Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: I believe that there are people who are searching and literally will lay their lives down for something. They want a reason to live, but more than that, they want something that they would die for. And it's hard to find that today. Jesus is worth living for and He is worth dying for, if that's what it takes.

Guest (Male): Welcome to *Richard Ellis Talks* with Richard Ellis. Richard's going to take the next few minutes to share some great words of hope and insight for you. And in today's broken world, that is something everyone is desperate to hear. Richard shares unapologetically the truth of the Bible in a way that's clear, relational, and uplifting. Thank you for taking this time to listen. We know it will bless you.

When you have a moment, you might want to check out our website so we can stay connected with you: RichardEllis.com. But right now, let's go ahead and get things off and running with today's talk. Here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is *Heaven Sent*. I want you to turn to Luke chapter 10. There's some familiar verses maybe to some of you, maybe the first time for others, but Luke chapter 10, and we're going to start in verse 1. It's very hard sometimes to read everything before and everything after, but I'm going to encourage you maybe sometime later today to go read chapter 9 and just slowly go through it and see what he says. There are some amazing things that happen all through this stuff.

Well, I've got to read you one of them. Luke chapter 9, verse 49: "Now John answered and said, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we told him to stop,' or 'we forbade him because he does not follow with us.' He's not in our group." But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side."

It doesn't matter if he's in our group. And sometimes churches get real clicky. We're the only ones doing it right, we've got it all figured out, and "if you're not in our church, it must not be a God thing." Let me tell you something, and I've asked you all this before and you know by now: how many churches are there in Dallas? There's one church. You say, "Well, there's more than one church. There's all these churches. There's hundreds of churches." No, there is one church. There is only one church on this planet.

You are either in it or you're not. You say, "Well, I don't agree with those people over there." Let me tell you something, you're either in their family or you're not. You may not do vacations the same place everybody else does, but you're still family. You can have a lot of differences in a family but still be family. So these guys are coming and saying, "Well, they're not with us." And he says, "If they're not against us, they're for us. They're on our side."

The context here is that discipleship, following Christ, will cost you. Well, I give up. I've got to read this stuff. Verse 57 of chapter 9, then we'll just go into chapter 10. "Now it happened as they journeyed on the road that someone said to Him," somebody's walking along and says, "'Lord, I'll follow You wherever You go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.' You want to follow Me? I can't guarantee you anywhere to sleep and that it will be the same place. You want to follow Me? It's going to be out there."

If I follow Christ, is it going to cost me anything? It may cost you everything. You may end up in a country—we've got people in the room who have been in civil war in a country on this planet and been exiled where they lost everything. You say, "Well, that doesn't sound very exciting." He never promised it would be fun. Now it is exciting, but it is expensive. And why is it so expensive? Because it cost Jesus His life.

If you're going to follow Him, you've got to take up your cross, and that involves suffering, and follow Him. And you say, "Well, Richard, you shouldn't tell us stuff like this. You're never going to grow a church telling people it's tough. People leave. They want something easy." I don't find that to be true. I talk to people—20-year-olds, kids, 50-year-olds, whatever the age—and I am discovering people have had enough of all this comfort, of all this ease, of all this quote-unquote fun and pleasure.

People are looking for something to pour their lives into, to be passionate about, to be committed to, and to go after with gusto and their entire life. They're tired of just floating along and watching things happen. They want to sink their teeth into something. And if that's not the case, why is it that these cults with all these bizarre restrictions and things you have to do, the hoops you have to jump through and comply and all this stuff? Why is it that people get into that? Because they want structure. They want something that they can give their whole life to.

So I'm not convinced. I believe that there are people who are searching and literally will lay their lives down for something. They want a reason to live, but more than that, they want something that they would die for. And it's hard to find that today. Jesus is worth living for and He is worth dying for, if that's what it takes.

He said to this guy, "You're not even going to have anywhere to sleep." Then He said to another—one of them asked Him. Now, He says this. He looked at another guy and says, "Follow Me." He had said that to the 12 disciples when He picked them up along the way, but He says to another one, "Follow Me." But he said, "Well, Lord, let me first go bury my father." Now Jesus sounds cold-blooded here. Jesus says to this guy, "Hey, follow Me. Let's go with me." The guy says, "Well, I'll tell you what. Let me go back." And this sounds like a great thing. "Let me go bury my father." Wouldn't that be understandable?

