Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: You say you love God. First John: you say you love God, you don't even love the people you see. If we don't figure it out in some ways with each other, we're going to have a very hard time taking it to Him. But in some ways, if we'd figure it out with Him, you'd be amazed at how easily it flows to everybody else.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's style is unlike anyone else's, where he shares the life-changing message of the gospel in a way that's real, refreshing, focused, and fun. We know that life is pretty challenging these days, but these talks will help you meet those challenges head-on with biblical truth, encouragement, and direction.

Now, if you're not able to stick around with us for all of today's talk, you can always listen to, download, and even share this entire message with a friend right from our website, richardellistalks.com. So let's jump right in with today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is "Birthday Cake." Go to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy 10, and we're going to try to go left to right, and I'm going to read you a bunch of verses and make "Birthday Cake" make sense by the time we're done.

You'd have to go read the context: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. If you've got a Bible, it's near the front. Great stuff, great story. Just a little background here on what happened. Moses had already gone up on the mountain to get the Ten Commandments. He came back, there was a big party going on, and he threw the tablets down in anger.

Long story short, he had to go back up on the mountain, and God made him carve out two tablets for himself. God wrote on them up there anyway, but He made him get his own tablets this time. And so here's where that starts. Deuteronomy 10: "At that time the Lord said to me"—and this is Moses—"'Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.'

"So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up on the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the Lord commanded me."

Now the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah, where Aaron died and where he was buried, and Eleazar his son ministered as priest in his stead. From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and Gudgodah to Jotbathah. Jump to verse 8. Now listen to this, look what happens. "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord." So this ark of the covenant, if you've seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's not that, but they're trying.

This box had this holy stuff in it, and they'd carry this thing around. But the Lord separated this tribe, out of all the 12 tribes, one tribe, Levi, "to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless His name to this day." Their job was to stand before the Lord and minister to Him and bless His name, it said, to this day that Moses is writing this.

Here's the idea. Most of the verses that I go in the Bible and find are "Help me, help me, help me. God, what about me? Something for me. Bless me. Take care of me. What about me? My family, my church." It's about us. Even if it's "us," it's about us. We're in trouble again, God. Bail us out, fix it, heal us, whatever we've got. And He does a lot of stuff. But where is the time and the place where you don't go in for anything but "I am here to minister to You and to bless You"?

My guess is, if you're like me, there's not much time. If you're spending any time at all reading the Scriptures, a lot of people say, "Oh, I'm supposed to read my Bible every day. Somebody told me that." I think that's a good thing to do, I'm not knocking that. But you've got to be careful every day, even if you do it every day, if you do it twice a day, that you don't go reading your Bible just to gather information.

You have to go to it for transformation as a result of applying the information. The goal in the Christian life is not to learn more facts about God, more facts about Jesus, more facts about the church. American Christians especially are notorious for gathering information, but nothing ever seems to change. And the relationship never really warms.

You can go out with a girl, go out with some guy, and sit there and exchange facts all you want and walk away knowing information. But if there's not an exchange of love and, at some point, marriage and intimacy, then you don't know that person. You know things about that person. The goal here is, as Paul said in the New Testament, "I want to know Him." What does that mean?

How many couples do you talk to that say, "Man, when we first met, we'd stay up till 4:00 in the morning just talking"? When's the last time I stayed up till 4:00 in the morning just talking to my wife? Just what's going on, like that initial just burst of "I want to know you. I don't just want to know stuff about you. I want to be with you. I want to know you."

If you ask the average woman, "Tell me how your relationship's going with your husband," or if you're in a relationship with some guy you're dating, men have a way of doing whatever it takes to get what they want. And then once they've got what they want, they move on to the next goal. And that doesn't go over big with women, does it? They still would like to be important. Still would like to be asked, "How am I doing? How am I feeling?" Don't just want these things from me. What's going on? Let's talk some more.

All right, let's keep reading here, back there still in Deuteronomy 10, verse 8. "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless His name to this day. Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him.

