Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Your time, everything you’ve got, it’s His. Invest it wisely or you’re not going to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." You say, "Well, I don’t care about that. I’m a Christian, I’m going to heaven, and you can’t change that." I’m not talking about whether you go to heaven or hell. I’m talking about standing before God and hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

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.

So thank you for taking this time to listen. We know it will bless you. And 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 "Make Your Daddy Proud." I think there's something in all boys, girls, anybody—maybe boys a little bit more sometimes, although I see this in my own three girls—there's this, "Daddy, Daddy, look at me! Daddy, watch this!" No, you know, one of them would say, "No, Daddy, with your eyes."

When you're driving the car and they say, "Daddy, look at this," and you keep driving, they say, "No, no, Daddy, with your eyes," in other words, look at me. And they try things, and do things, and create things, and say, "Look at what I did." And sometimes we're too busy and go, "Yeah, that's good. I'm busy right now," and they kind of walk away despondent.

Sometimes they do stuff and we do respond, but there's a relationship in the scripture. These things are fascinating to me as I read through the book and try to pull some of these things out—the relationship with even God the Father and God the Son. There's stuff going on between them that may not be possible exactly the same way, obviously, because we're not Jesus. We're not the same. We're not the Son of God; we are sons and daughters of God.

But I want us to look at some passages today. The first one is John chapter six. We'll look through some of this relationship that the Father had with the Son and literally some words of encouragement that were spoken. Whether Jesus needed encouragement or not, there was nobody like the Father. Sometimes words were said for Jesus' sake, sometimes for the sake of those who listened.

My guess is, according to just after reading some of these scriptures, that Jesus every once in a while—no matter how much the disciples loved him—there's nobody like your daddy. And there's nobody like the Father in heaven saying, "You know, you're doing a good job."

Now, where everybody got some of this wrong, or most of them got it wrong, a lot of people in John chapter six, verse 41, it says the Jews then complained about Him because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?"

Huge mistake. They assumed that Joseph was His father. And if Joseph is—just a simple statement of fact—if Joseph is Jesus' father, I don't need Him. And what they thought was, "Who is this Jesus and why are we listening to Him? He's claiming all this stuff. He's nobody. The son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. How is it then that he says, 'I am come down from heaven'?" They didn't get it. They didn't believe it.

There are people today that go, "Well, yeah, maybe Jesus was a great teacher." You know what? If He's not more than a great teacher, you don't need Him. I don't need Him. You can listen to some of His principles, but this isn't about somebody being just a great teacher. This is about somebody coming to earth to live and die for your sins, be buried and raised from the dead to make eternal abundant life possible. That's not just a great teacher.

So if they got the first thing right about who His daddy was—we asked that question, "Who's your daddy?"—they should have asked Jesus who His daddy was at this point to find out that it wasn't Joseph. It was the Father Himself, God the Father.

Now look over at Mark chapter one. We're going to jump around in the gospels a little bit to begin with primarily: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. If you can track those, you'll be all right. Mark chapter one, verse nine. Let's pick up there. It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan, His own cousin, John.

He goes there. John's been baptizing everybody for the repentance of their sins, but Jesus comes there as well to be baptized—obviously not because of sin. He was baptized by John in the Jordan. Now imagine this. John, how in the world do you baptize Jesus and go through this whole thing? But John was willing to do it and realized that's what Jesus wanted, so he baptizes Him.

That's a big enough deal in itself, whoever knew what was going on. But the second you see here, when He comes out of the water, immediately coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. That'd be enough in itself—the heavens parting, clouds separating, and the Spirit comes down like a dove sitting on Jesus.

Then a voice came from heaven, and this is what He said: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Now let me just simply say this. Every once in a while along the way, we all need some encouragement. And to hear God the Father, with witnesses hearing this voice, not saying it necessarily to everyone else but specifically speaking to Jesus—He's about 30 years old at this point.

I don't know if this is the only time Jesus had heard an audible voice up to this point. It is possible that He had heard the Father say other things to Him. And as we'll see in a minute, other things were said that people heard. Their relationship was very personal, very intimate, and they communicated.

