Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Today on Richard Ellis Talks, so be a virtuous wife. The virtuous, by the way, is a word that means strength, valor, nobility, excellence, moral courage. Used of Old Testament, in the Old Testament, for warriors or noble people, suggesting that in this case, this woman is spiritually strong.

Richard Ellis: Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're taking these few days to share some very important news with you. As we all know, the world is a very troubled place right now. Maybe your own heart has also felt very heavy for many reasons. Let me say that you don't have to walk this out alone.

Richard Ellis: This program is committed to sharing the good news that promises hope for the hurting. We have a great opportunity to come alongside of your Mayday, Mayday, Mayday call. More on that later, but for now, with today's talk, here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is, isn't she amazing? This has not always been the case in my house, but in the last few years, before I leave the house, maybe some days we miss. I'll find Rebecca and grab her in my arms and I pray.

Richard Ellis: The prayer usually starts out something like this, "Our Father, thank you for another day." Then right after that is, "I thank you for my amazing wife." So that's been going on for a long time. Well, the other morning, for some reason, I started praying, "Our Father, thank you for another day."

Richard Ellis: Somehow I said, "And I thank you for my great wife," and I kept praying. In Jesus name, amen. I go to kiss her goodbye. She said, "What happened to amazing?"

Richard Ellis: So, if you think your women are not listening, they are listening. Pay attention. She is paying attention. So, I went back to amazing and so I got a whole sermon about that now today.

Richard Ellis: Now go to Genesis chapter two. Again, I don't want to get too much in the weeds here, but a few technicalities as we go down this road. So in Genesis chapter two, we'll jump in at verse 20, and there is no woman yet. Animals are all made, obviously the universe is in place, the earth is in place.

Richard Ellis: So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. So we've already seen, if you read before this, he makes Adam, takes dirt, which a lot of women understand this. Of course, why do you think I say his name is mud? He was made from dirt.

Richard Ellis: That explains everything. Women were not made from dirt, by the way. I thought I'd get some response, but that's. So you got Adam, nobody for him. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, first anesthesia, whatever he did, and he slept.

Richard Ellis: He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. So whatever he's doing with the dirt, he forms this guy and then breathes life into him, you got a man.

Richard Ellis: Now he takes a part of that man and builds a woman around it. I still say, I mean, guys are great, but women are extraordinary. So he brings her to Adam. Adam said, and if you just read it, you think, "Well, it's just what it says."

Richard Ellis: This is now, even the phrase this is now, when he says, it carries a tone of excitement, recognition. It's like Adam said, "At last." He recognizes she is the perfect counterpart. He says, "This is now bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man."

Richard Ellis: If you look up the word for man, it's ish. I'm sure the woman looked at the man, like, "Ish." And then her name, he gave, the woman was called Isha. So he looked at her and went, "Ish. Ah." It's things you didn't know about the Bible, but they're here.

Richard Ellis: Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. She's taken out of man.

Richard Ellis: Then already, before there are even children born, "Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and become one flesh." There's no kids. So there's lots of future built into these verses.

Richard Ellis: So go to Genesis chapter three. Down to verse 14. So now things gotten crazy, man has sinned. The consequences have kicked in, starting to kick in. You haven't been removed from the garden yet. But verse 14, "So the Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the cattle."

Richard Ellis: In other words, going after Adam and Eve, "And more than every beast of the field, on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity," and this is a very, like if you read this, you go, "What in the world does this mean?"

Richard Ellis: "I will put enmity," in other words, conflict, "between you and the woman." Okay, well that's fine. And then he says this phrase, "And between your seed and her seed." Okay? Women don't have seed. His seed are the people that do evil, the demons, everyone on that side of the ledger.

Richard Ellis: But this enmity between you and the woman, so there's some enmity between Satan and women specifically. "And your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel." So whatever they're talking about here, again, there's no kids yet.

Richard Ellis: But not from Eve herself, but from womankind there would come a child. In my translation the word seed is capitalized because it's a proto-evangelion if you want to use a big word. It's the gospel in Genesis, talking about what was coming. It's the first place it's mentioned.