"As at the first time, I stayed in the mountain forty days and forty nights; the Lord also heard me at that time, and the Lord chose not to destroy you. Then the Lord said to me, 'Arise, begin your journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.'"

And look at verse 12. "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you?" What is He asking them? "But to fear the Lord your God"—have awe, respect, a good fear of Him—"to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good."

Is that too much? You say, "But I've got other stuff. I'm busy. I've got other things to do, and I've got a world of distractions." I've got to go. This is a simple little list. Fear Him, walk in all His ways, do what He says to do, and love Him. You think, "Well, but you're trying to get all emotional on us." It's got to be there. How often do you look at God or in your prayer time, you look at Him and you say, "Lord, I just love You. I don't want anything. I came in this closet, I came in this little secret space, or driving down the road, and something triggers a thought, and you just out loud, if you're by yourself or with your family, go, 'Lord, man, we really just love You'"?

You tell your wife that? You tell your husband that? "Well, but he doesn't tell me, I'm not telling him anymore." Now, I don't like saying everything I say out loud. I actually had this happen the other day. Things were not great between Rebecca and me at that moment, just some—you know how sometimes you just get stuff in there and you're not talking right, and you've got kids' stuff going on? You're just going at it, and things aren't really smooth.

I'm riding down the road with my wife sitting next to me. And I have the thought that I love her and was going to reach over and grab her hand and just say, "Hey, I love you." And you know what happened? I didn't. I hesitated. And I sat there and drove the car and I didn't say it. And then I thought to myself, "Have you lost your ever-loving mind? What could be so wrong, so awkward, that you cannot reach over there and grab her by the arm and tell her you love her?"

Of course, you've never done anything like this. So I drove a few more feet and took a big deep breath and reached over and grabbed her arm and said, "Hey, I love you." Now, why is that not easy? See, if you can't do it with someone that's breathing, how do you think you're going to take it to God? You say you love God. First John: you say you love God, you don't even love the people you see.

If we don't figure it out in some ways with each other, we're going to have a very hard time taking it to Him. But in some ways, if we'd figure it out with Him, you'd be amazed at how easily it flows to everybody else. Now, this is the stuff. What else matters? You find out that God loves you. Then all of a sudden, you have love for Him, and you can love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, strength. You give Him everything you've got.

And then all of a sudden, you realize that He loves you, you have love for Him, then you go, "Wow, if God can love me, maybe I can love me too." Now I've got love for me. Now I start loving my neighbor the way I love myself. And then all of a sudden, you get so full you start overflowing, and just this relationship with God is working so fluidly that boom, it hits everybody around you. And you're not trying to figure out how to get something back.

God doesn't demand a lot of us. There's a short list there I read. Just fear Him, love Him, do what He says to do. It's simple. Obey. You've got a great relationship. He picked you. You say, "Well, I don't like it. I don't want to talk about that." You know part of the reason you don't want to talk about that? Because you're just like me. You lock up. You can't even tell your husband you love him. "Well, he hasn't told me anything nice in a long time."

How's that working out for you all, clogged up like that? Spiritual constipation or some kind of rotor-rooter. So you cry out to God. You say, "God, what are You doing? And You've got to fix this, and she's that, and he's that, and these kids, and this job, and my life sucks, and I'm tired of all this." You know what? Why don't you just put all that down for a minute and get in that little room somewhere and say, "Look, God, I've got to tell You, I'm really sorry because You and I are supposed to have a relationship, and it's all You taking care of me, which I don't like it when it goes that way in my life"?

"So I tell You what, I've got some stuff to tell You." And then you begin to minister to Him, and you begin to bless Him and to tell Him how amazing He is and to thank Him for being such a great God. I'm going to tell you something, folks. I don't know what you've got going on, but you can't even think about doing that and something not stir inside of you. And then you might get to sing for Him and really express something from the heart with one of the greatest tools that He's ever given us to express love.

