Richard Ellis Talks

Announcer: Today on Richard Ellis Talks. If you don't have anywhere to go when you leave here, you're not interested in leaving. That's why people get so attached. They don't want to die because they don't know what's going to happen to them when they die. So let's just hang around here and make the best of it. But the more you read this book and discover what's on the other side, you start getting homesick for the other side.

You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're taking the entire month of September to focus on something that is very important to Richard and I'm sure to you as well. It all centers around the word legacy. How do you want to be remembered? Who has influenced your life in a meaningful way? What would people say about you when you're gone? What's left behind?

Well, we're introducing a brand new exciting feature that will be a place where you can share your story. I'll share more for you at the end of the program. But for now, let's jump right in with today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title today's message is "Dying to See Jesus." I've heard people use this expression on the phone. You get some girl on the phone with a guy, or a guy with a girl. Usually the guy says this, girls don't say this. "I'm just dying to see you." And I think sometimes it's a very extreme way to express something. Are you literally dying? Your heart's about to break? Your heart beats just talking and thinking about them? You're in love with somebody? But if you think about this term, if you want to see somebody so bad that you are literally dying to see them, you want to see them pretty bad.

Now there's a whole another way to take this. I don't know that I have this all the time, but we are no more safe right here than a bunch of kids on a Wednesday night in a building than anybody anywhere. You can't stop it. You can put metal detectors at every door to church and you'll still not be safe because the enemy can do things. I'm going to read you some passages today. People say, "Does God do this? Can God stop it? Does He allow it? How does this work?" Let me tell you something. God has not lost control. The world is not out of control. There are certain things God allows for. But when He allows for disaster and He allows for these things to happen, there is a reason.

It's hard to even describe this, but some of this is about perspective. You see things the way you see things. If you sit where God sits and look down, this whole thing looks considerably different than us sitting here and looking out and looking up. We don't get it. We don't see it. The Bible doesn't just say that God knows everything from the beginning to the end. It says He is the beginning and the end.

Jesus said, "I'm the Alpha and the Omega." That means He's there from the beginning. He already knows the ending. It's a done deal. And He has a plan and a purpose and you are in there somewhere. Nothing is going to surprise God as we've already said today. Nothing's going to shock Him. There's not something happening to you where it's just out of control. He knows what's going on. You say, "But how could God let this happen in my life or these people's lives if He really cares and He's really in control? This is not good."

All things work together for the good to them who know God. Romans 8:28-29. Those who know God and are called according to His purpose. Those who love God and are called according to His purpose. That's not everybody. But people who know God, who love God, and are called according to His purpose, when things happen, they have a faith out of a relationship where they can trust Him and say, "You know what, God? This may not be good, but I know You're the kind of God that takes stuff that's not good and works it together for the good."

But taking prayer out of schools and taking prayer now out of these football games, in a way, is the best thing that ever happened to us. You know why? Because Christians sit in the grandstands and they pray and sing a song, put your hand on your heart, and nobody pays a bit of attention. But you tell me I can't pray and we go ballistic. Take it all out. Tell us we can't read the Bible. This stuff backfires on him because he thinks he's pulling this stuff away and all of a sudden Christians say, "Wait a minute, you can't tell me that. Who are you? You can't stop school and prayers now, guys."

You can pray anywhere you want to pray. That's a great thing about praying. Nobody stops you from praying. It may not be out loud, but you can pray at work, you can pray anywhere. So don't be discouraged by these things. I'm excited because it gets people up in arms and saying, "We're going to pray anyway."

Now, how is it? Let's just dive in here and then I'll give you some scripture on this. How is it that 150 or so teenagers and all our sponsors can be sitting in an auditorium trying to do the right thing, singing songs, praising God, and some crazy man walks in and starts blowing them away and that be a good thing? Is there any way in the world that's a good thing?

