Richard Ellis Talks

Guest (Male): Today on Richard Ellis Talks.

Richard Ellis: Some people say, "I'm looking for God, I'm really searching." And they search a while and they do what? They quit. They knock for a little while and they go away. They ask for a little while and then they give up. They quit asking.

And He says, "Keep coming back." Basically, Jesus is saying harass God with whatever it is you're after.

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

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is Finish What You Start. The Bible says for him who knows what is right to do but doesn't do it, that it's sin. So you can even know what the right thing to do is, but if you don't follow through with it, your life will never change.

But let me ask you this today. To bring about a long-term revolutionary change in your life, you can have faith and you can even obey God, do what He says to do, but what is the one thing that can stop the whole process? Anybody?

Guest (Male): Doubt.

Richard Ellis: Doubt. Okay. What else?

Guest (Male): Temptation.

Guest (Male): No follow through.

Richard Ellis: No follow through. Now, everybody's got some good points, but what I want to talk to you about today is the simple fact that you can believe, you can obey, but you can quit. Now, some people never even start. They think about things. They think about changing their life. They think about losing weight. They think about working out. I try not to do that very often, but I'm thinking about it at least now.

They think about these things, but never do anything about it. Then other people say, "You know what? I believe this is the right thing to do." They get to the next step. Then other people do something. They obey and they start to do it.

But you know what? Even if you go through all that process and you start the ball rolling, you're into it, something can happen. You can quit. And all those good intentions, guys, from the beginning, unless you finish. Now, how do you know if you've completed, if you followed through on a New Year's resolution? How do you know whether you've done it or not?

Guest (Male): You get results.

Richard Ellis: You get results. Has anybody got a New Year's resolution that you went, "Man, it really happened. I did this. I committed to something and I made it"? Maybe I shouldn't have asked that. Maybe that's all the people are out running today. They are, I don't know. I keep thinking. Anybody like that? Something, and I'm not in a brag time, but it's good. Yes, ma'am?

Guest (Female): I decided I was going to buy a house, and I did.

Richard Ellis: You decided you're going to buy a house, and you did. Good for you. She got a house. All right, let's talk about this today. Genesis 6:8, and this is what it says about Noah: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Something happened, though. God was going to wipe out the world, but it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And He spared Noah and his family.

All right, in Genesis 6:22: "Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did." That is huge. God comes along and says do this. And you resolve to do that. You step into it, you begin to do it.

But let me tell you something. Noah could have trusted God, believed God, said, "Okay, You tell me to build an ark. It sounds crazy. I'll do it," and start to build it. But if Noah doesn't finish that ark, folks, he's sunk, literally. Because if the ark is not complete when it starts raining, he's in trouble. So, finish what you start. Make a resolution, start it, but finish, and get people around you who can encourage you and who can help you keep going, who can help you finish.

All right, let me read you an example in Luke 11:1-13. The context of this passage is the Lord's Prayer. And verse one: "Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.'" So what did He do? Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. It's funny how many people know that prayer. But do we pray even that prayer?

If you get into a church or a wedding or something, they kick in, "Oh, yeah, I know that one." We all jump in that prayer like we do it all the time. But we don't even do the one we know sometimes.

But in the context of that prayer, then verse five He says, after He's given them that prayer, and He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend?" And before I even read the story, I'm going to give you an example. It's back to kids and wife and all this stuff. We've got a king-sized bed. And I'm telling you, I get in that bed at night, and I'm telling you, how many got a king-sized bed at home?

Okay. A lot of people know how big a king. I'm 6'3", 200-something. I get in this bed. In the morning, I end up on this much bed. And I wake up and I look over at Rebecca and there's that much bed, and it's not just her. There are people in my bed. And I've mentioned this before, and it happened again last night.

I get in my bed by myself with my wife and wake up with all these people in my bed. Where did these people come from? When you get in your bed at night, and if it's cold, I don't care if the heat's on or not, but you get in your bed, you get under those covers, you get your head in that pillow like you like it. Your wife's there, your husband, whatever, and everybody's fine.

