Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Is your life or my life characterized by frozen fruit or fresh fruit? Am I telling old stories about way back when, or is it what God is doing today? Something I learned this morning, something I'm anticipating Him doing this afternoon, tomorrow, where He is actively not just living in you, He's living through you, and you are expectant to hear from Him.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Here we are in May already as schools are getting ready to finish the school year and summer vacations are being planned. But at the same time, there are many right now who feel like their train came off the tracks. They're shooting up the prayer flares and hoping God is listening.

Maybe that's you who's calling out "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday." That's where we come in. We want to be that safe place of hope and encouragement to you. 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's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is Frozen Fruit. I am not a big fan of frozen fruit. If you ever go to a restaurant or hotel with me, I am going to look for the breakfast bar. If they have a little bowl of blueberries, I'm going to ask them in the back to send me out a giant bowl of blueberries. I love me some blueberries.

I see them in the freezers at the grocery store and they're frozen. I have no interest in that. I guess you could make a shake or something out of that, but for me, fresh fruit, not frozen fruit, is the ticket. I grew up around a bunch of spiritual frozen fruit, unfortunately.

The impression I got was people's story was they became a Christian when they were six or whatever age. Maybe they had some story from 20 years ago, but no fresh fruit, nothing going on recently. It was like they couldn't come up with anything God was doing in and through their lives now.

So let's start in Genesis chapter two. We'll read a few verses out of this and move left to right as we normally do. Genesis 2:9 says, "And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

The interesting thing about this tree stuff is there's only one tree that He said, "Don't eat from." He didn't say you couldn't touch it. Eve misquoted God on that. You could touch it, you just couldn't eat it. One tree, the whole garden, one tree. And what tree do you suppose the devil tried to get them to eat?

It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he succeeded, and here we are. One of the kindest things God ever did for the world was getting them out of that garden before they got to the tree of life. I don't know if you’ve ever thought about this.

The problem with getting to the tree of life after you've sinned is that you live forever in your sin. By getting them out of there and guarding the garden to the tree of life, they didn't have access to that tree. You’ll see when we get to the end of this, you’ll see this fruit you do have access to in the book of Revelation. It is on the other side still, and you'll be able to eat of that tree.

Go to Genesis 3:22. This is where the trouble starts. "And the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'—therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life."

As it turns out, it's kind of interesting that without knowing it, how many people on the planet are trying to get to the tree of life. They don't know that's what they're trying to get to. Technology, science, whatever we can do, we want to live forever. We don't want to die. We want to keep going.

If you want the tree of life, you've got to go through Jesus, who died on the tree of life, the cross, and was buried and raised from the dead to get to the other side. You will never see the tree of life unless you go through Him.

Go to Psalm 1:1. "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." The man doesn't do that, but this is who this person is that He's encouraging us to be: "But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."

You say, "I want that last verse. I want whatever I do to prosper." Then back into it. What does it take? Your delight is going to be in the law of the Lord. In His law, you will meditate day and night, and that will make it seem like you're a tree planted by the rivers of water and you bring forth fruit in its season. Your leaf also will not wither because there's enough moisture in that root system to not cause that plant, allow that plant to wither.

In these verses that I'm going to read you today, this goes back to Him, it goes back to His word, it goes back to meditating, marinating, just soaking yourself in that. Go to Psalm 92:12. "The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Those were huge, by the way.

"Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."

Now, this doesn't talk about just being planted. You'll flourish in the courts of our God, but they shall bear fruit in old age. People talk about retirement: "I'm going to work and then I'm going to quit." There is no spiritual growth, no retirement in spiritual growth.

In fact, if it's working like it's supposed to be working, the older you get, the more fruit you should bear. They shall be fresh and flourishing. We had a neighbor years ago lived across the street from us. They had a farm, motorcycles, all kind of stuff out at this farm.

One of the things they had was giant blueberry bushes, this irrigated thing, right soil, these trees were covered in blueberries. I was out there picking as fast as I could, hoping they'd invite me back next year. It wasn't to take them home and freeze them necessarily. It was just that I love fresh fruit, I love fresh blueberries specifically.