Let's start first of all with the victims. All those victims who had a relationship, a personal relationship with the God of the universe, are not interested in coming back and being in that church, this church, anywhere on the planet today. Where they are and what's going on where they are is so sweet and so awesome and so incredible. They're not going to come back. And I'm not saying these things aren't bad. You know who these things are tragic for? For we who get left. And you shouldn't be mad that these things happen because someone left you. You ought to be mad because you got left.

See, we're so attached down here and we're so worldly-minded and all about our careers and our lives and who am I and who's going to know who I am and how much am I going to make? Will I have that house? Will I have that retirement house? Will I drive this car? We are so stuck down here. When somebody gets pulled, we think it's a terrible thing. If they go the right place, they are elated and you wouldn't come back either.

If you don't have anywhere to go when you leave here, you're not interested in leaving. That's why people get so attached. They don't want to die because they don't know what's going to happen to them when they die. So let's just hang around here and make the best of it. But the more you read this book and discover what's on the other side, you start getting homesick for the other side. You start wanting to go.

And I'm not saying you ought to go, "Hey, I'm down here in the front, shoot me. I want out and I'll get a hero's welcome because if I die a martyr, that's a big deal." I'm not saying go make a martyr of yourself because there's a whole another world of people doing that, just crazy people out there. If you die in the line of duty, it's an awesome thing.

I'm telling you there's ceremony on this side. We've got police officers in this church, all kind of people who know, whether it's military, police, when an officer goes down, the entire force shows up at these funerals. And you know what they say? There's commendations. There are words of just the family. They do stuff. It's unbelievable. They're in full regalia and they march and they play the trumpets and fire the guns. You know why? Because somebody went down. You say, "Well, that doesn't happen." Yes, it does. Just not down here.

When one of God's soldiers comes down, we do our little ceremonies here, but I'm going to tell you something, on the other side, some real stuff happened. And I'm going to read you a story about one of these guys' welcome when he went down in the line of duty. We are too stuck down here. You say, "But I've got a job, I've got a work." Don't let it consume your life. You were not born just to work. You're born to live. And if you're one of God's children, you're born to live and make a difference beyond just your career in the world.

In a thousand years, nobody's going to care how much software you sold. Nobody's going to care how much whatever you do. They're not going to care, but it's going to matter how your life impacted somebody's life where you work. You say, "Well, I'm doing great. I got a lot of money." But you can be dirt poor in terms of your impact on other people.

And that's why He's left us here. I've said this repeatedly and this is one of my big questions. If God loves us so much, and He does, and He proved it by letting His own Son, Jesus, come and live and die and be buried and raised from the dead, and He did, and heaven is so great and Jesus died to get us there, what the heck are we all doing in here? Get me out of here.

Why would a loving God who knows it's ridiculously tough down here because He's been here Himself and lived and gone through it? You want to talk about stuff that doesn't make sense. What kind of Father would leave his kids in this hellhole instead of jerking us all out and getting us home and getting this over with? That's my question. What are you thinking up there?

I read about this place called heaven and how expensive it was to buy me a ticket in. Get me home. You get tired in America. I think half the workforce spends half their day on hold or talking to voicemail. You've got a place for me, You say? You've gone to prepare this place. It's all so great. Let's go. Come on. But yet He leaves us here. Here we sit. We ought to be jealous for that bunch. They got to go early. It's hard on their families. It's not easy seeing somebody die and losing somebody. I know that. You know that.

But guys, there ought to be a little piece of it that says, "Man, when is my turn coming? I want to see Him. I'm tired of talking to Him by faith. I want to see His face. I'm dying to see Jesus." And if something doesn't stir inside of you, I'm not saying you don't have a relationship with Him, but something's not right. Because when you love somebody and you don't get to see them much, you start missing them. Anybody ever feel that? You don't feel much for people when you don't see them if you don't love them because you won't miss them.

Now think about these things. God up there, here I am, why are we not home? I've said this over and over and I'm going to keep saying it. God is not yanking my chain or yours. You are not here for fun, though it's fun some days. You are here for a reason. And if you die of natural causes, great. If you die in the line of duty, even better. What a way to go.