It is possible for you and I to have the same intimacy if we choose to have it. If we choose to have this relationship, we can talk to God. We can—you say, "Well, I've never heard an audible voice." I have never heard an audible voice either, but I'm going to tell you something. I've got the scriptures and I have the Holy Spirit of God living in me, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that was with Him while He was on earth. The relationship is possible. It is not God's fault and His problem. It is from our perspective. If something's not working, it's on our end; the station's not tuned in properly.

"You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Sometimes it's not for something they've done; it's for who they are. "You are my beloved Son. I am well pleased with who I am well pleased." That's got to be encouraging.

Go to Matthew chapter 17. This is Jesus and three of the disciples that He would take on these little bit farther trips, in some cases to pray in the garden, which we'll see in a minute, but also here on this mountain. It says, "Now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with Him."

Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Let's stay! This is cool. Something's happened here. Let's don't leave this mountaintop experience."

Verse five: "While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him.'"

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. Now, isn't it fascinating, at least it is to me, being on the mountain with Jesus, being transfigured, Moses and Elijah showing up—they're still on their feet somehow. A voice comes from heaven and says that, and they hit the deck. That knocks them down to their knees because they heard God Himself. Though they had God in a man with them, when they heard that voice, they were on their faces and were greatly afraid.

But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Now, as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." Don't tell anybody what happened here. It was just for Jesus and probably for those guys to hear that voice and know who He was and have that confirmation.

Go to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25 and let's pick this up in verse 14. This is Jesus telling a story about the kingdom of heaven and what it's like. He says, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey."

"Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money. After a long time, the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them.'"

Now what's going on here? People say, "Well, it's talents, your abilities." It has nothing to do with that. This is cash, okay? Forget all this talent mess. "Oh, my gift is this." He's talking about money. "I'm leaving you money. I'm going away. When I come back, I know each of you are not as good at this as others. I'm going to give one of you five, one of you two, one of you one. Do the right thing. Invest your money wisely."

And when he gets back, the guy who obviously had some ability was given five talents had doubled his money. And the lord comes back and what does the guy basically do? "Look what I did, Dad! Aren't you proud of me? You gave me five and I got five more." He's looking at his lord excited because he doesn't have anything to be ashamed of.

And so he comes, he says, "You delivered me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents beside them." And look what he gets to hear. His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."

Now, part of the reason this principle applies in churches and to a number of areas of our life, it's the same thing with a company, a corporation, with management. The principle is, if you can't handle this, why in the world would we give you responsibility over this?

And somebody comes in and says, "Well, I want to be this or that position and do all that." You know what? If you can't take care of this row and hoe it, how are you going to take a whole field over? Be faithful, be responsible over what God has given you. You say, "Well, it's not fair. He gave him five and me only two or one." Quit comparing yourself and say, "Thank God for what I've got. I'm going to do the best I can with this, not to prove anything to anybody else but to eventually hear what? Well done, good and faithful servant."

The second guy, he also had received two talents, verse 22. He came and said, "Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents besides them." And his lord said to him—he got the same answer. Was he supposed to turn the two into five to keep up with the first guy? No. "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord." The exact same answer. He did the right thing.

Now the third guy, what was he thinking? "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. I didn't lose it. I got what you gave me.'"

Now, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time trying to explain this whole passage, but let me tell you this simply: God gave you something to do something with what He gave you, not to show back up with just what He gave you. So if God gave you what you got, you say, "Okay, Lord, You gave me this. Help me be wise and do the right thing with it so that when it comes time to give an account of my life and even my resources, I have invested this wisely in Your kingdom, for Your kingdom, and I'm going to hear—even if you took one and turned it into two, you're going to hear the same thing: Well done, good and faithful servant."

Look what happens in verse 26. "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant.'" Now, I want you to underline this if you feel comfortable underlining stuff. You say, "Well, this isn't a very encouraging thing to underline."

You're either going to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little, I'll make you ruler over much. Enter into the joy of the Lord," or you're going to hear this: "You wicked and lazy servant." I'm telling you guys, I'm not interested in hearing God Himself call me a wicked, lazy anything. You say, "Well, that's not who I am." All right, how are we going to know whether it is or not? What have you done with what He's given you? What are you doing with what He's given you?