Even if a kid piles in, let them find a place. Just let's go to sleep. What is the technical term for children bed-wetting? What is the word for that? Is there a word for like when your sheets get all wet in the middle of the night and they come in saying, "I've been sweating a lot in my bed"? That's what we heard about four nights ago. "I'm really hot and—" yeah, you were sweating all right.

So what? You get out of your bed. You've got to go in there and rip all the sheets off and that foam thing, it goes through that, and you air out the mattress. And what happens? They get cleaned up, get their pajamas on, fresh set. We start from scratch. And where do they end up? In my bed. Once you get in, though, when all that chaos stops and you're in there, the last thing you want is any more disturbance. You want to go to sleep.

Now, back in biblical days, people didn't have big old houses or apartments. They might live in one room. And when they got in bed for the night, they got in the bed. There might be kids there, there might even be farm animals inside that enclosure that literally, like a pet sheep or whatever, would lay down next to— they're all in for the night. They're hunkered down trying to stay warm.

Whole family. In this context of this story I'm about to read you, the guy in this story is in the bed, his family's down, everything's shut. Don't bother me. Now, listen to what Jesus says to them. "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight—" okay, and they don't have Lent and stuff to watch till 11:30 or whatever. They're in bed probably by 7:00 or 8:00, dark. They've got to get up early and go to work.

At midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves. I need some bread. For a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him." Now, that's a whole another set of problems. Somebody shows up at your house, "Hey, I was driving through town and I'm here. It's 11:00, and can I stay with you?" Now you're upset already.

But you don't have any food, the guy's hungry, so you go next door. Now you're waking your neighbor up. So he says, "A friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him." And he will answer from within and say— now he's answering from within. He isn't getting out of bed to come to the door and answer you. He's screaming from the bed, what? "Do not trouble, leave me alone! The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you. Go away!"

Now, that's pretty clear. I ain't getting up. We're all in bed. Sorry, go away. Now, what happens, though? "I say to you," Jesus said this, "I say to you, though he will not rise and give him because he is a friend—" now, maybe the guy because they're neighbors, friends or something, he might have gotten up and given him bread. The friendship deal's gone. Now what's it about? "Yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs."

Now, this is not a pretty picture, guys, but basically what Jesus is saying, we knock once. "I need some bread for my friend who showed up to spend the night with me." "Uh-uh, we're in bed. I'm not coming." He says, "Well, friendship's out of the deal." He starts banging on the door. And finally, why does the guy get up out of his bed and come give him whatever he wants? It says, "Man, I'll give you— you can have the house. Go to bed, leave me alone. Let me go back to sleep."

Persistence. The King James version says because of his importunity. And it is harassing. It is basically a word that almost means something that's rude to do. Now listen how He finishes this up. Context is prayer.

"So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened unto you." Now some people say, "So You're saying that God's saying if I just ask for anything, I'll get it? If I look, I'll find whatever it is I'm looking for? And if I knock, all the doors I knock on will be open?"

In a relationship with God where you're walking and talking with God, it works, guys. This is not some slot machine you go, "Oh, sounds great." I want to, you know, "Oh, God, I've tried this for so many months now. I just need the right numbers for this lottery. If You'll— You know what they are, You know." "I'm asking. The Bible said to ask, and only You know the future, so You know what the numbers are already, and just leave me to write them—" and you win and walk away, right? That's not what He's talking about.

It's in the context, though, of asking and keep asking, seeking and keep seeking. Some people say, "Oh, I'm looking for God, I'm really searching." And they search a while and they do what? They quit. They knock for a little while and they go away. They ask for a little while and then they give up. They quit asking.

And He says, "Keep coming back." Basically, Jesus is saying harass God with whatever it is you're after. Now, there's also another passage that says, you know, "You have not because you ask not, but you have not because you ask that you may consume it upon your own lust." You just want what you want because you want it.

