Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Why do people run away from quote-unquote church? Because it symbolizes them in a lot of ways the presence of God and what he has spoken to them. And when they come back finally to quote-unquote church to God, you know why they come back? Because they've run out of places to run out to and they come back and say, "Okay, God." And I've said this many times, you've got to say uncle before you can say Father.

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. And 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, richardellis.com. In fact, you can find all of Richard's talks right there waiting just for you: richardellis.com. So with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is "Another Chance," and I want you to turn to a book, a little book in the Old Testament by the name of Jonah. I'm going to try to do something, and it's to kind of look at the whole book in a way but point out some key verses. There are people in this room, and there are people under the sound of my voice who simply need another chance.

if we went around the room, we're basically a bunch of screw-ups. You say, "Well, you can speak for yourself." No, I can speak for all of us because I know most of the people in the room, and we're basically screw-ups. You say, "Well, you don't know me well enough to say that." I know enough about people and about what the truth is to know the Bible says that all have screwed up and come short of what God demands, and that's perfection. Unless you're perfect, you're a screw-up, and you're in trouble.

And if you have screwed up, you're probably going to screw up again, and you're going to need another chance. And one of the things that the devil will beat you up with and the enemy will just harass you with is that if you track your life and if I followed you, you followed me for a week and you went day after day, sooner than later, if I could observe everything you think, everything you do, everything you say, you know what I'd discover? A screw-up pattern.

I'd be able to tell you within a matter of a number of days what your deal is, and you'd be able to know mine, right? Because we have these things and we commit these sins or we go down the tubes, and you know what the devil says? "Why are you going to go back to God? You've been doing this for 20, 30, however many years. Why would he give you another chance? Don't you feel stupid going back to God over and over again? You do this thing, you confess it. You do this thing, you confess it."

"Nothing's changed in your life. Why don't you just give up? Why don't you just lay down? Why don't you just quit and live with whatever this thing is you have to live with and make the best of it? Because you're not going to get over it, you're not going to stop it." Here's one of the biggest lies on the planet. Somebody tell you this, if you're a Christian, this is one of the biggest lies on the planet: You're only human.

Let me tell you something, I am not only human. If you have the God of the universe living in you in the person of the Holy Spirit, you are not only human. You have power that is greater in you than the power that is in the world. You do not have to sin. There's no verse in the Bible that you can show me that will tell me that you have to sin.

Nobody in this room is under any quota system whereby the end of the day today you have to sin so many times or you're going to miss your quota. And the Bible says that when you sin, it's that you're drawn away of your own lust and enticed. You suck yourself right in. The devil can dangle the carrot, but it doesn't mean you have to eat it.

So we have these patterns. We have these things that over and over, and the devil says, "Just don't go back to God. You're abusing this mercy. You're abusing his grace. He's going to get tired of you coming back." Let me tell you something, he never gets tired of looking down the road at his kids coming home. And there are things I understand now as a parent, and I guess I'll understand even more the older my girls get.

There are things that from a parent's perspective, you never stop looking down the road. There are people out here telling parents, "Oh, that kid, you ought to write him off, you ought to do this and that." You say, "That may be what you would do, but it's not your kid." And when you are a child of God and you belong to him, and he has paid the ultimate price in giving his own son to purchase your life and to know you and have a relationship with him, you just don't turn those kids away. I am very thankful today for a God of another chance.

And one of the tremendous things, and the reason I go back and forth from the Old and the New Testament, is I want you to read this book and discover it's a book about screwed-up people that God used to accomplish unbelievable things. And the whole story is here, and the one we're going to look at today briefly is about a major screw-up, a guy who just completely went the other direction, the wrong direction, and God turned around and he came back the other way.

Now look at Jonah chapter one, and let's look at verse one, and I'll tell you briefly—I don't want to give too much background here just for the sake of getting to the message in the book. But this story is about a guy who God sends to a city called Nineveh. It's about a three—it would take you about three days, according to the scriptures, to get across this town if you were walking. It is a huge metropolitan city. You would calculate the size of it by just taking three days to get across.

But let's look at verse one. "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying..." Now here's what God said to Jonah: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me." God said, "Jonah, do this. Here is precisely what you're supposed to do." When God tells you to do something and you want him to do something, you do what you're supposed to do. God honors obedience.

Do what you're supposed to do. And some of you in this room, God has said specific things to about who to marry, not marry, what job to take or not take, relationships, sexual stuff you're involved in, all this kind of stuff. And he said explicitly to you, "Go here, don't go here, do this, don't do that." And you've ignored it. And you wonder why you have problems. Now, I'm going to read you what happened to this guy. Now, it's all great until chapter one verse three.