Or could you say, "You know what? He's right. I am a wicked, lazy servant. I am not doing anything with what God's given me."

"You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed, so you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. If nothing else, don't just bury it. At least deposit it in a bank and get three, four, five, six, something for your money. Invest it somewhere. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents."

They took the guy's one, gave it to the guy who had ten now, who had taken the five, turned it into five. He got even more than he started out with. "For to everyone who has—" now look at this principle, why they heard "Well done, good and faithful servant," verse 29: "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

You have a huge responsibility with not your life. It belongs to Him if you've given it to Him. Not your funds, they're His now. Your time, everything you've got, it's His. Invest it wisely or you're not going to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

You say, "Well, I don't care about that. I'm a Christian, I'm going to heaven, and you can't change that." I'm not talking about whether you go to heaven or hell. I'm talking about standing before God and hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant." That's not going to be a bad thing to hear if you're going to hear it. But it doesn't happen by coincidence. It happens because you are aware that you have to be a steward of what He has given you in this life.

Look at John chapter five, verse 19. I would like for us to get a glimpse here, if possible. Jesus is God in a man, or we don't need Him—we know that. He's God in a man, but He has a relationship with the Father. And in this relationship with the Father, even Jesus in the flesh, God in the flesh says stuff like this in John 5:19.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel."

The Son can do nothing of Himself. What are we trying to do without the Father? What decisions am I making without consulting the Father? What steps am I taking? Going on a trip even? I mean, you say, "Well, I just decided I'm taking my kids to Croatia and do all this stuff, just because I want to do that." Let me tell you something, you don't do jack without Jesus' approval.

And if you do, you're going to end up places and in problems and go, "Well, why am I here and what happened? Why am I having all these problems?" Ask yourself a simple question: did I try to do something without the Father? Is this the man that I can marry? This the woman I can marry? Don't move without Him.

You say, "Well, I'd be paralyzed." Then be still until you get an answer or you're going into trouble. And the longer you walk with Him and talk with Him and live with Him, you'll get in a situation and you'll say, "Father, I feel this is the right thing to do. I'm telling You, stop me if it's not," and you get enough relationship going where He will tell you. Most of the problems that we get into, I'm telling you, it's because we don't bother to ask. Or you ask and you don't get the answer you want, and you go, "Well, you know what? I'm a little confused, but I really think this is what He wants us to do, and I'm going to do it anyway."

And you get to the end of it and go, "You know what? I know He was telling me not to do that. Why did I do that?" Jesus saying the Son can do nothing of Himself. Look at John chapter five, verse 30. He says it again: "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me."

The Lord's Prayer starts out with "Our Father which art in heaven," so you get in that group. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The principle is, Father, I want to do here what You're saying that You want done from there. I'm listening, tell me, and I'll do that. I think this is pretty simple. But you know what? No matter how simple it is to me or to you, the problem is not it being simple. It's that we simply don't do it.

And our lifetime is spent with this, "Well, I want what I want when I want it." We're two-year-old kids with a will. We make fun of little children, and part of the reason I think God blesses us with children is to go, "You want to see what this is like?"

And it's very fascinating spiritually to watch someone grow up. When they're born, they're all cute and they make messes and, you know, it's just—what a boat! But by the time they hit one or two years old, they get this little attitude, "I can do it by myself." And then we pull that stunt with God and He says, "Oh, really?"

And before long, hopefully, you start growing up and you realize, you know what? God may not be as stupid as I thought He was. And I get myself into all these fixes. One of the scariest things in the world is to let your kids go. The job that I've got, you've got if you're a parent, as a father is to say, "God help me teach this child not just to do the right thing under my supervision but even when I'm not around, be aware that You're watching." Forget me watching, He's watching.

And that there's consequence to these things. And to do the right thing when no one's around is where most of us are in trouble and get in trouble, is that we figure out ways to isolate, get alone, and do something that we think nobody knows is going on. You know what? Somebody knows. And no matter how dark it is where you do it, He is light and He sees everything that happens.

John chapter eight, few pages over. John chapter eight, verse 25. Then they said to Him, "Who are You?" And Jesus said to them, "Just what I've been saying to you from the beginning." I mean, what do you mean, who am I? I've been telling you this all along. "I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who has sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."