Okay, go to Psalm 34. I'm going to give you a couple of Psalms here that you can use. You can use them on Him. Why do men especially buy greeting cards? Have you ever thought about this? Why do we buy cards? You know why? Because we don't know what to say. And so we stand there in those rows of cards, and we keep pulling cards and going, "Oh, we can't send that one because that's not appropriate. No, that's not what I meant." And we look and look and look, and then you open a card and go, "Wow, that's what I'm thinking right there."

And you sign it and you hand it to her. Or when my mom and dad were pretty poor and didn't have a lot of money for that stuff, they'd go together and they'd find cards and exchange them there in the store and then they'd put them back up. Or if you sign it really lightly in pencil, then—we don't know what to say. We don't know what to do. Why do you think this stuff is recorded? Because we don't know, and God knows we don't know.

Until you get in that groove and you've got your own words, and He says, "Okay, I'm going to get one of my guys who knew how to do this to write down the stuff that you're trying to say." So if you don't know what to do, just bring your Bible into our little meeting and read some poems to me. And if you can put music to it, throw some music in there. You say, "This is really squirrely." It's not squirrely. I'll tell you what's squirrely is when you get some macho guy who meets some girl and he can't even button his shirt anymore, he's so nervous.

Because when you fall in love, you're not in control anymore. And you start doing things and saying things that you never would have done. And that's what this is about. Psalm 34. Listen to what he says: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together."

Think about the songs we sing. "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." And you keep reading about how he's praising the Lord. Go to Psalm 103. Let's take a minute on this one. Psalm 103, jump in here at verse 1. "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

Let me tell you something. You can't get out of the closet on that phrase alone. What are the benefits? You want a friend with benefits? Get your relationship with Jesus. "Forget not all His benefits," then he lists some: "Who forgives all your iniquities." I've met some sinners like myself along the way. And you know what? I meet people who are carrying heavy, heavy, heavy loads. Stuff they've done, they're not proud of. Shame, guilt, fear, doubt, all these things on them.

And one day, someone has a little conversation with them and explains to them, they read the Scriptures, however it happens, and they meet Jesus. And He washes them white as snow. That is a benefit. Being clean. And someone comes along and says, "Oh, there's that guy, and I knew her back in the day." You know what? We aren't back in the day anymore. We've got a new day, new life, new me. And whoever that person was you were talking about, I was that person, I am a new creation.

"Forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases." You say, "Well, there it is in the Bible. Why am I still sick?" You get a disease healed, He healed it. Doctors can tinker, they can help, they can find stuff, but you get healed, Jesus heals you. Because all the tools they're using to heal you, He came up with. Nobody's doing anything without God. And the problem is, there are too many people acting like they are and taking the glory for something.

It all goes back to Him. Heals your diseases. "Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses"—we just read about Moses—"His acts to the children of Israel.

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy." You say, "Well, I think God's out to get me." You can't find that in the Bible. If you're not a believer, His wrath will descend upon you. But if you're His child, He is not out to destroy your life any more than I should be about destroying my kids' life. What kind of dad is that? You cannot be pushing all this stuff on God if you don't know Him.

Read about Him. Spend some time with Him and say, "God, well, I thought You were like this, but it says here You're not. So what's the deal?" And He says, "Yeah, that's Me right here. I love you. I'm going to crown you with these things. I'm going to bless you with these things." Merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy. "He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins." None of us have gotten what we deserved. "Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him."

If you ever get it, and I mean it begins to unfold and you go, "Wow, I didn't know this until I was 20-something years old. I did not know He loved me this way. I don't know how I did not understand that He loved me this way." And I don't always do the right thing. I don't grab my wife, I'm proud, stiff-necked. I don't always tell her I love her. I don't do the right thing all the time. But I'll tell you something I know: my God loves me.

And I am trying to do a better job of reaching out and grabbing His hand and telling Him how much I appreciate Him and how much I love Him and how grateful I am to Him for changing my life because it's real. It's real. And you say, "Well, I don't get it like you get it. I don't feel it like you feel it." Then give Him a shot. Don't push Him away.

