that as a dad? Are you provoking your children? Let me tell you a simple way to provoke your kids: tell them not to do something that you do. That’s pretty simple. It'll make them crazy. "So I can’t do it but you can?" Then he gets into verse 10: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Take up the whole armor of God—so get all suited up, the whole armor of God—that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. What does that mean? You suit up, the evil day comes, you get hit with it, and you remain standing. It will not take you out. You say, "Well, what does the evil day mean?" I don’t know, but some evil days have come for me and there’s more coming. Somebody wants me dead. Why does a devil want me dead? You know why? I am a problem and I intend to continue to be a problem.

That’s why. Because I know that that’s why I am still here. Why are you still here? Here’s a crazy thing to ask yourself: does the devil really need you dead? Or are you not really a problem in the first place? "Oh, don’t be wasting demons on them, we got that. That guy’s so asleep he don’t know what’s going on. Let’s smoke a little more weed and wait till Jesus comes. Get you some Janis Joplin and pass the time away." That’s it? What if you put it in gear and now all of a sudden you’re getting shot at again? I can tell you something, it ain't a bad way to live.

And if they’re not shooting at you, you’re probably not over the target. Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore. By the way, you have to get up first. You can’t stand unless you get up. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Verse 16 starts with this: "Above all." What does that mean? All these other things are important. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Where’s your shield of faith? Now let me tell you something about hell and demons. They don’t miss. They’re all sharpshooters; they don’t miss. Okay? If you’re getting shot at, you know what they’re going to do?

They are going to hit you every time unless there is something between you and them. And what is that? A shield of faith that is a fire dart extinguisher. Not only does it block you—these shields, Roman shields were the size of a door, and if you got that door between you and your enemy, you had protection—but this spiritual shield is a shield that when the fiery dart hits the shield, it doesn't burn the shield; the shield is designed to put out the fiery dart.

It’s over. Now you got a shield, if you lay it down, go, "Whoa, that was a day. Look at all those fiery darts," or put out fiery darts. You say, "They’re shooting at me, and it’s never going to stop." Either the fiery darts hit your shield and they get put out, or they hit you and take you out. You say, "I’m a Christian, you can’t take me out." Oh, yeah, he can. He can’t get you into hell, but he can steal, kill, and destroy. You say, "Well, I don’t have much faith." Then welcome to the firestorm. Get your shield up.

"Above all, take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me." Now listen to how he closes this: "And for me." Paul’s saying, "Pray for me. That utterance may be given to me"—so I want opportunity to speak—"that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel."

Now this is Paul, writing scripture, writing these letters, and he’s asking for prayer for boldness. Who needs boldness? What in the world is Paul praying for boldness? Because we all need boldness. I don’t care who you are because the devil will try to shut you down. "I’m tired, not today, Lord, somebody else will get to them." Boldness to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.

I don't know, I'll probably run everybody off you're like, "Well, good for you, dude, we’re not doing this." Well, then I’m going to keep preaching to people who are interested in this. That’s what I’m here for. I get it, you don’t want to hear this anymore. I don’t say this casually. Go somewhere else. I am not interested in babysitting people who don’t want to fight. "Oh, I like your sermons." Do something with them. Live it. Get in the war.

The firemen that we are supposed to be, I am supposed to be a spiritual arsonist. That’s what I’m supposed to be. I’m supposed to be setting the world on fire everywhere I go, and you could be too. You just got to pick. The Lord, He is God. And we will obey, and we will follow His commands, and we’ll trust Him and we’ll serve Him. And there’s just no telling what can happen. We could take the planet if we would just get out of the way.

Guest (Male): This has been Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. The message of the gospel is one we take very seriously in our mission to reach the planet. And you have a vital part of doing that along with us. If you’ve been encouraged by these talks with Richard, be sure to tell someone about the change they’ve made in your life. You can even share today’s talk with them through the website, richardellis.com.

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