Because God speaks to Jonah, and Jonah hears God speak, and what does Jonah do? Verse three: "But Jonah arose to flee." He got up and ran. You know what I encounter in myself and the people I deal with? People who are running completely the opposite direction. You say you're going to start a Bible study in your apartment complex, you know why people freak out? They want to know what the truth is, but they don't want to do the truth, but they really do want to do the truth, they just don't know how to do it.

And you've got to be patient with people. There are people I know right now that for over a year, some of them beyond that, I've been talking to. Every time I see them, I just keep loving them, I keep encouraging them. You know why? Because sooner or later, they're going to run out of places to run out to, and they're going to hit a dead-end road that's going to all fall apart, and they're going to need somebody to say, "How about another chance? I know a God that'll take you back."

"Now, whatever he told you to do, let's pick up where you left off and let's do the right thing." Not that there aren't consequences from the run, from getting away from God, from the sin, but let's pick up and do the right thing. "But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." He went down—I'm talking immediately. God spoke, and you know what we do? We either obey or we hook him. We start running.

God says do this, and we go completely the other direction. He fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and I think that is an unbelievable phrase, and as long as I've been reading this thing, this hit me different this week. What is he running away from? It's not just from what God says, it is from the presence of God. There is something about hearing God's voice—one reason people don't do these church gathering kind of things is because things happen in here sometimes.

God shows up and he speaks to your heart, and you feel like you're literally in the presence of God. You know why? Because you are literally in the presence of God. He says where two or three are gathered in his name, he'll be there. So he's here. And you get in his presence, and when people leave church—now, nobody'll leave for sure, but—when you get up and leave, some people literally want to get away from the gathering, from this place, this thing where the presence of God is because they heard things, they felt things, they saw things, they read things.

They said, "Oh my God," literally, "Oh my God, this is what he wants me to do. I don't want to do this." So they flee. Why do people run away from quote-unquote church? Because it symbolizes them in a lot of ways the presence of God and what he has spoken to them. And when they come back finally to quote-unquote church to God, you know why they come back? Because they've run out of places to run out to and they come back and say, "Okay, God."

And I've said this many times, you've got to say uncle before you can say Father. You've got to say, "I yield. I give up. I've got nowhere else to go. I'm back, God." And you pick up where you left off and you obey what he said to do. Now guys, in some ways I'm reading you a story, but I am begging with you, as I do week after week here: Stop running. There are people in relationships that I talk to.

They're sleeping together, they're living together, whatever they're doing, and they say, "Well, it's okay." Let me tell you something, it's not okay. I don't care what Cosmo and Glamour and everybody else in the world tells you, you're never going to feel better about your relationship until you do the right thing. And you're not going to get answers about getting married or not married. Some of you are doing unethical stuff at work. It's not going to change until you obey him.

Do the right thing because you don't just affect your life, you affect everybody's life around you that you touch when you're not obeying. Now let's keep reading. He goes to Tarshish, verse three, to get away from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Bought a ticket, "I'm out of here. Get me as far away from God and Nineveh as I possibly can get, because I don't want to do what God's telling me to do."

But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his god and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone into the lowest part of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him and said to him, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish."

And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. He's the problem. Then they said to him, "Please tell us, for whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" So he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord God because he told them. I don't want to get too far off on this. Let me tell you something, there are people out there who are Christians who are in offices, that are in businesses, that are in all kinds of situations that end up in a bar somewhere, end up in a drug crack house, wherever they end up, and they're believers.

And there they sit and they say they fear God who made heaven and earth, but there they are, completely upside down in some lifestyle. And the people around them are crying out to their god, "Somebody help me." You know, they're screaming, praying, or whatever, "Somebody do something." And they don't get it why these people—and I've got friends who are believers who, whether it's drugs, whatever your deal is, who can talk about God, can witness and be high as a kite, and yet their lives be completely upside down.

It's possible, I've seen it. And you know what? It's possible because you've done it. Because you've had—maybe not high, maybe it's not drugs, but you've had something going on in your life that you and God knew was wrong, but yet you're still talking the talk. You're still jumping through the hoops, you're doing the God thing. But inside, things are not working. Here this guy is in this boat, and these guys are saying, "Why have you done this to us?" Verse 11.

