Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: The way it's supposed to work is God taps me on my little heart and says, "You know what? It's time now. Start moving. I'll tell you what we're doing when we get there." I say, "Yes, sir. No, sir." Either one, but do something. And for me what happens is when I take that first step and move in that direction, then all of a sudden He goes, "Okay, now we're doing somewhere."

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.

And 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 Go Take A Flying Leap. Sometimes it seems that people and religious people especially are trying to get you to do crazy stuff. Believe stuff that you can't prove, you can't see. You're a rational thinking person. Okay, there's a God. Even if you accepted there's evidence of a God, show me God.

And the closest thing to us seeing God biblically, unless He literally appears to someone, is through the body of Christ. Now they can see God in your life, but there is something about just this body functioning, this group, this organism, this thing that literally they look at us and go, "This is proof there's a God because these people should not like each other. These people should certainly not love each other. They have nothing in common in some cases, but it appears that they laugh, they love, they cry, they care. There's something going on."

So I understand when I talk to people anymore especially, you cannot make the assumption that they believe in God, they trust God. For some people they go, "Well, yeah, maybe there's a God, but having a personal relationship with Him? Not going to happen." But here's where your argument falls apart. If there's nothing to it, then how do you explain the drawing? How do you explain this old word, the wooing?

Because as Christians, what we have, we believe we have and have because we believe we have it, is a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, meaning in our case that we believe when we trusted Christ, when we believed in this stuff, that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, moved inside this body and lives in me and is trying to live through me, change me, change the world through me. So that when I get out of bounds, I have someone drawing me back.

So if you are feeling a pull of any kind, part of the reason you've listened this long, something is going on and you are searching. You are trying to figure things out. You're in pain. You're trying to fix the pain. You got questions, you got doubts. Sooner or later, if it doesn't happen before you die, then it's too late. But if it does happen before you die, you're going to feel a pull and it's God Himself drawing you to Himself saying, "Look, think about this. I can't kick the door of your heart down. I can't make you believe, but I'm giving you faith, literally giving you the faith you need to believe. If you'll just respond to that, then something will happen."

Even if you got all that figured out, though, even if you decide, "I want a personal relationship with God through Christ. God, I'm a sinner. I have screwed up my life. I need Your forgiveness. I'm asking You to forgive me of my sin. I accept the gift of eternal life. Come live in me, through me, change me from the inside out. Now I'm in the family. I'll do the deal. I may stray away, but I'm going to come back. I trust You." So now you're in.

Even if you got your ticket, even if you're in, till the day you die, there is a stretching. And you grow and it's a process and you get to a certain place. And I've been processing some of this personally myself in the last few days. You get to a place and you kind of feel like, "You know what? I can handle this. Me and God are on good terms. I'm all confessed up to date. If something goes wrong, I know how to get back in fellowship with Him and I'm cool. This is it. This is the relationship."

And if He wants me to do something, as long as it's not too far out of bounds and too hard, then maybe we'll talk about that. But I don't want God stretching me. I don't want God pulling me out of my comfort zone and getting me back up to an edge someplace where He says, "Jump."

I've told the story before, one of my earliest memories as a little kid is the high diving board. And without going into all this, I remember I can feel the climb. Those stainless steel poles coming down the side of that deal and the steep stairs. And you'd climb up that deal and we'd ooch our way out on the pole. The pole was really more up here. And then you'd kind of crawl your way out to the edge of the board. And it was a million miles down the Grand Canyon to that water below and everybody behind you is going, "Get out of the way! Jump!"

And then you'd ooch your way back and go back down the rail. I'm like, "I can go get in the same pool without jumping in the pool from up here. Why would I jump?" But something inside you pulls you up that ladder because you go, "If they can do it, I can do it. If those boys can do it, then I can do it. And if I don't, I'm chicken or something's wrong with me. Why can't I do it?" And you think, "Well then just why didn't you quit?"

Because there's something in us that when we feel that pull to try something, not something crazy, but sometimes faith does look crazy. Because if you take a flying leap, then people will go, "You're nuts. Why would you check all your reason at the door and come in and just believe this stuff?" Go to Genesis with me. I'm going to read you a few of these. Genesis chapter 12. And this is early on the planet literally. And if you read chapter 11, it gives you some genealogies of people who lived, died, lived, died. And these people lived for hundreds of years back then.

And I'll read you this story. Let me read you a few quotes here while you're going there about faith. C.S. Lewis says this: "Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods." There are things that are true whether you feel like they are or not. You say, "Well, I don't think God's going to take care of me." Whether you think He's going to take care of you or not is a moot point. He is going to take care of you. So you can believe certain things because they are just so.