So this says they shall be fresh and flourishing. We're back to where we're going today. Is your life or my life characterized by frozen fruit or fresh fruit? Am I telling old stories about way back when, or is it what God is doing today? Something I learned this morning, something I'm anticipating Him doing this afternoon, tomorrow, where He is actively not just living in you, He's living through you, and you are expectant to hear from Him and for Him to show you what He wants you to be and do and then be about that.

Matthew 7:16 is pretty clear. "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?" Obviously, the implicit answer is no. "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."

You say, "I'm not a bad tree, but I'm not bearing any fruit." I hate to tell you, but you're a bad tree because every good tree is going to bear good fruit. The fruit is physical evidence that what's going on in that person is real. It's not frozen fruit, it's fresh fruit. It's God living in and through them on an ongoing basis, like the Bible talks about a spring of water flowing to everlasting life. It bubbles up inside a person.

If you've ever gotten water out of a spring, it's not usually lukewarm. It's moving, it's fresh, it's clean, and you want more of it. You say, "How do I do this?" Well, I can tell you how you don't do this: you don't act like a Christian.

I've shared this multiple times through the years. I was trained to act like a Christian. I was not trained to walk with Jesus and have His spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the spirit when you walk with Him, He does the work. He manifests. It's His fruit in your life, and that's what people see. That's the proof that something's going on.

John 15:1 says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes." I've got fruit trees at the house. I'm about to take a big old limb off of a peach tree. It's not really the tree's fault. It's extended and I hit it with the roof of my mower, and so it's wounded and not going to live.

Anyhow, I've got to take that limb off. But I promise you, if you don't take certain limbs off even if they're not wounded like this one, the tree is not going to bear fruit. Even if you're bearing fruit and everything's working, God is the vinedresser, you're going to get clipped.

People say, "I don't want to get clipped." You will not bear as much fruit as you could if you don't allow the vinedresser to come along and prune your life. You say, "But the tree looks great." The vinedresser knows these branches have to go, even though you're rooted in Me, you're connected, you're bearing fruit, you're going to bear more fruit when I take this branch off.

"Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." Stay connected to Me.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit." People say, "But you're judging people, you're looking for fruit." What else are you going to look for? You tell me biblically what you look for.

"You're saying that you don't see any fruit of anything spiritual growth, maturity in that person's life." Okay, do you? You show me. "But you're judging them." No, I'm making an observation that if there's no fruit, something has gone wrong before that.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing." I did a little research on this and as it turns out, fruit does not produce cleansing, cleansing produces fruit. This pruning thing, the fruit doesn't prune the tree. When you clean the tree, back to verse three what He said there, "You're already clean, the word has made you clean." That clipping fruit, you move forward.

But here's the research I did because certain times of the year, there's some trees in the woods near my house. I don't think it's a fruit tree, but it's a tree that has these blossoms, and I'll go cut a big old limb off of this tree. Beautiful, and I've seen them in florists, and I'll put it in the back of the car, come home, get a massive jar, water, and put that in there, and it'll make it let's say through Easter, possibly.

So I asked the question here: if you cut off a fruit tree branch that is blooming and keep it in water, will it produce fruit? What do you think the answer is? There's blossoms, it's on the way, but you cut it off.

The short answer is no. It may bloom, but it will not truly produce fruit. Here's why, plainly and biologically. What will happen if you cut a flowering branch and put it in water, the blooms may open using stored energy. It can look alive for a short time. Look at the parallels here, Christians acting like Christians. Can look alive for a short time.

In some cases, tiny fruitlets may begin to form. This is all fueled by energy already stored in the branch, not ongoing life. So you can act like it's working. "Oh yeah, I'm an apple tree and we're about to have apples here." And they go, "Dude, you're in a vase with water. You're not going to make any apples." "Yeah, but we're trying, we're trying." If you're not connected to Him, you can do nothing.