They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone."

Why? Now look at this phrase: "For I always do those things that please Him." As He spoke these words, many believed in Him. Now let me ask myself this as I'm asking you: do I always do those things that please Him? And what's the answer? No. And what is the feeling? Shame.

And why is that true? Because whether it's your earthly father, a parent, or God Himself, when you got away with something you thought you got away with and you realized you had to go home and you had to be confronted by it, and you had to stand before your dad and you know he knows anyway, and you say, "I'm sorry," there's embarrassment, there's shame, there's conviction hopefully.

And let me tell you something, if there's not, you're in a heap of trouble. If you can sin willfully, deliberately, persistently, consistently, and there is no remorse, no feeling, no nothing, your conscience may be seared and you are so far gone, I'd get some buddies climbing a closet someplace and say, "God have mercy on my soul. I have no tears for my sin anymore, no shame, I'm gone."

Give me tears, give me remorse, give me repentance, a heart of repentance to be able to see that I have sinned against You and You only. It's over and over in the scriptures. David himself sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, a kid dies in the process, and he, when he finally comes to his senses, says, "Against You and You only have I sinned and done this evil in Your sight." You don't sin against yourself and other people primarily; it's God you disappoint.

In Mark chapter 14, in verse 32, then they came to a place which is named Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." And he took Peter, James, and John with him and he began to be troubled and deeply distressed. And he said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch."

He went a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from Him. And he said—now look at what he says and this reveals so much about the relationship between Jesus and his Father. He doesn't say just "Father." And the title today is "Make Your Daddy Proud." He basically says, "Daddy."

He is in the worst place maybe he's ever been, about to be crucified, shed his blood, be the sacrifice for all of mankind from Adam till the end. And he's by himself, kneeling down, and he says, "Daddy," and then he says, "Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

Now let me ask you a question: do you know Him well enough to call Him Daddy? And when you get in trouble and you say, "Daddy, man, I don't think I can do this one. But you know what? It's not about me, it's about Your glory. And whatever's better for You, I know it'll be better for me in the end. So I'm down with that. I'm okay. But Daddy, I'm telling you, this is rough."

You get in a conversation. I'm telling you, get to the place where you can call Him Daddy. Because then you'll live in a way that you want to please Him all the time, and you'll want to hear, "Well done," not "you wicked, lazy servant." You have a personal, intimate relationship with the God of the universe.

And because of Jesus, His Son, who was willing to die, and by the way, you want to talk about a proud moment—one of the most bizarre things in all of history—somehow God the Father who loved God the Son so much and was willing to give Him turns His back on His Son so He could not have to turn His back on us.

And I'll tell you the proudest moment in history is when Jesus died on that cross because the Father would never allow that to happen if that sacrifice would not have been sufficient. And if the sacrifice had not been sufficient, He would have left Him dead. It must have worked.

Guest (Male): Before Richard comes back to wrap things for us today, I'd like to share a couple of 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: Look at Hebrews 11:6, and this is the last one. Hebrews chapter 11, verse six, and all these people of faith and all these stories and accounts of people who had believed God and trusted God and had faith in God. Hebrews 11:6 simply says this: "But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

You want to please God, you want to make your Daddy proud, it's going to take faith. You're going to have to trust Him even when you can't see. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. You get to a place, you say, "I can't see past right here in front of me. I don't know where this is going to go, but I believe this is what God has told me to do," whether it's marry somebody, don't marry somebody, date somebody, break up with somebody, buy something, don't buy something, take a trip, don't take a trip.

Ask Him. And when you get an answer, you believe then. By faith say, "Father, I believe this is what I'm supposed to do. I've gotten myself into enough trouble in my life. I don't care if it even works out. If it's not Your will, it's not worth it. I'm shutting down, I'm stopping. You've got to talk to me. I would like You to be pleased, not anybody else including myself. It's for You, Your honor, Your glory. It's not my life, it's Yours. It's not my money, it's Yours. It's not my time, it's Yours. Your will be done. But I'm praying that You'll be pleased with my life. And I will hear, 'Well done, good and faithful servant,' and not, 'you wicked, lazy servant.'"

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