Remember the context. What did Jesus just give them in the previous verses? "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Not my will. See, we're supposed to be praying not my will but Yours. We pray not Yours but mine. And then just give me what I want, let me live the way I want to live.

It doesn't work that way. So in the context of this relationship, you ask, keep asking. You seek, keep seeking. You knock, keep knocking until something happens. Don't give up.

Now, let me read you another one. In Luke 18:1-8, then He spoke a parable to them just a few chapters later, that men ought always to pray and not lose heart. Sometimes we lose heart, and one of the reasons we lose heart is we don't pray. Sometimes we pray, but we start praying and we just give up. We fizzle out.

There was a guy Bible study last night that shared that he had three friends. He has three friends, basically went to elementary school, these people. And he has prayed for these guys for 30 years. Now, that's not giving up, folks. One of them has become a Christian about 14 years ago, and the other two he's still praying for.

Now, let me parenthetically somewhat say this. Almost everybody's got somebody praying for you. It may be your mom, it may be your dad, it may be a grandmother, an aunt, an uncle, but somebody's out there banging on the door saying, "God, man, don't let them lose their life. Don't let them screw their life up. Don't let them waste it away. Let them see there's more to life. There's hope, there's joy, there's love. They don't have to go down a dead-end road."

And there is an answer for some of these problems. You've got somebody praying for you. It's powerful stuff. But don't quit. He said men ought always to pray and not lose heart, saying— and he gives them another story.

There was in a city, in a certain city, a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, "Get justice for me from my adversary. I need justice. I have no one to defend me. You're the judge, do the right thing, get justice for me."

And he would not for a while. The judge just got, "Get her out of here." He didn't care about God, he didn't care about people. He was just a judge and he'd see the cases he wanted to, basically, and blow everybody else.

He would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, "Though I do not fear God and I don't regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." This woman is wearing me out. Now, guys, these are bizarre stories for Jesus to be telling unless He's saying, "Stick with it. Hang in there. Even if you think you're being obnoxious with God, keep banging, keep seeking, keep knocking, keep talking to Him about it till He does something."

All right, then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?" And He says, "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily."

And back in— please catch this, I'm going to go back up to that previous passage and tell you how that one ends. After He says, "I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."

And then He gives this illustration. If a son asks for bread from any father among you— okay, any dad here today— if your son came up and said— my little girls, I've taught them, and my wife's going to kill me about this one, too. But we buy these loaves of bread and I've taught them to peel the crust off the edge. And they peel the crust off the edge and we make breadballs.

And what you do is you take that piece of bread and you wad it up in a ball and you chew on it, eat it. And everyone has, "Hey, Mom, you want a breadball?" And she's like, "Yuck! That's awful." She hates these breadballs. So we have this little breadball thing.

If Victoria comes to me and says, "Dad—" now, look at this context. If a son asks for bread from any father among you— if she said, "Daddy, I'd like a piece of bread," and I think, "I'll show her," and I reach in the somewhere and pull out a stone and hand it to her. Now, what kind of dad is going to give their kid a stone? Number one, she's going to bite into it, maybe, and hurt herself. Secondly, it's just ludicrous. What father, kid asks for bread, you give them a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? "Hey, Dad, I'd like a fish." "Yeah." Hand him a snake. "Oh, isn't that funny?" It's not funny, it's your kid. You'd never do that, He says. Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? Dad, I'd like an egg, and you hand a kid a scorpion. They're painful things.

And then He sums it up with this. If you then, being evil— we're evil parents, basically. We do wrong things— know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

God is on your side. I've been saying this for months and didn't know it until a few years ago myself. God is not out to get you. He's on your side. Whatever it is He's put in your heart to believe Him for, trust Him for, and act upon, then hang in there.

And when you want to give up, get some people around you. I've got a friend who a few days ago was about to give up. You could have looked her in the face and seen it. And she's okay today. Part of the reason, frankly, guys, is she surrounded herself with people who could encourage her and help her stay in the fight.