Richard Ellis: But that someone would be born of a woman, of a woman's seed, meaning it would have to be a virgin birth. It was not a man's seed in that woman. Satan, yes, would bruise his heel, but that seed, that baby, that person born, would crush Satan's head.

Richard Ellis: That's exactly what happened when Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and raised from the dead. So you jump from these verses, this time, all the way to the weekend of the cross and the resurrection, and it's game on.

Richard Ellis: To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow in your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." So, tough consequences. And then you go down to verse 20.

Richard Ellis: "And Adam called his wife's name Eve." Now, he had given what she was, a woman, Isha, that is her name. He named what her, you know, he's male, she's female, man, woman. But now he gives her a name. "Adam called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living."

Richard Ellis: Even there you go. What do you mean, all living? Nobody's been conceived, nobody's been born. Who are you talking about? Again, looking in faith, Adam has heard what God has said about her seed, something's coming. So he names her Eve, and that word means the mother of all living.

Richard Ellis: Go to Proverbs 31. So I was going to try to just stick to one verse here, and it's kind of hard, so I'm not going to read the whole thing to you. But Proverbs 31, we will read verse one. "The words of King Lemuel." So you think, "Well, this is all Solomon."

Richard Ellis: Look at here. "The words of King Lemuel, the utterance which his mother taught him." So you assume this is Solomon, this is Lemuel, his mom. This is what his mother taught him. And then he goes on to say, "What my son, and what son of my womb, and what son of my vows, do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

Richard Ellis: It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the justice of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more.

Richard Ellis: Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and the needy." So, why was she telling him, number one here, don't drink, don't be intoxicated, because you won't be in a good place to judge when you need to judge a situation and help people who are in trouble.

Richard Ellis: Then look at verse 10. I've been praying about how to say what I'm about to say here, so let me see if I can say it properly. "Who can find a virtuous wife?" The word virtuous means godly character, moral strength, and wisdom, whose life blesses her husband, family, and community.

Richard Ellis: So, I meet guys and they say, "Well, I'd like to find a wife." You're going to have an impossible time finding a virtuous wife when you are not a virtuous man yourself to be a virtuous husband.

Richard Ellis: Men that live like whores, all of a sudden want to wake up one day and say, "Well, I've lived like a whore, but now I want to find a virtuous wife." Has it ever occurred to you that maybe she's not going to have any interest in you? "Yeah, but I want this great girl."

Richard Ellis: If you want a great woman, be a great man. If you want a godly woman, be a godly man and give her someone to be attracted to. So these guys that say, "Well, the Bible says, 'Who can find a virtuous wife?'" You're not looking for a virtuous wife. That's why you haven't found one.

Richard Ellis: You're looking for some cougar. We'll just, we'll leave it at that. That's. "Who can find a virtuous wife?" "When you find one, I found one." "For her worth is far above rubies." Again, I think I've said this in the past, that does not mean you don't have to buy jewelry for the woman.

Richard Ellis: She is worth more than rubies, but you can try to, you know, express that through rubies. Then verse 11, "The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain." I don't know how this works in everybody's marriage. I honestly have never talked to my wife about this, so here we go. I won't even look over there.

Richard Ellis: I trust my wife. I don't know if you understand what a huge thing it is to be able to trust your wife. I see where she is on GPS. She can find me. I don't know if she knows how it works, but I know how it works with her. So if she won't answer the call, I look up and I just want to make sure she's moving, she's safe, she hasn't been abducted at the Goodwill store.

Richard Ellis: Call the police and see if there's been some kidnapping. I don't ever think about she's out there talking to some guy, she's going to sneak off and cheat on me. That's not the case with all women. Some guys are terrified. They never know where their wife is. You know, you think, "Well, guys are always the ones looking around."

Richard Ellis: Sometimes the women are the ones looking around. The guy knows that. He's worried about that. This little phrase, "The heart of her husband safely trusts her." My gosh. You know, I don't want her worrying about that. So be a virtuous wife, be a virtuous husband.