What won't happen is the fruit will not mature. It will drop early or shrivel. No sugars, minerals, or hormones are coming from the roots. Water alone does not equal nourishment. Fruit development requires carbohydrates from photosynthesis elsewhere in the tree, minerals from the roots, hormonal signals from the whole plant. A cut branch has no supply chain.

So if you find yourself cut off from Him, you're not walking with Him, you have no fellowship with His people. I understand we've got a winter storm and we've got a limited number of people here, but there are some churches that never get bigger than this.

Why bother? Why don't we all just stay home all the time, like it's a winter storm? Because that's what causes the spiritual winter storms. You get away from people. Sheep need sheep. And what do wolves need? They need one sheep separated from the sheep. One sheep by itself away from the sheep, pounce on it, take it out. Sheep together, it's harder to attack them and take them down.

So the enemy isolates you, cuts you off, you're alone, you get in your own head, you get caught up in some sin, and within weeks, if not months, you can be gone. Not that you won't end up in heaven, but you end up and go, "How did this happen to me? How did I end up here?" Because you're not connected to Him properly.

You say, "Yes I am." Now, listen closely to what I'm about to tell you. If you say to me, "I'm a mature believer and I am connected to the vine," you will be involved in a local church. The Holy Spirit of God will lead you, will guide you to find a body of believers.

You say, "Well, I can't find one." Ask Him to keep looking for you. I get some people living in remote areas, I've heard all those stories. But if you don't live in a remote area and you say, "I got burned by a church," you know what? Jesus got burned pretty bad too.

And He said, "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing," and they strung Him up, crucified Him all for us. So don't throw all churches out just because you had a bad experience, and sometimes the bad experience you had is your fault potentially, so ask the Holy Spirit that.

"Is this really about me or the church?" Either way, you've got to get past it. We need Him, and if we're truly walking with Him, following Him, He is going to lead us to other believers. In first or second John, it says, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, what is the result of that? We have fellowship with one another."

So you want to back into that one? You don't have fellowship with other believers? There's a good chance you're not walking in the light. You've gotten away from Him, things have gotten really dark, and now you don't want any connection, you don't want to be around other believers.

If I'm in a bad place, I don't want to listen to worship music. Can I get a witness on this? My dad was six foot nine. When he was 14, he was six foot five. My grandfather was a pastor, godly man, and my dad had a temper and that came out in our lives as children.

But my grandfather, when Perry, my dad, would get upset, the story is that my grandfather would say, "Perry, come in here into my office." And he'd get him in there and he'd get him down on his knees next to him and say, "Let's pray about this." "You know what? I don't want to pray about it. I don't want to talk to God about it. I want to be upset. I want to be mean. I want to be what I'm being." Even though inside I know it's not going to work.

And then a customer service call and they say, "What's your email?" and I'm back. "Sir, it looks here like it's Richard at ReunionChurch.org." And now I'm a spiritual person again. Boom, just like that. But not really. I'm faking it because I've been outed. Don't be me.

You say, "Well, you're not that way all the time." No, but you're not the way you are all the time, hopefully, and there's room for growth here, right? Some fresh fruit in your life, not frozen stuff from decades ago.

Revelation 2:7: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Now, my mind does crazy things, okay. You're going to be in a glorified body in heaven, but it sounds like we're still going to be eating. Are there going to be porta-potties? How does that work? I know you say, "Richard, don't go there," but it's how my brain works.

But it appears that we're eating and having access to the tree of life. He says, "Yeah, but you're going to... you already have eternal life through Jesus." It'll be a pretty cool thing to see this tree that has been there all the time and to be able to eat of it freely as a tangible proof that I will live forever.

Revelation 22:1 says, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb." Pure river of water of what? Life. And where does the water, the river of life come from? From the throne of God and of the Lamb. Anything worth having comes from Him; without Him, you can do nothing.

"In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits." Now, this is a little freaky. One tree, twelve fruits. "Each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: they need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever."