Get a coach of some kind, somebody to mentor you. The man that mentored me is coming to town this weekend again. I talked to him this morning. He'll be here Friday and Saturday, we're doing a Bible study. He's 70 years old. I'm telling you, sometimes I get, "How is this going to work?" and I'll get with him, sit down, and it's so encouraging because he's been down the road a little while. He can help me keep going.

Some of you— now listen. Some of you have isolated yourself. The enemy's tactic is this. You get in a herd of safe people around you who encourage you, and he will come in and literally like a horse cuts a baby calf out of a herd, he'll cut you off out of that herd and get you out here by yourself. Some of you are out by yourself. No one knows what you're doing. No one knows how you're living. No one knows what's going on in your life. And you're just out there spinning, doing your own thing.

And you want to do the right thing, you want to get back on track, you want to do what God wants you to do, maybe, but you've got no support system. Now, whether it's this church, I've started church, guys, this city is crawling with churches. Join, get involved in a local church. Now, you say, "Well, I didn't come here about church." Let me tell you something. You ain't making it without church. There are no Lone Ranger Christians.

Now, if you live in China in some obscure place and there are no Christians around you but you, that's one thing. That's not the case in Dallas, Texas. Find somewhere that you know they're teaching the book, that you're encouraged, that someone will love you and say, "Hey, I love you too much to let you get off the path. You're not going to go down on my watch." You isolate yourself and you'll never make it. You say, "Well, I don't like church, it's hypocritical."

Let me tell you something. We're all hypocrites. If you're going to cough everything up because of hypocrisy, we might as well just all quit. Any one of us.

Don't give up. Now we've got about three more minutes, and I want you to just sit and listen. This God is on your side. Whatever it is you're trying to do. Some of you are about to cough a marriage up. You're within days of it. I talked to a guy this week. He looked at me and he said, "I've had it. I'm done." I'm meeting with he and his wife today, we're going to talk about it some more. He's not done. Why? Because he's got somebody encouraging him to hang in there.

Some of you are about to ditch a marriage, some of you are about to walk away from a job that God's trying to teach you something through. Some of you may need to walk away from a job because it's enough's enough. You're holding on, you should quit holding on. Whatever the case is, I'm encouraging you to hang on.

And I don't know who this is for today, but I guarantee there's some people about to do something stupid, potentially, that could cost you. I know another guy on this close to picking up the phone and calling some person at work, some girl that he knew. He's married, he's about to pick up the phone, things are too stressful and he's kind of been flirting with some chick at work. He's going to pick up the phone and see if they want to meet and just talk and ease and off.

And I said, "Get rid of that number, bub. You're in a heap of trouble. You turn an afternoon into a disaster that you'll pay for the rest of your life." Don't give up. Don't quit. If you're on the right track and if you've started, keep going.

Now, listen to some of these verses. 1 Corinthians 15:58, and if you're writing stuff down, write some of these down you can go back and read them. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Don't give up.

Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Philippians 1:6: "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Folks, this is God's problem, not mine. I can't live the Christian life. I'll screw it up every day, every time. I've got to wake up in the morning and say, "God, I can't do it today. I can't live it. I couldn't do it before I met You, I can't do it even now. You're the only one who's done it, so do it again today. I give You my life. I give You my heart, I give You my mind, my eyes, my hands, my feet, everything about me. Use me today, God." And let Him live His life in you and through you. It's not about being like Jesus, it's about letting Jesus be Himself in you.

2 Thessalonians 3:13: "But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good." And the last one, 1 Thessalonians 5:24: "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." God doesn't just call you. If God says to you, "Hang in there, stick with your marriage," He will not only tell you what to do, He will do it.

If you'll get out of the way and let Him do it, He tells you, "Here's what I've called you to do, now I'm going to do it through you. Let me do it. You can't, you've proven it. Let me do it." You're trying to lose weight, say, "God, I can't do this anymore." Then yield your body, yield your mouth, your refrigerator, whatever it is you've got trouble with, yield it all to Him.

A timer release on your— get one of those timer release refrigerators, not bad either, by the way. It locks and closes at a certain hour. You've got to get in there fast and get out. Kind of like that "Grab $100 all you can in 30 seconds" in one of those vault things.