Jesus comes back and says, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." In other words, don't let anything hold you back. You say, "But I don't want to pay that price." Another also said, "Lord, I'll follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house. I've got people at my house, and I've got to go tell them bye." But Jesus said to him, "No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." This looks like it requires commitment.

That's the context. Heavy-duty commitment: put your hand to the plow, go, hang in there, don't quit, don't give up. Does it mean that if you do quit He's going to shoot you and it's all over? No, there's mercy, grace, forgiveness. He'll take you back. But guys, if you're going to get in, get in. Now look at verse 1 of chapter 10. "After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go."

For some reason these people are following Him. Jesus picks 70 people. He pairs them up, 35 groups, and He sends them out two by two before Him, before His face. In other words, before He got there. So He put them together and He sends them out into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. He said, "All right guys, here's the deal. I'm going to send you out. And I want you to go to these cities because this is where I'm coming, and I want you to go and prepare the way before I get there." Kind of advance teams that would go in and do the work.

I'm not going to stretch this too far, but I'm going to tell you what I think is about to happen around here. There's been some discussion. I've been praying about this, and pretty soon on a Friday or Saturday night, whatever night we pick and God leads us, we're going to get together and pray. We're going to find out who knows what to do and is comfortable doing this, and we're going to go barhopping.

That got somebody's attention. Why am I doing that? That'll fit right in with my life. A little bit different kind of barhopping. Deep Ellum, Greenville, wherever it is. We're going to pray and say, "God, where are the people that You're trying to reach? We want to go before Your face and get in there and reach them." Now you say, "Well, I don't know what I'd do." We'll put you with somebody who does know what to do. What are you talking about? We're going to go in a bar or restaurant or wherever it is He sends us, and we're going to sit down with people that are just hanging out, and we're going to talk to them.

We're going to befriend them and just have a conversation. Let me tell you something. You say, "Well, that's not why I go," or "I used to go." People that are going to bars to get wasted are searching for something. I've talked to too many people who get wasted on a Friday or Saturday night and wake up feeling like you-know-what on Sunday and ask themselves, "What am I doing with my life? This is not fun. I do not feel good the next day. This is not worth it. There's got to be more than this."

They're sitting out there and I believe people that are out there, whatever they're—maybe they're not getting wasted. Whatever they're doing, chasing women, men, whatever they're chasing, they're chasing something other than God and they're searching. I think at some point in the quietness of their home, they lay their head on the pillow after they throw up, whatever they have to do to get over it. They're laying there and somewhere sometime they scream out to God and say, "Help." They dial 911.

They're dying out there and they don't know what to do about it. They're too proud to say, "I'm a screwup, don't know what to do about it," so they cry out to God in the quietness of that moment. How does this deal work? 911, you dial to heaven. If you could get yourself to the emergency room, you wouldn't be calling 911. You'd drive yourself in. Some of you are here because of that; you made it here. But there are a lot of people never going to make it into some church building or church gathering. They're too weak, they're too far gone, they're almost dead.

So they dial up 911 and say, "God, help." The Holy Spirit then signals an ambulance driver. You know who the ambulance drivers are? You. Me. You wake up think you're going to work. You're running an ambulance to the office. And the Holy Spirit gets you at work or at lunch. A friend, somebody calls you like, "What are they calling? Why did I see this person?" He says, "Because I'm working both sides. This person dialed 911 calling for help, and you're the one that's out here to reach them and haul them in and try to help them."

I'm tired of waiting for them to come here, guys. We're going to go where they are with the right motive, the right reason. I mean, we're not going to send alcoholics out two by two because that wouldn't be very wise. That'd be a whole another experience. You're laughing but we've got some that it would be hard. And we have some that will—and you better say this. You say, "Well, Richard, I can't go back in yet. I'm not strong enough." I respect that. If you're an alcoholic, you struggle with these things, these lifestyle issues, and you go back in and it hits you too hard, don't go. You stay somewhere and pray while the others go and be the backup.