But whatever you're doing before you're dying, live. Really live. Really let your life make a difference. You say, "But I'm a screwup, Richard. You don't know who I am. I just wandered in here. Somebody harassed me for two years to come and I'm here. So I made them happy and I'm hearing what you're saying, but I'm a screwup. If you knew what I've done, where I've been, all this stuff in my life, there's not much hope for me. God isn't interested in my kind. I'm not a church kind of person." Don't be hiding your scars. Let God use who you are and what you've been through to communicate with somebody the difference that He can make in you and through you.

All right, I'm going to tell you briefly about some guys in here. One of them is Job. But briefly in Job, the story is, and I highly recommend this if you're going through really tough times, go read Job. This guy in one day loses his whole family. And you'll have to read the story to get this deal, but his house falls in on his children, all of his livestock, all of his ranch is just destroyed. This guy loses everything.

And a messenger walks in in Job chapter 13, on the day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest, they were at their big brother's house having this big party and they all died. And he gives a description here of how it happened. And if you look down, this is Job chapter one. This messenger comes in and verse 19, "And suddenly a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners," it's like a tornado, a storm of some kind, big storm, hit the four corners of the house and it fell on the young people and they are dead and I alone have escaped to tell you.

Then Job arose, tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." In all this, Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Job knew his God. And he didn't shake his fist and say, "Why did You do this to me?" He said, "You know, I came into this world naked, I'll leave naked. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Bottom line, blessed be the name of the Lord."

And I tell my kids this. It's interesting how we are built this way. We want to talk about what we don't have instead of thanking God for what we do have. What is it that God's given you? How has God blessed you? You say, "Yeah, but this happens." Yes, I understand that. But what's gone right? What has He done good? Where has He blessed you? What has He given you? Maybe He's taken some of it back. But can you say when you look at the whole deal, "You know what? In spite of it all, He's given, He's taken, but blessed be the name of the Lord," because it could have been a whole lot worse. And I defy anybody to show me many people who have been through worse than what Job went through. And it's not that he didn't have his down times and some questions, but this guy trusted God.

And if you read the end of the story, it's very incredible what happens. There's a story over in Mark. Mark chapter 6:14-28. There's a guy in the Bible named John the Baptist. It was prophesied that he would come. His whole job was to be the forerunner, the advance man, if you will. He was supposed to go in and tell everybody what was coming behind him, it was the Messiah. And John the Baptist is the guy. He is Jesus' cousin.

Mary and Elizabeth, Elizabeth was John the Baptist's mom, they were cousins, they were pregnant at the same time. Elizabeth got pregnant six months earlier, so these guys, John the Baptist and Jesus, are cousins and they are close. They've grown up together. And John the Baptist is this God person. He's a crazy man in a way. He's out there in the wilderness dressed funny and eating things that we wouldn't eat, maybe. He's this prophet guy, but he is somebody that God has picked and everybody knows he's coming.

He does the right thing. He obeys God. He trusts God. He goes out and says, "Jesus is coming, the Messiah's coming." All this stuff happens exactly right. And if you go in Mark chapter six, he is arrested for doing the right thing. And Herod throws a birthday party, verse 21. Gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want and I'll give it to you."

He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask, I will give you up to half of my kingdom." So she's got a blank lottery ticket basically. So she goes back, said to her mother, "What do I ask for? This is great." And she said, "Ask for the head of John the Baptist." Could have had half this guy's kingdom and asked for the head of John the Baptist. Immediately she came in with haste to the king, asked saying, "I want you to give me at once, not later, not tomorrow, at once. I want right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." It's in the Bible.

And the king was exceedingly sorry. Yet because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner at night during a party, these executioners are sent to a godly man's cell in a prison who's done nothing wrong but obeyed God and did exactly what he was told and by all accounts here, he's like 30ish. 30 years old, never married as far as we know, doing the right thing. Some chick dances at a party and he's got people coming to his cell.

Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought and he went and beheaded him in prison. Lost his head. Brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. Now what did he do to deserve that? You say, "Well, I got all these problems in my life." You don't have jack going on in your life. For doing the right thing and he gets canned.

Now if I'm sitting in a cell and I'm doing the right thing, number one, I've been arrested and I'm not maybe happy about that. And all of a sudden, this party going on, maybe he hears it, maybe he doesn't, but he hears the stomping feet of these soldiers coming, one of them's got a big sword, whatever they use, an axe. And his head's on, I mean, there is no time, guys. You better be ready at any time, anywhere, because your day could come just like that. And if you don't believe it, go ask some people in Fort Worth, Texas. "Oh, I'll be ready when it happens." You won't know when it happens.

He had about that long. You better live ready and stay ready. Because to me, going to heaven unless you've planned to die and when it's going to happen is like walking out that back door from this auditorium into a lobby. You go boom, just like that, and you're looking face to face at the God of the universe. You better be ready and stay ready. "Watch and pray," the Bible says.

Here he is doing the right thing. Boom, comes down, he loses his head, but you know what? Just like that, it all made sense. He had done what he was sent to do. You say, "How do you know that?" Because John the Baptist's life was taken and there's account after account where the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious rulers tried to seize Jesus and kill Him, seize and He got away, He got away. And one day He didn't get away. There's a reason why He got away for three years and then all of a sudden He didn't get away. His time had come. In the fullness of time, it was the right time, the right place, He had done what He was supposed to do.

You are not alive by chance. If you're still here, there is a reason. And when it's time for you to go, either because your work is done or God's tired of waiting on you to go to work, you can get an early ride home. You say, "Well, that's not bad." I'd rather get to go home and my job is done than getting an early ticket home. Usually when I had to go home early from a party, it wasn't for the right reasons. You make trouble, you're in trouble, you get sent home early. I don't want to get sent home early. I'm ready to go home, but I don't want to go that way.

So there's John the Baptist, another one. All right, flip over to Acts chapter seven. And really you have to go back and read all of chapters six, sevenish in there because the first quote-unquote deacons, if you've ever heard that word if you grew up in church, the first deacons that were ever appointed to be servants according to this, these guys, it wasn't just picked some guys and put them to work. They had to be selected. These guys had to have some qualifications and obviously had some knowledge because Stephen is one of these guys that's selected to be the first deacon, one of this first group.

And he is given an opportunity, if you look in this chapter in Acts chapter seven, he is given an opportunity to speak to the religious leaders. And he goes through the entire history of Israel. You kind of wonder what the history of Israel, all this brief synopsis of this, read this chapter seven. And he goes through and tells everything from Moses, Abraham, Moses all the way through what happened being delivered from Egypt, all this stuff.

Let's pick it up in Acts chapter seven, verse 51. He lights into these guys. "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One," referring to Jesus, "of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers." This is not how to make friends and influence people, by the way.

But he's speaking the truth. He's not backing down, he speaks the truth. "Who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth, kind of like grinding their teeth, as something they did in disdain and contempt for someone who had not been saying things that were very pleasing to them.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, now imagine this scene. He's up in front of this crowd telling all this and then he goes at them and then he looks up, it says, he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He looks up and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This is the only place in scripture where Jesus is described as standing at the right hand of God. Everywhere else it says that He is seated at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession. He's sitting down, He's sitting down, everywhere else He's sitting down. But all of a sudden Jesus, Stephen looks up and sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

And he said, "Look," like everybody could see it and nobody could see it but Stephen. "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the look, it's there He is, He's standing right there by God. There's Jesus by God." Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and ran at him with a loud noise. They just put their hands on their ears, just ran at him. It made them crazy because you can't say you saw God.

They ran at him, cried with a loud voice and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. Immediate death. He's just saying and doing the right thing. He's barely been on the job for a few weeks here. And he tells it like it is and he confronts them like it is and they scream, run on him, throw him outside town and stone him. And the witnesses laid down their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And in another place it says that Saul even admits to having held the coats of those who stoned this guy Stephen. And Saul, his name is changed later when he becomes a Christian and is Paul, and he wrote half the New Testament. Paul stood there and watched this guy be stoned for doing the right thing. Now what if you had that in your past? You think you got stuff in your past? What if you had encouraged and stood by and said, "Let's kill him"?