If I leave you with something and we're out of here, it's this. Guys, He's on your side. This is not some God out there trying to just beat you to death and wreck your life. If you'll submit to His authority, trust Him, obey Him, and stick with it, it pays off. You'll reap in the end.

A lot of people quote the verse, "Oh, you know, you reap what you sow." That's one of the most positive verses in the Bible, we always use it negatively. Or the one that says it rain falls on the just and the unjust. Rain is good. I've had enough of it, but it's good. You reap what you sow. If you're sowing bad stuff, you're going to reap bad stuff. But if you're sowing good stuff, you're going to reap good stuff.

And I'm not saying you're going to be happy, rich, and all that the rest of your life, guys. But trust Him, obey Him, and hang in there, because He'll do it. And you'll know in the end there's a blessing that comes with it.

Guest (Male): Richard Ellis will return in a moment to wrap up today's talk with a few final words. But first, I want to share some important information about the program.

The reason we do this is to share with you the good news. When you open your heart and life to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, that's the beginning point of the most amazing journey you'll ever experience. But it's also a journey that we want to join with you.

So, if you've been on this road for a while or just getting started, let us know how we can help. Maybe you've got some questions, stuck in neutral, or even wondering how to take the next breath. We get it, and want to help you in any way we can.

Give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD. You can also connect with us through our website, richardellistalks.com. We're here to celebrate with you too. So, if this program has made a difference to you and encouraged you in any way, tell us about it. We'd love to hear your story.

So let's keep this conversation going by giving us a call at 855-6-RICHARD or send us an email through our website, richardellistalks.com. That would really make our day. To know how Richard's talks have helped you, call 855-6-RICHARD or email us through the website, richardellistalks.com.

And speaking of the messages, you can find today's talk along with every audio and video message from Richard at our website, richardellistalks.com. Finally, we really believe that these talks with Richard are making a big difference in your life. So this is how you can make a difference to ours. You can contribute to this ministry by giving us a call at 855-6-RICHARD or at our website, richardellistalks.com. And Richard's back now to wrap up today's talk.

Richard Ellis: Father, thank You so much for again for a time like this, a place like this. And Father, only You really know what's going on in a room like this. You know these people, You know what they struggle with, You know what they're on the verge of or what they're in the middle of, what they're trying to get out of.

You know if they've started what they want to finish, Lord. And I pray that You'd give them grace and strength and the courage not to worry about doing something for a whole year, but to do what they're supposed to do one day at a time, because sufficient for today are the evils of today, and we don't need to worry about tomorrow.

God, just well up a strength inside of people, just let it overflow into their heart, their mind, their very life and the people around them. God, we're not better as Christians than anybody. We just met somebody that's changed our life, and we want people to know Him and know what He's done for us.

Use us in any way You see fit to make a difference in our world. And for anybody in this room, God, who this whole God thing is just a mystery, they've been religious, maybe they don't know anything about anything, but something stirs in their heart and they know there's got to be something to all this about Jesus's life, that He died on a cross, was buried, raised from the dead, and they see as never before that it's not pretend, it's real.

And that You really do love them, You really have a plan for their life. I pray that by faith they'd reach out a hand in their heart, so to speak, and receive this gift of eternal life that You offer by grace through faith, because of who Jesus is and what He's done in our behalf. You're an awesome God and we love You and just bless each one. We pray in Jesus's 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. 855-6-RICHARD. You can also share your story with us at our website, richardellistalks.com. One last thing, Richard Ellis Talks is a daily program that is always expanding to reach the world with the good news of the gospel. But it also has daily costs, and being a listener-supported program like ours means we rely on the financial partnership of our listeners, which means you.

We believe that these talks with Richard are making a difference in your life. So this is how you can make a difference to ours. You can contribute by calling 855-6-RICHARD or at our website, richardellistalks.com. Thank you for your generosity. God bless and thanks for listening to Richard Ellis Talks.