You've got to be matched up properly and go. But guys, look, we're going to go out there and reach people. You say, "Well, are you going to get a big old Bible under your arm and go in with a fish on your t-shirt and a cap that says..." No, we're just going to *be*. We're just going to go sit and talk to people and have a conversation. And if the opportunity arises, say, "You know what, maybe this is where I used to spend my time or my life, but somebody changed my life. I found out that God loves me, that His Son Jesus died for me, was buried and raised from the dead. And if you'd ever like more information about this, here's a card, here's my number. Call me and I'll help you any way I can." We're just being available.

Does this make sense? Jesus sends these guys out two by two before Him where He Himself was about to go. Verse 2: now I want to camp out a little bit on verse 2 and we may not get very far beyond this today. Verse 2 doesn't say what you think it says. When you read this thing, it sounds very nice and tidy and like a nice prayer. But this is a heavy-duty thing He says to pray. "Then He said to them," these 70 and the people that are with Him, "'The harvest truly is great. There is no lack of fish in the sea. There is no lack of fruit on the trees. The wheat is everywhere.'"

People say, "I just never can find anybody that is not a Christian. I'm never around people who are pagans." Well, then you haven't left the house in years. These people are everywhere and they're searching. It's not about shoving something down their throat. You just say, "God, show me. Just open your eyes." They're everywhere. They say, "I don't know how to talk to people." When you get a wrong number, when somebody calls your house and it's a wrong number, talk to them. They called you; you didn't call them. "Who are you trying to reach? Really? Oh, well, so do you live here in Dallas?" I've had conversations with complete strangers.

You say, "Well, they're going to hang up." Not before I get to them they're not. I say, "You know what, it's really bizarre. Like, you're calling me and you're trying to reach me, and you may wonder why you even have a phone after you get off the phone with me. But let me just tell you something. Maybe you called me for me to tell you something. God's got a great plan for your life, and Jesus died on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead and He can change your forever and your life." And "Hello?" Maybe they're gone by then, but you can't unhear what you heard.

You say, "Well, you're just randomly taking potshots." No, I'm taking every opportunity I have because you know what? Somebody on the other end of that line may go, "Oh my gosh. I've been praying and asking God to help me and now you said that." See, and don't do it if He doesn't prompt you. But I'm telling you, the God is talking to you a whole lot more than you realize. And if you'll just open your mouth and share, it'll happen. So the harvest—there's people everywhere. But what's the problem? Look at the next phrase: "But the laborers are few." Everybody wants to stand and watch the combines run, but nobody wants to get out there in the field.

He says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. So what is the answer? Guys, I want you to listen close to this because it'll help you understand who I am and what this is really about and how we're going to do things. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few. Here is what you do: you pray. And the word here "pray," if you go look it up, is the word that means to beg. It doesn't mean, "Dear God, help us reach the world." It means you, if you were going to somebody and desperate for something, you would go and say, "God, you have got to do something. If You don't do something and You don't move and You don't make this happen, it isn't going to happen. God, this is serious."

I've heard you stand up, family members that are not Christians and whatever is going on in their life, and I've heard you with urgency, with passion, say, "God, you guys have got to pray that my family gets sober," or "my brother gets sober," or "my sister to whatever." That urgency. You go to God and you say, "God, I'm begging you. You've got to do something." And what is it that you're asking Him to do? "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest," talk to God; it's His harvest, "to send out laborers into His harvest." It's all about Him. And you won't get me recruiting you. My job is not to come tap you like, "You know what, I think you should be doing more. I think you should be out there." And I don't do this.

My job is to go to God and beg Him and say, "God, there are people everywhere. Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn, there are hurting, dying people everywhere. You've got to do something, God." What has He got to do? He's got to touch your heart and your life and motivate you to go do it, that He would send *you* into His harvest. Now see, if I go grab somebody and I say, "You know what, buddy, I think you're not doing enough. I think you're sitting on your butt and the world's going to hell and you ought to be out there telling people." I might rattle him so bad that he might go out one time, and if I talk him into doing it, I've got to keep talking him to keep doing it.