I would love to be able to drop dead one day or Jesus come back and run into His arms like He's a buddy of mine. Like I've known Him my whole life. And hold Him and tell Him how glad I am to see Him and I've waited so long for this moment. And maybe then figure out what had happened and fall at His feet and go, "I can't believe I'm here. You're amazing, and nobody took better care of me."

Rehearse what you would say to Him if you saw Him, and you'll be okay. Get in a closet somewhere, get down on your hands and knees somewhere, and act like He's right there, because He is. And tell Him how much you love Him, and practice for the real day. The more you practice, the more real it gets, and the more He'll use you out there because you'll get to the point where you can't even talk about Him without falling apart.

You say, "Oh, you're just a real emotional person." Maybe so. Keep reading. "As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." He knows we're just human beings that He's transformed, but we still struggle. "As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

"But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them. The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!"

Don't just go at Him for stuff. Go at Him to bless Him, to minister to Him. I sat with a guy recently who had lived a pretty crazy life, made some mistakes clearly, and had repented and gotten his life really on track, doing the right thing. And his wife—he's still married—and his wife has dementia, and they don't get along, and he's not divorced or he hadn't abandoned her, but it's not good. And she finally moved out and moved in with her father.

And I have permission to tell the story, so don't think I'm just telling stories. And she moved in with her dad. It seems like he'd go over there to try to do something, and whatever he did was wrong and she wasn't really all there necessarily, so it was very awkward, but he's trying to do the right thing and be faithful and not much relationship, but they're married. So you know when you signed the fine print on your contract, sickness and in health, better for worse, you signed something.

You say, "I didn't sign anything." Yeah, you gave your word. That's what you did. You vowed something. It's a big deal. And then this man told me that on a given day, his wife—he went down to see her, and it happened to be his birthday. And he walked into the house and she had remembered and had baked him a birthday cake. And he said it blew him away.

Because when you're in a mode of taking care and loving and that's just your job, you're supposed to be faithful, you keep it coming, it's usually surprising when something actually comes back your way. A simple birthday cake was a massive encouragement. When's the last time you did a little something-something for Jesus, where you tried to surprise Him?

I know it's hard. It's like He knows everything, you can't surprise Him. It's not Christmas time. I'm going to give you a suggestion around Christmas. Start a little family something and bake You a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday. Get your whole family around there somewhere and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. And bring Him some presents.

See, and this sermon's not about money, but I'm going to tell you some of what some of you miss out on. One of the easiest things He ever left us was giving back. And some people come to church and go, "Oh, what the heck. The budget says 10% to God, and I could use this money, and we could pay off this and that, but I'll write the check." It still works, the principles work, but God loves a cheerful giver. You know why? Because it's a whole lot more fun.

Now, if you haven't been giving and you start that, that'd surprise even God right there, if you're looking for a way to surprise Him. But see, money represents a part of who you are. I spend all this time making this money, buying stuff, and I go, "God, you know what? I can't consume all. Here, do something with this. Here, I'm trying to say thank you." We do it with everybody else. We buy presents for people, right? Here, happy birthday.

And you say, "Well, no, no, I'm doing all that." Find some little secret way, some special thing between you and Him where when He sees you do it, He goes, "Ah, that was for Me, wasn't it? Yeah, it was for You. Little something."

Guest (Male): Richard will be back in a moment to wrap up today's talk. But first, I want to share a couple of 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: (Singing) I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You. O my soul, rejoice! Take joy, my King, in what You hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.

Now, in that spirit, you tell me that's not a nice moment on a throne, when your little kid starts singing for you from your heart? He's still going to take care of you. He's still going to feed you. He's still going to clothe you. He's going to protect you. He's going to be God. But for Christ's sake and our sake, somewhere along the way, just sing a little song for Him, bake Him a cake, do something so it doesn't all go one way.

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