I have a 6'9" dad. And when you're a little bitty kid, that's a terrifying thing and not such a good thing if you're in trouble. But if you, like I have done in the past, I like climbing things obviously. I'd get up in trees. I could usually get up high into a tree and get down. But sooner or later you get yourself up a tree you cannot get down. And when you have a 6'9" father come out and put his arms up like this and you're a little bitty boy and he says, "Jump, I will catch you." There's really no doubt that man could catch me, right?

But we ooch again off that branch. You know how you kind of suspended there? You're kind of semi-holding on, but gravity's about to take over. And you really didn't jump in trust, you fell off the branch because you got over too far. But even the falling off the branch is precipitated by, "I'm thinking he can catch me." And once he catches you, you have that exhilaration of, "Wow, he really can catch me."

God is a big God. And when you get yourself in a situation and He says, "Look, I'm telling you, I'm not telling you to just jump for jumping sake. I am right here. I will catch you. Jump." And you say, "But what about? But what about?" Are you going to sit up there in that tree the rest of your life or jump? Or fall as in my case. Get out of the tree! But it's scary stuff because you may not actually trust this guy.

St. Augustine said, "Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward of this faith is to see what you believe." Now I've lived a certain number of years. And the longer you live and the more you trust God and see Him come through, you would think you would say, "Piece of cake. He says do this, I'll catch you. I'll go to the next thing." But it doesn't work that way. Because when He tests you, when He says, "Jump," you're jumping usually from a higher branch thinking He may not catch me.

Everybody listening today, if you're interested in God at all, you are being called to jump into the arms of God in some way. And He is asking you to trust Him. And usually, if you could get down by yourself, you wouldn't be talking to Him in the first place. So the fact that you're in a situation and being pulled maybe by Him to say, "Look, I got another challenge. I got another job for you, but you are not going to be able to do it in your own strength or by yourself. You are going to have to trust me." And that will happen till the day you die with different issues.

Look at chapter 12 of Genesis. "Now the Lord had said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. So I will bless you and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" Now up to there it is just words, okay?

But then something has to happen. So the next verse 4: "So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him." You have to obey! You have to take a step of obedience. You have to jump. You say, "Well, I believe." Belief turns into action. Genuine belief turns into doing something. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. And look at this: "And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran." Some of you say, "I'm old. I'm retired. I'm done." You can't back that up with scripture.

You better be figuring out ways if you're old and retired and you got all this time on your hands. You better be figuring out ways to serve God and hit the finish line hard and say, "What is the next thing?" I talked to a guy this week. He mentioned a man, a guy who is my age and this guy's older than us. He said, "For 30 years this guy has been a mentor to me and I couldn't have made it." And he went on and on. I looked at him and said, "Okay, now who are you doing that for?" And he just stared at me.

I'm like, "Dude, you're up! It's your turn. It's your time. You cannot experience 30 years of this and not figure out you've got to be doing the same thing. Oh, so-and-so's been such a blessing to me and they've poured their life into me." You know what? If somebody's pouring their life in you and it's working, you're pouring your life out on somebody else instead of just soaking it in and sucking it up. It's got to start flowing somewhere.

So Abram does what he's supposed to do. "Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son and all their possessions that they had gathered and all the people whom they had acquired in Haran and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land of the place of Shechem as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh and the Canaanites were there in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord."

Where is God telling you to go? What is God telling you to do? How many of you can identify already? You're being pulled in a direction. God has said, "This is what I want you to do and I will take care of you. I will provide for you. I promise I'll be there not just when you get there. I'm already there and I'm here and I'll be all the way there." You are about to take a step of faith or not.

And the or not part of this is you are going to sit on your butt till the day you die unless you make a decision to take that step. And you say, "Well, but I don't want to take that step right now. I'm taking other steps." You can't take other steps. You can go through religious machinations, but when the Holy Spirit says to you, "This is the next step," and "This is the next step," you got to do them as He reveals them or you're just going through the motions.

And churches are filled with people. One of the no-brainer ones on this is baptism. People say, "Well, but I'm growing as a Christian, but I don't think I need to be baptized." It's the first thing! You say, "Well, I don't believe that." Then you are stuck in the mud for the rest of your life and you will never grow like you could grow if you don't obey in that simple area. He just said to do it. You say, "Well, I'm going to explain it away." You got to stop explaining away what God tells you to do and just do it, right?