But if I pray for him and I say, "God, there's something going on in his life or some woman's life, whoever it is. God, use them. I'm begging you. Send laborers, whoever it is." Then you will be amazed that you get a tap on your shoulder or in your heart, and somebody inside of you says, "You've got to go." I'm going to tell you a word that's not going to make any sense here just looking at it. And it looks like a calm word. But there is a word, "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to *send out*." Sounds pretty calm, doesn't it? That word—and I don't do this much—but it's *ekballo*. And it means to throw out.

It's so dramatic. It's literally if I were going to send this pen out the back door, I could say, "Would you take this pen out the back door?" That's not the word. If I want this pen out that back door, the word is I chunk that pen out the back door. It's to throw it out. You're saying, "God, I am begging you to throw people out into this harvest." Let me tell you what's the tough thing about this. If you get jerked out into a field all of a sudden, you'll know why. And some people describe this as getting off dead center. And whatever it takes when you've got a pastor and a church praying to the Lord of the harvest, begging Him to send laborers, thrust out, throw out laborers into the harvest, you're in trouble because you're going to get thrown into the harvest.

You get a church filled with people who the God of the universe has grabbed by the ears or their bootstraps and thrown them out there, guys, something's going to happen. But I will tell you this from years of being a person who's gotten thrown out there, I wouldn't go back for any amount of money to the bench. Because when you get somebody on the phone who starts asking questions, and you are nervous and it's uncomfortable and you don't want to talk to them, it's not a good time and it's not a good day and you've got all this junk going in your life, but God puts you in a situation and you open your mouth and somebody says, "I can't believe you're saying this. I've been praying for weeks, for months that God would send me somebody to answer these questions and to help me. I'm sucking air and I don't know what to do about it. Can you help me?"

And you realize that God has put you on the planet and left you on the planet, not just to sit, but to serve, and He'll throw you out there. This is not a great memory, but it's very descriptive of this deal. I was about six years old. My dad was an evangelist, a pastor, and we were staying at some hotel and I didn't know how to swim. We'd stay at these hotels and it was great to paddle around in the water. One day my dad—my dad is six foot nine—and we're all at this pool. And I didn't know how to swim. This is not use this tact on my own children, but it worked with me. My dad picked me up and chunked me out in the middle of the pool. That's being thrown out.

All of a sudden, I'm drowning. He'd come after me. I'm out there and I'm thinking, "You know what, I don't want to be out here. I'm going to die or swim." And sometimes you have to get chunked out there and be in a very uncomfortable place and all of a sudden realize—wait a minute. Now see, I didn't drown obviously. I almost drowned, but I didn't drown. I began to swim. And you know what? It turned out to be a great thing. A lot of people want to get in, get their feet wet, just ease in, and God says, "There's not time for that. And I'm going to throw you out there and I'm going to let you give them what you've got, and because you're giving what you've got, you're going to have to go get some more." And you begin to grow exponentially. But I'm going to throw you out there.

This ought to be enough to run half of you completely out of this church. "I don't want to be thrown into any pool. Leave me alone. Don't be praying to this God about me." It will change your life, but beyond that, it will change somebody else's life. These guys, these 70, go out there, they're thrown out there, and then He says to them, "Pray the Lord of the harvest that He will throw out other laborers into the harvest." And then verse 3: He says, "Go your way." He says, "Go." "Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves." That sounds pretty scary. "I'm sending you out as little lambs among wolves. Carry neither moneybag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road."

It doesn't mean be rude to people you pass. It's just in that culture, Jewish people would stop and have these long greeting conversations. He said say hi, but keep going. "But whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house.' And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give." I was raised a missionary kid in Brazil, and I went into homes in the interior of Brazil where I sat down to eat and you didn't ask questions. You put it in your mouth. Now when you're an adult you've got to do that, when you're a kid you've got to do that because your parents tell you to.

I mean, I've been in homes, guys, where you walked in and they had saved all week long to buy a liter of Coke to serve at lunch. That was a huge deal for them. They'd buy a bottle of Coke and they'd put it on the table and that was their gift. My brother went on a mission trip a few years ago to Eastern Europe, and he went to a city where the tour guide didn't feel comfortable going. The food was so bad the locals wouldn't eat it. My brother said he sat down to eat and the translator informed him that the people, the Christians of that city, had fasted and prayed for a week. Some of it was in prayer, but some of it was to save enough money to feed the Americans who were coming to their city to be hospitable.