Richard Ellis: The virtuous, by the way, is a word that means strength, valor, nobility, excellence, moral courage. Used of Old Testament, in the Old Testament, for warriors or noble people, suggesting that in this case, this woman is spiritually strong. Then you be spiritually strong as a man.

Richard Ellis: Gosh, there's just simple things that just jack the whole world up and destroy marriages. Be trustworthy. If you haven't been in the past, prove that you can be. "The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain." "She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." That alone you should highlight.

Richard Ellis: Are you that woman? If you're doing evil things to your husband, what are you doing? Just intentionally, manipulatively, just evil things. Stop jacking with your husband. You say, "Well, I want to stay married." No, you don't. You're destroying your marriage.

Richard Ellis: "She seeks wool and flax, willingly works with her hands." I really have this woman. I mean, I know this in the Bible, but my house is full of it. It's mostly cotton, not much wool. Well, there's some wool now. She found some stuff the other day. She's making stuff right now. My house is a mess a little bit certain places.

Richard Ellis: She's making stuff with her hands. "She's like the merchant ship. She brings her food from afar." If you're from Texas, that doesn't mean there was a bonfire. It's afar. She also rises while it is yet night. This doesn't mean it's everybody's everything.

Richard Ellis: She doesn't really get up that early and provides food for her household. She does that. "And a portion for her maidservants." We don't have any maidservants. "She considers a field and buys it." We're not on that yet. "For her profit she plants a vineyard." She is planting a lot of stuff at my house.

Richard Ellis: I have to mow around it. It's a nightmare. "She girds herself with strength and strengthens her arms." We're trying to join a gym, so we'll get to there. Verse 18. "She perceives that her merchandise is good and her lamp does not go out by night."

Richard Ellis: These are just basic things back then. Her merchandise is good. She's not making bad stuff. She keeps oil in the lamps. Keeps the lights on. "She stretches out her hands to the distaff and her hand holds the spindle. She extends her hand to the poor. Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. She's not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet.

Richard Ellis: She makes tapestry for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple." That is true, but a lot of it's from thrift stores. "Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies sashes for the merchants.

Richard Ellis: Strength and honor are her clothing." No matter how fancy you dress, if you put on strength and honor, you can't beat that. "She shall rejoice in time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness."

Richard Ellis: My wife is just like her mother. They do not, they do not stop. Then verse 28. If you have that woman as a mom, or you're married to this woman, okay? This is what is supposed to happen. If you have this woman in your life, and this has not happened yet, it is not the mom or the wife's fault, it is your fault as the husband or the child.

Richard Ellis: Now look what it says. "Her children rise up and call her blessed." Her husband also, and he praises her. This is one of the things he says. "Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all." If you have a great woman, you should say it out loud in front of other people.

Richard Ellis: Don't badmouth her. It just reveals that you are insecure. A confident man will speak confidently and proud, in a proud way, about his woman to other people. Now you say, "Well, why does that not happen?" Because men are not mature, and children are not mature.

Richard Ellis: A child who has grown up with a woman like this eventually will get to the point where they cannot be silent. For her sake and everybody else's sake, they will say what is true. My mom is, and whatever it is. So, I'm going to read you this.

Richard Ellis: "Many daughters have done well." Hey, look up here, redhead. I'm reading to you. "Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all." How many people are not married anymore because they just got crushed by discouragement? How many people are not married anymore because they cheated?

Richard Ellis: Maybe they really didn't want to cheat. Someone came along and said kind words to them. Usually those words, women hitting on men are, "Wow, you're such a great guy. Your wife is so lucky to be married to a man like you." The guy stands there going, "What?" "She didn't tell me that. She tells me what a slug I am."

Richard Ellis: Now, if you're a man and you're sitting around saying, "Well, my wife doesn't say things like that to me." I thought men claimed to be the leaders. Stop waiting for your wife to say stuff to you. Why don't you encourage her? "Well, she's a piece of work."