"Then they said to him, 'What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?'" They're trying to figure out something to do to Jonah. For the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that this great tempest is because of me." You do not sin in a vacuum. Guys, listen to me.

If you are screwing your life up and you think, "Well, it's nobody's problem and nobody's business but mine," you are not sinning in a vacuum. You are affecting other people's lives. It is impossible not to. You're not going to get away with it, and the people around you are going down because of it. You take a husband who's involved in extramarital stuff, he ain't doing it by himself. He's got wife, children, family, stuff going to be devastated because of it.

You think you're doing drugs by yourself? You're not. You think you're stealing money by yourself? You're not. And if we went around the room and you kind of shared what your deal is and what you're going through, guys, you're not doing it by yourself. And people's lives, it is a domino effect. And he says to them, "Look, the only way this storm's going to stop is if you throw me in the sea." And I know there's people in all of our lives we'd like to throw in the sea, but that's not part of our deal today.

"I know that this great tempest is because of me." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to return to land. They're like, "No, we can't do that." But they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, "We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. Now verse 17 says, "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." Let me tell you something, I could go into this deal and explain to you—people have this thing, it's allegory and it's just the—let me tell you something, Jonah got swallowed by a fish.

And if you've got trouble with that, then you're going to have trouble with the whole book. If God can create the universe and keep the planets all in orbit and all—what's up with this being swallowed by a fish thing? It either happened or it didn't. I believe it happened. If you go over in Matthew and some other places in the New Testament, Jesus uses what happened to Jonah and says, "As Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, so the Son of Man will be." He's using, he's quoting this Jonah story about Jonah being literally in this place.

So Jonah gets swallowed by this fish. Guys, he got saved, but it was not any fun. And I don't want to get into the intestinal consequences of a big fish swallowing you, but it is not where you want to be. It ain't a lifeboat. It is a life fish, but it is not a lifeboat. And Jonah is in this fish, and his life is going to be preserved, but I am sure he did some thinking. Because even if you have been swallowed by a fish and you're temporarily alive, you don't know what's going to happen.

Now, I want you to look down if you've got a Bible, and I want you to do something with me. I want you to read it, but I want you to read it. Don't read it for Jonah, read it for you. Now Jonah has disobeyed, he's been thrown in the sea, he's been swallowed by a fish. Things are turning around, but he's not seen any daylight yet, literally. "I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me."

"Out of the belly of Sheol I cried," to the place of death, "I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All your billows and your waves passed over me. Then I said, 'I have been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' The waters surrounded me even to my soul, the deep closed around me, weeds were wrapped around my head."

Guys, this isn't allegory. This is a guy in a fish's stomach with weeds and seaweed junk wrapped around him. "I went down to the moorings of the mountains," down into the mountains under the water. "The earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet you have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer went up to you, into your holy temple."

"Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord." He repented. He changed his mind. He said what I've been doing is wrong. God has saved me, has preserved my life, and he turns. He makes a decision to turn.

Now look what happens in verse 10. "So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." It still doesn't sound very good up to this point. I've been vomited on; I don't want to be vomited. So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Now guys, listen very close to chapter three, verse one. Because it says this. Well, flip over to chapter one, verse one.

Remember what it says? "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah..." Look at 3:1: "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time." That's the kind of God you've got. Where there is life, there is hope. You say, "But I'm a screw-up." Yeah, I know it. I may not know it, but I'm going to tell you he does. And you know what? He still loves you. He still got a plan, and his plan doesn't change necessarily, and it's you who've got to decide to live and work his plan or your plan.

And some people cry out—you hear them say, "Well, why would God do this to me?" Let me tell you something, there are things that happen to people, there are things that God allows, but there's a lot of stuff we bring on ourselves. Don't go wagging your finger at God going, "God, why have you done this to me?" A lot of this "Why have you done this to me" stuff is you ought to be saying, "God, I understand I'm going to take responsibility. Why have I done this to me? Thank you that it's not worse than it is and that there's not more consequence than there is."

"This was my decision, my choice. I ran, I changed my mind, I make a decision. Whatever the consequence, God, it is better to go your way and suffer some consequence than to keep going the way I was going." Now let me—I don't know if it's good or bad news. If you're not ready to turn and you're not ready to be thrown into the ocean, you're going to keep running and keep running. It's going to get worse.

It's going to get worse. And if you hadn't had enough, you will get enough. And God wins or you die. That's the options. God wins or time runs out and you die. God is going to win. And all your kicking and screaming and fighting and doing your thing haven't gotten you anywhere this far. Why is it going to change then? Shut it down and say, "God, enough is enough. I don't have many more years, if any more years. This week could be your last one."