If you get in a house, whatever they give you, eat it. And I'm telling you this for not just here—I mean, some of you are not very good cooks, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the day God throws us out there to Liberia or some other country and they serve food and we eat it. They take us in and we stay there. It's in the book. The laborer, He says, eat and drink such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. "Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, 'The very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.'"

"But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city." Now go down to verse 17. Time passes, they go out, and they come back. Verse 17: "Then the 70 returned with joy." Now guys, I'm going to tell you something. It's a pain, but there's joy in it. They went out, they went through all kind of stuff and we don't have the full account of everything that happened. We'll see in a minute what happened. But they returned with joy. They went with nothing and came back with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."

This is what Jesus said to them: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." He says, "You want to talk about demons? I was there when Satan himself fell like a lightning bolt out of heaven. Behold," He says, "look, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and on scorpions and over all power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you." I've given you authority and protection. You can go anywhere, do anything, and you'll be protected. Verse 20: "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you."

There's a lot of churches out there that emphasize all this spiritual stuff that is not bad. I'm not saying it's bad. And miraculous things happen, and they emphasize all this spiritual miraculous stuff. It's awesome stuff. But Jesus says, "If you're going to get cranked about something, that's great that that happens. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." And the ultimate purpose of Jesus, God, the Bible, the whole deal, is that He came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Seeing people healed is a means to see them turn to Christ because if they're physically able and something changes there, then they're seeking spiritually for a God who can do that kind of thing. Guys, it's not about focusing on the power we have; it's focusing on the God behind the power and the purpose He's given this power, and ultimately is so that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. If you want some passages to read on that: over in Revelation 3:5, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 20:12, Revelation 20:15, Revelation 21:27, all talk about your name being written.

And I'll read Revelation 20:12: "And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books." Revelation 13:8: "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Let me tell you something: you are going to worship this God one way or another. It'll be by choice or by force. You will be commanded to worship Him and bow, or you will choose to bow. I highly recommend bowing now and realize that God has a plan and a purpose. It may require passion, sacrifice, some pain along the way, but there is no better way to live. It may cost you, but it'll gain you everything.

Guest (Male): Before Richard comes back to wrap things up for us today, I'd like to share a couple important things with you. Let me encourage you to take a minute and check out our website: RichardEllis.com. You'll find today's talk right there in the talks page along with all of Richard's audio and video messages. You can even forward them to a friend so they can hear them too. You'll also find the prayer wall to add your prayer requests, a link so you can connect with us, the contribute page for you to be able to give to this ministry, all of our social media links, and much more. So check it out: RichardEllis.com. And Richard's back now to wrap up today's talk.

Richard Ellis: Some of you are a little nervous and you're not going to learn how to swim by yourself. I'm telling you, I'm kind of warning you. I am praying the Lord of the harvest. I am begging the Lord of the harvest that He will thrust out laborers into His harvest. And you say, "Well, is that for my sake you're praying that?" No, it's for your sake and the thousands of people that your life will touch if you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and allow Him to work in and through you. There is no stopping. There are people who are more able than I am, but they may not be as available as I am. You say, "Well, what can I do?" It's not what you can do. It's what God can do and what you'll let Him do in and through you. Be one of those people who says, "Father, I want to be heaven sent. And if somebody's praying that somebody will be sent, I'm willing to go. Here am I; send me."

Guest (Male): You've been listening to *Richard Ellis Talks*. We really appreciate that you spent this time with us, but we want to keep the conversation going with you. So give us a call anytime at 855-6-RICHARD. That's 855-674-2427. Or through our website, RichardEllis.com, by sending an email to us so we can stay connected with you. 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 through the website, RichardEllis.com. Your story needs to be heard and we're listening, caring, and encouraging. 855-6-RICHARD or RichardEllis.com. Finally, if you enjoy the program, let us know by your generous support to join us on our mission to reach the planet. We can't do it alone and need your help on this mission: RichardEllis.com. So until next time, have a great day and thank you for listening to *Richard Ellis Talks*.