Richard Ellis: Well, praise her anyway. Find something she's doing right. Encourage her. "Well, but then I'll lose my position." No, then you'll be in position to have a home that God can build.

Richard Ellis: Then verse 30. "Charm is deceitful." You might want to chew on that sometime by yourself, ladies. "Charm is deceitful. Beauty is passing." Not in my house, but maybe yours. "But a woman who fears the Lord." Look at this. This is what it says. "A woman who fears the Lord, what is supposed to happen to her?"

Richard Ellis: Tell me, read it out loud. [--Guest (Male)--] Praise God. [--Richard Ellis--] "She shall be praised." Well, then let's be about that. You say, "Well, I don't know, she'd think I cheated on her if I went home and told her something like this." "Like, what do you want? It's Mother's Day, leave me alone."

Richard Ellis: If you have a woman who fears the Lord, then praise her. Not just to her, publicly. Does this make sense to anybody? "Give her the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates."

Richard Ellis: By the way, just a few of these things, her children rise up. Rise up signifies public honor and respect. That means you as a child have an opportunity somewhere to stand up in front of other people and give your mother public honor and respect.

Richard Ellis: The word blessed or blessed means honored, favored, and joyful. Now go to Proverbs 30. Almost done. Proverbs 30:11. Here's the other thing that happens to people. They say, "Well, if I, if I do what you're saying and do it publicly, I'll get all emotional and then I'll be embarrassed."

Richard Ellis: Just get over yourselves. It's not about you. Maybe you need to get emotional. Maybe that'll help the person that you're saying it about, will go, "Wow, they really mean this." You say, "Well, I'll lose control and I'll be weeping." Okay, we'll wait. But get the words out.

Richard Ellis: You have no idea. Another girl up here stood up with her mom. The second she stood up and took the mic, her mother broke into tears, grabbed everybody's hand she could around her like it was going to be an earthquake. Her daughter couldn't speak. Mom was just sitting there overwhelmed by what she was hearing.

Richard Ellis: Was that encouraging? Right? Even her dad was crying about the impact that what she was saying to her mother was having on him. Why would we not want to live in that world? Why would we not want to encourage people? Why would we not want people to have wind in their sails and go, "Wow, it's going to be okay."

Richard Ellis: "Maybe I did make a difference and maybe something I said or did or tried, it was noticed." Look at Proverbs 30, verse 11. This is written a long time ago, but somehow it seems like it's timeless. "There is a generation that curses its father."

Richard Ellis: You look at kids today, they just flat out disrespect fathers, "and does not bless its mother." This is supposed to be going on. Not cursing dad, blessing mom. You're not blessing mom, because we get so self-absorbed, we don't have time to even recognize what happened.

Richard Ellis: The more you say something, the easier it is to say it. A lot of people just flying the F-bomb air force through their house, and that's all you got. When things get negative, you just effing this, effing that and kill each other. Why don't you sit down and look at each other, grab each other by the face, by the ears, whatever you got, by the hands and say, "Look, I got to tell you something. You're extraordinary. You're amazing."

Richard Ellis: "I'm so glad God sent you to me. In spite of me, you love me and you're kind, and you're patient. You're all these things." There's nobody that I meet that goes, "Oh, I don't need that. That doesn't help me." Everybody needs encouragement. "There is a generation that curses its father, does not bless its mother. There's a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet has not washed from its filthiness."

Richard Ellis: "There's a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There's a generation whose teeth are like swords and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men." Now go back to Genesis chapter three and what I read you where he said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and his seed."

Richard Ellis: "He shall bruise your head, you shall bruise his heel." That's the first gospel, and that's the only way your house is going to be changed, your life is going to be changed, your marriage is going to be changed, your children, everything that you want to change and want to see better, you cannot do it without Jesus. You cannot fix the flesh in the flesh.

Richard Ellis: All the things you want, if you don't have God not with you, but in you, it is not going to work. So the number one thing you have to do if you've never done this, whether you're in the room or somewhere else, and we have people that come to this church for a long time and sit here and listen to all this and still don't get it.