"I'm going to do the right thing today. I'm going to obey you. I'm going to trust you. I'm going to do the right thing." The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying—now what did he say? The same thing. "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went. How different is 3:3 than 1:3?

1:3 says, "But Jonah arose to flee." 3:3 says Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. He obeyed. You know what I'm asking you to do today? I'm asking you to obey. You say, "What are you asking me to obey?" You know exactly what it is I'm asking you to obey because you know. If you're running, you know exactly what it is. The message didn't change: "Jonah, go where you're supposed to go."

Now the issue is, are you going to keep running or are you going to stop and say, "You know what, God? You're right, I'm wrong. I choose to obey. I'm going to do what you're saying." Now I've said this before, and I'll say this as long as you hear me: There's nothing at stake here—or the primary thing here at stake selfishly—nothing but your life. I mean, if you think you're going to come back as a cockroach or something that's going to get any better, good luck. This is it, guys.

The Bible says that it's appointed unto man once to die—once—and after that the judgment. That says to me, you die once. This is it. So whatever you're going to do with this life, you're either going to live it your way, running away, or you're going to live it God's way where he makes a way and shows you what his plans are and you do them. So he arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk, then he cried out and said, "Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." He warns Nineveh. And if you keep reading the story, people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. Even the king repented, and Nineveh repents, the whole city's changed.

Let me tell you what I believe, and this is not just about this story. I believe an entire city like this can repent. I believe an entire nation—I believe the planet can repent. You know why? Because Jesus died for the whole planet. He died for everybody. Now, what is our job? It's not just to say the words; it's to live the words. Don't go out here just saying words; live the words. You can touch people's ears with words, but you touch their life with his life in and through you.

And no amount of promotion, no amount of advertising is going to change the world unless there are people whose lives have been personally changed who are obeying and then seeing the results of that, and somebody else seeing the results of that and saying, "You know what? You've got something I don't have. I want what you've got. Explain it to me, show me. How do I get this? How does my life change?"

An entire nation is changed because somebody stands up for the truth. And you're not going to get politically correct anything out of me. If it says it, that's what I'm going to say. And if you don't like it, I didn't write it, I just work here. And you shouldn't back off of that with anybody else you talk to. People say, "Well, what about this?" You say, "All I know is what God said to do, and every time I have disobeyed God, I have screwed my life up."

"I'm tired of disobeying God." You speak the truth in love and you keep moving. And you challenge people to live by the truth, because nothing else is going to make them free anyway. And if you keep reading this story, an entire city is turned around. God spares this city and—to prove that the Bible is really true—if you read the last chapter, he screws up again. The book ends with Jonah complaining and screwing—you know, just a complete idiot.

Goes to it again. I think it turned around again after that—we don't have the rest of the story—but here is the truth of this. You do get another chance. If you are breathing and you are alive, there is hope, and I'm begging you to take your second, third, fourth, 5,000th chance—how many of this is—and do something with it. And don't look this God in the face and say, "There's no hope for me." If you're breathing, there's hope. If there's life, there's hope. Do the right thing with the chance that you've been given.

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, richardellis.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 richardellis.com. And now, let's get back to Richard with a final word on today's show.

Richard Ellis: All right, let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for again this time, this place, these people, and your word. And I thank you for screw-ups like Jonah, who give such hope to us, Father. And I thank you for the people in this room that you have spoken specifically to today. And the awesome yet ominous truth is that there are people in this room who are hearing you speak something specifically to them, and they will either obey or they will flee from your presence this day.

Father, there are people under the sound of my voice who are being confronted with a choice of heaven or hell, eternity with you or separated from you. And somehow they know it's real—more real than anything they've ever heard or experienced. And they know that they've got to make a decision. They've got to pick a lane. They're at a fork in the road.

I pray today that people would understand, maybe for the first time, that you love us, God. You gave your Son to prove that. That he purchased a place for us in heaven that he offers as an absolute free gift and that we can't pay for it. All we can do is reach out the hands of our hearts and say, "Father, I have sinned. I am a screw-up, and I need your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died for me to pay my way. I don't deserve it, but I need it, and I receive this awesome gift of eternal life that you offer so freely to me and to anyone who will come to you."

Again, we love you, God. We thank you so much for loving us. We thank you for what you've done in a time and a place like this and pray it in Jesus' name, who makes it possible. Amen.

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. You can also share your story with us at our website, richardellis.com.

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