Then he said to me, "These words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

"Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, 'See that you do not do that.'" Do not worship angels, by the way. "For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God."

"And he said to me, 'Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every one according to his work.'"

By the way, let me stop here. If you believe that and you think that applies to you, you cannot live your life on frozen fruit. You have to be believing that God is at work in you and through you, and that there is a reward coming and that He could return any second and you have to be prepared, and you don't want to be empty-handed.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."

These things are tied. The tree of life here, it's tied to His commandments. Now, here's where I got this all wrong. I read the Bible, was taught the Bible, and for some reason, what I heard was if you do everything in the Bible, that's why you're going to be saved. You're a good person, you obey. If you disobey, you're going to end up in hell. They said it louder than that, but if you disobey, you're going to end up in hell. If you don't walk with God, you're going to end up in hell.

I was not taught that only Jesus saves and that there's works involved, but the works are not the things that get you into heaven. The works are manifestation that you're already going to make heaven. You have a relationship with Jesus. He is living in and through you, and that proves that you already are walking with Him. You're in.

So it's exhausting the other way. People that are motivated by fear. This guy may be listening right now. Grew up in the most conservative home in the world. You couldn't even go on a date without a Bible between you. I won't even say... well, I will, it’s Bob Jones University. I mean, if you had a hole in the knee of your bathing suit, they'd kick you out of school. It's just that terrible. I'll let you think about that one.

And so he was in this legalistic performance, performance, performance deal. I talked to him two or three days ago and I said this to him again. What I didn't know is that God will never love me any more or any less than He does right now, and that is always true.

What if you're living like hell? It does not change how much He loves me. You want and what I wanted to do was put my works line, my behavior line and somehow tie that to His love line. That's a lie out of hell. That's not what the scripture says.

He may be disappointed with me. He will discipline me because I'm His child, but His love never changes. Any more than you would get rid of one of your kids because what do they have to do for you to disown them? That's not how God thinks even if you could come up with something.

And by the way, the Father did not disown His Son who became sin for us. Think about that for a minute. He who knew no sin, God in the flesh, became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The Father could have said, "I'm out. You are now sin. I reject you." But because He was the payment, and God saw fit to raise Him from the dead, now He's alive from the dead and now we can live after death and in this life.

What verse did we leave off in? 14. "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." So what does that mean? If you have a relationship with Jesus, just make a choice.

And what Claude told me through the process I went with him, he said, "My life changed, Richard. My life changed when I began to read the scripture with the purpose, the intent of applying what I read to my life, doing what it said." That's when it changes.

So, frozen fruit, fresh fruit, fresh fruit. You say, "How do I do that?" First of all, you've got to have a relationship with Jesus. You go to Him and say, "I'm a sinner, I need forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead to give me eternal life, but also abundant life, a full life between now and when I die or You return."

And if you've done that and you're already a Christian, then the issue is am I going to just say, "Okay, well I got a birth certificate and I'm stuck in the mud, I'm not going to grow." That's not what's supposed to happen. There is so much more to the Christian life than just being a ticket bearer. That's great, but there's more.

The whole process of sanctification of Him turning you into His Son in the way you think and live and speak, everything about you where it's less of us and more of Him. And it's possible, and I am still in that process. It's bumpy, and I hope you are too.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Richard Ellis Talks. We deeply appreciate you taking the time to be encouraged by Richard's unique way of challenging us to become more like Jesus every day.

Here we are in the month of May, and we want to take a different kind of twist to these days. There's a common distress signal that is used for life-threatening emergencies where those who are facing dire circumstances declare "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" in hopes that someone will come to their rescue. Even though it's primarily used for aviators and mariners, we know that some of you are going through some really hard times.

We want to be a part of your buddy system that will support you in prayer and encouragement to help your heart land safely. So let me encourage you to go to our website, RichardEllis.com and click on the prayer link under the 'More' tab at the top. You'll go directly to our prayer wall where you can share your prayer request and know that we will be praying for you.

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