Richard Ellis: If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, because you understand that he died on the cross, was buried, and raised from the dead to forgive your sin and to purchase a place for you in heaven, and you have not received that personally, he is not in you. You will not make it.

Richard Ellis: You say, "But I went to that church." Going to a gathering of Christians will not get you into heaven. You can't sneak into heaven with a group of Christians, or say that you knew someone. The only thing that's going to work when you get to the gates of heaven is that you knew and know Jesus.

Richard Ellis: There are verses in the Bible where Jesus, there are people that claimed to know him, and then it gets down to that point, and they say, "We did all these things in your name." Jesus says, "Depart from me, I never knew you." You claim to know me, I don't know you. That is not something you want to hear when it's too late.

Richard Ellis: So if you don't know him, you say, "Well, what do I do?" You pray a simple prayer. "God, I know I'm a sinner. I need your forgiveness. I believe Jesus died, was buried, and raised from the dead to pay for my sin. I accept his payment in my behalf. Make me a new person, new life, new everything. Come live in me, through me, change me, save me."

Richard Ellis: You've heard me say this hundreds of times, and people say, "Well, it can't be that easy." Easy for who? It's easy for you, you just say thank you and receive a gift. It cost God his son, it cost his son his life, to make all this so quote-unquote easy.

Richard Ellis: I promise you this, once he moves in, it's not that everything changes overnight and you don't have any challenges or problems. It's just that you finally have the power of the power plant person inside of you to operate the system that you need running the way it needs to run, that will not run apart from Jesus.

Richard Ellis: You say, "Well, I'm trying to be a godly husband." You can't be a godly husband without Jesus. "I'm trying to be a godly wife, a virtuous wife." You can't be a virtuous wife without Jesus. Not just that he lives in you, you've got to yield to him, give him control of your life, of your heart, everything.

Richard Ellis: Heart, mind, soul, body, spirit, will, emotions, everything, you yield. Your body, a living sacrifice. You say, "Well, then he's going to get me saying things that I don't want to say." What if it works? Rebecca and I got crossed up on something the other day and we drove back from Mississippi.

Richard Ellis: I was all pouty, something weird. I basically didn't speak to her for like six hours. I'd respond to something, but I was all in a huff. That's a total waste of time. You say, "Well, why would you admit something like that?" Because I'm an idiot just like you.

Richard Ellis: We finally talked it out and figured it out. You say, "Well, wow, you're a pastor, that doesn't sound very smart." Yeah, I just said I'm an idiot just like you. Some of you are going for days, for weeks, you walk around in a house. I know couples that won't even use the same sugar bowl.

Richard Ellis: Will not use the same salt and pepper. Separate everything, because you've got so locked down. "Oh, I'm not going to yield, I'm not going to say I'm sorry, I'm not going to," whatever you're not going to do. How's that working out for you? It's not.

Richard Ellis: You say, "Well, I'm not doing it. She's got to go first." You're the man, I thought. You say, "Well, she did the thing wrong." It is more important to be right than it is to be right. Figure out something you can apologize for.

Richard Ellis: Get him not just on board, but running the ship. If you're a kid, and you got a great mom, say it out loud publicly to someone. You say, "Well, she's, she's goofy." So are you. If you grow up and have kids, you're going to be the goofy mom.

Richard Ellis: Good luck with that. "Oh, I won't be like her." Yeah, you will. Your kids will think you're just as goofy. That's just how it works. If you're a husband, Proverbs 31, it's all great, describes a great woman, but if she's so great, why don't we tell her? Right?

Richard Ellis: Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to listen to Richard Ellis Talks. And for some, maybe your busy day is in the crosshairs of being a very hard day. You may be wondering if anyone is there for you. Let me assure you, you are not alone. We here at Richard Ellis Talks are praying for you right now.

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Richard Ellis: One last time, that's RichardEllis.com or call 855-6-RICHARD. So until next time, thank you for listening. Thank you for your generous gift. Thank you for your faithfulness to this ministry. We'll see you again right here on Richard Ellis Talks.