You say, "Well, I don't agree with that." I'm not trying to get you to agree with me. Read your Bible! Now I have certain skills, ability, personality, perseverance, all that. But you know what? I get to a place in my personal life, my personal walk with Christ, where I get up to the edge and I get scared. You say, "Well, you're never scared." How do you know that?

And God says, "Come on, keep coming. Don't chicken out. Trust me. I'm not done with you yet." And if you take the next step, it's not just about you. I talked to a kid last night. Decide he wasn't going to play football so far because the coach last year was mean to him and said some things. And this kid's old enough. He's going to be a senior. And he's kind of standing there with his arm crossed telling me all that. I looked at him and I said, "You know what, dude? This isn't just about you playing football."

I said, "You need to go sit down. You're a man. Go sit down with your coach, tell him what you didn't like, figure it out." Because I said, "You got to be on the field not just for you to play football. There are other kids coming behind you that need your butt out there on the field because they don't know what to do and you've got experience. You've got game. So the devil's going to derail you with your pride and 'I don't like what happened.' I mean, grow up, guy, and get on with it."

And God's saying, "Look, I'll use you, but you're going to have to get over some stuff and keep moving." Abram obeys. It's that simple. God speaks and he does it. When you read the scriptures, when God says something in His word, you've got to make a decision right there. I'm either doing this or I'm not. And what'll make you nuts is if you spend the next 20, 30 years reading your Bible and don't do anything about it. What is the point of that? "Oh, I'm going to learn the scriptures." For what? "Oh, I'll be knowledgeable. I'll be able to impress people in conversation." So what? If they don't see Jesus in your life, you're a hypocrite!

You say, "Well, I'm going to do it my way." You know what? It's never going to work your way. I can't make my way work. And that's how I get pulled back to God. He goes, "Okay, are you finished?" He doesn't actually say these things. I'm speaking for him, but that's how it feels. Hebrews 11. Go over there and then we're going to actually go back a few.

Hebrews 11. This is a chapter about faith, what it is and what it takes and people who have had it and how that worked out. Hebrews 11, let's just read some of these verses. Verse 1: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were made not of things which are visible." Do you believe that? You're nuts if you believe that! The world would say you've lost your ever-loving mind.

Let me read it again. If you say you believe the scriptures and this whole story, then it is by faith that I understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. I actually believe that Jesus spoke words and bam, things materialized ex nihilo out of nothing. If you say you're a Christian and you believe the Bible, that's what you're saying you believe. Because you got to make nothing before you can make something out of nothing. So He's got to make nothing first because nothing is something when you don't have nothing.

So you say He spoke words, things that were not seen made the visible things out of things not seen. By faith and he gives some examples of Abel, Enoch. Let's jump down to verse let's go all the way down here to verse 6. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must first believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."

And by the way, that took 100 years. God says it's going to rain. I don't know if he told him in 100 years. Build a boat ready nowhere near the coast. Build a boat like I tell you to build it and in 100 years, something's going to happen. You'll need the boat. Build the boat. Are you building the boat? That's my question. You say, "Well, God's asking me to do this thing and what if that takes 20 years?" Then you'll be ready in 20 years.

But if you don't build the boat, if you don't go through these steps and don't trust Him, then when the moment comes, you're not ready. You've got to believe, but the kind of faith in the Bible is a faith that does something. It acts. It moves. Go down a few verses there. Verse 8. "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going."

If you get orders to go somewhere and do something, are you willing to go if you don't know where you're going? If God said start marching, start marching that direction and I'll fill you in as we go. You know what? The military's brilliant about this. Sometimes orders, they don't even know what they're doing. Load up, get in the plane. When you're in the air, we'll tell you where you're going, what the mission is. "I ain't getting on the plane till you tell me where we're going. That's it. I ain't getting on the plane." You know why that stunt doesn't work in the military? Because they are under authority and they signed up to trust and obey and do what they're told.

Well, I'm not that kind of Christian. Obviously you're not! Because the way it's supposed to work is God taps me on my little heart and says, "You know what? It's time now. Start moving. I'll tell you what we're doing when we get there." I say, "Yes, sir. No, sir." Either one, but do something. And for me what happens is when I take that first step and move in that direction, then all of a sudden He goes, "Okay, now we're doing somewhere." And then He starts showing me stuff. Then I get the strength I need to keep moving. But standing still, I got nothing.