They cast him out of the city, Saul is standing there holding the clothes at his feet, and they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He's not praying, "God, help me." He's praying, "God, come get me because I'm coming." And taking stones and these were big stones. They'd usually put him down in a pit and everybody'd gather around and they'd get these big stones and hurl them down at these people.

It's one thing to get hit with a rock, guys, but when they just keep coming. They didn't have bullets, but it's like a bunch of guys with guns getting around a pit and just stoning somebody and because you're a Christian down in a pit they just start shooting at you for fun. Boom. And you just take bullet after bullet. And there he is getting hit, these big rocks, and your body can only take so much.

So he prays and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He knows he's dying. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice. Guys, this man understood something. The last thing coming out of his mouth, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep. He died. Even in his last breaths, he is praying that God would have mercy on his killers. That's the Gospel.

And I can't prove this, but only by what I see. Jesus knew Stephen was going to die. And when Stephen saw heaven open up and the glory of God, I think Jesus stood up to greet Stephen. This is serious stuff to God in heaven.

If you go read, there's a verse in Revelation 6:9 and I've got a bunch of other ones, but we'll just for the sake of time shut her down. Revelation 6:9-10. Verse nine says, "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'"

Under the altar, this massive altar, are all these people who through the centuries and the millennia have died for their faith, saying, "How long?" You know what? They're up there saying, "How long, God? Enough's enough." See, down here it looks one way. If you could see today from heaven what this looks like, if they knew and could see, I don't know whether they can or not, if they could still see what we live through and go through and the challenges and the sin and the frustration and the temptation and the crap that we get hit with every day.

It's almost like they intercede there for us to God going, "How long are You going to let this go on? Bring them home. It's awful down there. Get them out of there." And somehow we stay attached. "Oh, if I work a little hard I'm going to get this promotion." But you'll neglect some coworker who's never going to make it. Forget promotions. They're going to die and be separated from a real God forever.

You say, "But this is my life," and I say, "Yeah, maybe that's the problem. The wrong thing is your life." There ought to be something in everybody who claims to know Him and even those who want to know Him that says, "You know what, God? I don't know how else to say it, but that I'm just dying to see Jesus." And if it literally gets to that, I'm willing and I'm ready. Paul put it this way in Philippians 1:21: "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." May that be true about you, about me, and anybody who claims to know Him and calls upon His name.

Announcer: Thank you for listening to Richard Ellis Talks. We so appreciate you taking the time to be encouraged by Richard's unique way of challenging us to become more like Jesus every day. But it doesn't stop there. We want that same inspiration to be passed on from you too for others to be encouraged by your life in their own walk with the Lord.

And most of us have seen great examples in someone else firsthand that has significantly touched and inspired our life, so much so that we want to pass it on to others as well. This legacy should be what we all inspire to. Even the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, "Follow my example as I followed the example of Christ."

So who is it in your life that was a great example as a Christ-follower that has inspired you to do the same? And what is it that you want to make sure others know about? What is most important to you as a believer? Well, I have some really great news to share with you. We have just added a legacy wall on our website for you to tell your story.

Who has made a difference in your life? And what is it that you want to share with others in leaving a legacy of your beliefs and values? We want to hear about it. Go to richardellistalks.com and share your story today.

We love bringing you the program every day, but it means even more to us when you let us know how the program has helped you. Call us at 855-6-RICHARD or at richardellistalks.com. And while you're there, you can help us greatly by giving to this ministry. This program is making a huge difference in people's lives and you can make a big difference to ours too. We really do need to hear from you on this. Go to richardellistalks.com to support this ministry and share your story. Thank you. And until next time, thank you for listening. We look forward to coming alongside you again for more Richard Ellis Talks.