There's some kind of spiritual curiosity in me that drives me partially in this. I am a little bit curious about what I might miss if I don't trust Him. If I give up. If I stand here where I think I'm safe and don't try. Now let me tell you where I got in the last few days. I don't like the unknown necessarily. I don't like not knowing exactly what's coming. I'm probably more of a control freak than I know. But this is how far I got.

Lord, and I rode around in my car and said these words out loud: "I'll go wherever You want me to go. I am willing. And if I'm not really willing, I'm willing to be made willing to go wherever You want me to go, do whatever You want me to do, say whatever You want me to say, stop whatever You want me to stop. Whatever You say, Lord, You call it and I'm in." Now when you make that kind of statement to God, you have no idea what's coming. Because He not just calls the shots, He owns your butt.

So you put your hands out. You say, "Lord, my hands are not clean. I clean my hands. I want to offer myself to You." So this is all I got. This is all I am. And anything that I am, it's a result of You anyway. So wherever You lead, that's where I'll go. You say, "Well, what could happen?" I don't know. It ain't my problem! What's going to happen if you don't do that? And you keep everything close and tight and you stay. Look what one man's obedience catapulted, dominoed into history. Abram at 70-something years of age gets instructions and he got up and did it. And here we sit because some guy said, "Yes, sir." That's all he said and followed through with it.

And you can read the rest of Hebrews 11 there. I do want to read one other story. It's out of Matthew 14. And in this story, in the early parts of this chapter, John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, has been beheaded. Jesus has fed a bunch of people with a sack lunch. And then after he's fed all these people, 5,000 men besides women and children, verse 22 of Matthew 14: "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there, but the boat was now in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea."

Now see, I grew up with these stories and I read that today and I go, "Really? Walking on the water?" You can't imagine the crazy theological explanations people put out. "Well, at that time of year the waters were frozen and he walked," is that walking on water? We're not talking about ice here. It is water. Why do we have these questions? He's God! You say, "Well, how is that possible?" You got to stop looking for why it makes sense all the time and trust Him.

If He wants to walk on water, He can walk on water. But look what happens here. Jesus goes out walking on the sea. "And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled." We might be troubled too. Saying, "It's a ghost." Couldn't possibly be Jesus, it's a ghost. Why? Because we don't believe Jesus can walk on the water, but we believe in ghosts. Now see, if it's a ghost, a ghost can walk on the water. Amazing how our faith works, isn't it? "Oh yeah, I'll believe that."

Immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, "Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid." And every time Jesus does a stunt like this, almost every time an angel shows up, they always combine it with, "And don't be afraid." Why? Because it freaks us out. When God does something miraculous, it usually scares people to death because it's out of our comfort zone and we can't explain it.

And Peter answered Him and said now look at how this guy's brain works "Lord, if it is You," I'm not saying it is or isn't, still working the ghost thing, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." Enough of this. If He can do it, I want to do it. Is there anything like that in you? If he could do it, maybe I could. You know what? There's a good chance you could if that's what He wants to do, which is the point of my message. I'm not trying to get you to do something just to do it. I'm trying to get you to listen to what God is saying to you. And if He says, "I'm directing you to go here and do this," and whatever it is, then you go, "Okay, if I believe that's You and I've heard Your voice before, I'm coming Your way and this is going to work out."

"If it's You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Now what a moment that is! But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. He got more focused on what? His circumstances than on the Lord. He saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him and said to him now how you have this conversation in a storm out walking on water, you know, whether they're screaming this or not, I don't know "Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him saying, "Truly You are the Son of God." When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and it keeps going.

Moments like that. I'm kind of at a moment personally like that. I'm in a safe boat and I think I should be out on the water. And some of you are in the same place. And see, some of you are very successful in certain categories of your life, but you're a failure spiritually maybe and you know that and you're like, "Okay, Lord, it's game on, isn't it?" Yeah, it is. You say, "What if He asks me to do too much?" He's never going to ask you to do more than He's going to give you the strength to do.

Abram obeyed. Along the way I have obeyed and that has made a difference. Along the way you have obeyed and that has made a difference. But along the way we have all disobeyed and we will not know till we get to heaven the cost of that. So God comes along and says, "Trust me." You either tell Him to go take a flying leap, or you go take a flying leap and see if He catches you and see if it was really Him.

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. And for those who want to pray as well, can click on the prayed tab at the bottom of the request.

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Let's make this day a great day in someone else's life. Go to richardellis.com and support this mission today. That's richardellis.com. You can also send us your gift by calling 855-6-RICHARD, 855-674-2427. Thank you. And until next time, thank you for listening. We look forward to coming alongside you again for more Richard Ellis Talks.