Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: You think that more is going to work. You think if I get another car, if I get another house, if I get a plane, if I get whatever it is you think, I promise you, I can line these people up that get whatever they thought that thing was, and they get in it and think it's going to solve everything, and it turns out just to be another thing.

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 today's message is "More". Now, everybody's got a "more" category. Everybody in here, everybody watching, everybody listening's got a more category. How many of you know what your "more" is? Raise your hand. If you're in trouble and you've got a sin that so easily besets you, those people are saying, "If I go down that path, I know what more—I'm going to need more of this," whatever that is you raised your hand on.

For some people it's alcohol. Friend, he's in the room right now. We were talking about this the other day, and he literally said this to me a few days ago: "The day after is not worth the night before." Interesting thing about sin. It takes a certain amount of faith to think about the day after, doesn't it? Because you're looking at the night before going, "This is going to work temporarily." But if I just see past this, this is not going to work out so good. I'm out. For that reason, I'm out.

Drugs. I missed the alcohol deal, the drugs. Somehow I missed that whole thing. But from what I can tell, anybody agree with this, that sometimes it starts with alcohol? I did smoke my first cigarette when I was six. So, I was actually—I can still see this little church. Emi and Irma's church. These people that were not relatives but kind of. And there was a deacon outside. He was smoking on a cigarette. I was watching this. He's out there lifting up a smoke offering of some kind.

So he's smoking that cigarette and all of a sudden he flicks it under the stairs of this little old church. And I look both ways and run under the stairs. Nobody could see me. I pick that thing up and put it in my mouth and, of course, if I'd known to inhale, I'd have probably ended up in hell. So I didn't want to do that. So I just put it in my mouth and nothing happened. I thought, "Well, I don't see what the point of smoking is." So I didn't continue down that road.

But a missionary kid came along later and introduced me to two things. He taught me how to smoke—this is a missionary kid in Brazil—and exposed me to my first porn. I'll be eternally grateful to him, right? Because if you've got a struggle of any kind, it always takes more. Isn't it interesting though? You sit down with somebody and drugs are a deal. Like, did you quit at weed? Some do, maybe. But people that want more, it keeps jumping, keeps jumping.

And I don't want to show a hands, but it would knock your socks off if you knew how many people in this room have smoked crack consistently and meth consistently. And it is an absolute miracle of God that our meth addicts are off of meth, right? Because I'm telling you, you smoke it one time, you've got like a certain percentage of getting off of it. You smoke it twice and there's a 90-something percent chance you will never stop smoking meth.

So the devil's a snake, and I'd like you to turn to Genesis chapter 2. We don't want to give him too much air time today, but he is real and he's got the same old bag of tricks. And at the core of the bag of tricks is something called more. Genesis chapter 2, verse 15: "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'"

So God comes along, puts you in a perfect environment, and gives you one instruction, one limitation. You've got the whole garden, one tree. And a snake slithers in there and says what? "He's holding out on you. There's more." So let me just make this basic statement. Whatever God has for you and provides for you will not require any more. Whatever God has for you or provides for you, if that's what he's got at any given time for you, you don't need more.

You say, "Well, I'd like more." I understand all that, and we'll get to these verses. But you can make yourself crazy trying to chase somebody else, keep up with some standard of living, whatever it is. So you say, "Lord, I know the guarantees in scripture are food and clothing." Okay, I know that's guaranteed to me as your child, food and clothing. I know you'll take care of that. If there is more than that, oh my gosh.

You say, "Well, how much more could there be?" I don't know. I was telling this story and for whatever reason this old car sticks with me that—no brakes. I was in seminary eating rice and cheese and drive this old car. It was downhill to the Dairy Queen. I remember maybe I've told this too many times, but this sticks out to me. I had a little handful of change, was all I had, and I drove that old car and I'd go through intersections pumping the nonexistent brakes because when you'd hit them, it'd go "grr". It would just grind metal on metal. So you had to watch for where you were going to bail out.

But I made it to the Dairy Queen, pulled up to the window, and I handed the lady whatever I had. And I said, "I'd like the biggest double dip cone for whatever that'll buy." She looked at me kind of funny. I said, "Ma'am, that's all I got, but I'm going to get me some ice cream." Now you say, "Well, those sound like terrible times." You know what? They were terrible times. But God will teach you some things. And when and if you ever have more, it's really hard to take it for granted.

At this given moment in time, and I don't know that I've ever told this story publicly, I was driving my old 2000—I don't even know what year it was—Suburban that the girls had all learned to drive in it. They'd all wrecked it at one point, maybe not all of them. I won't throw them all under the bus, but it was beat up and it was a mess. But I talked to Jesus about it. I said, "Well, do I have permission to go buy a new car?" And he said, "You do not." I said, "Okay, this is my car."

And so I prayed for tires. I was looking for four tires and found six brand new Michelin tires for 300 bucks. I was like, "You've got to be kidding me." Met the guy over near Fort Worth, loaded them all in Rebecca's car, took her car over there, put them in, and I literally turned around when that man drove off. He said, "Oh, I just bought them years ago and never used them." And I watched to see if his truck would disappear. Thought this has to be an angel. This is too weird. Six brand new Michelin tires for 300 bucks. I thought I had won the lottery.

Then a few years later, a radio listener sent some funds in for the radio, and I called to thank him. And we were talking and he said, "What kind of car do you like?" And I told him what kind of car I liked. A week later he called me and he said, "My wife and I have decided to get you a car." Of course I couldn't breathe, right? And I said, "I don't even know what to say. I'll look around for a used car of some kind." He said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa." He said, "We're not buying any used cars."

He said, "If it's not the car you told me about, loaded, extended warranty, we're out." Now, I've had people since I received that car—so I didn't think the pastor would buy a car like that. You know what? You're right. You are exactly right. But I'll tell you how I know whether you're my friend. When you see me in that car and you've been happy that I've had it, not jealous, that's how I know you're my friend.

Because now if you don't like it that I drive that car, you got a problem with a gift that God gave me. That's what you got. You say, "Well, but you shouldn't be driving that." Oh, so now you know what I should be doing. You can't even keep up with what you should be doing. Now, you've got to hold things like this very loosely because God can give you something and then that something thinks it owns you, right? Make sure all the titles are in his name.

It's not my life. It's not my house. It's not my car. Now, obviously, I am overwhelmed and grateful for something simple like that. So then you say, "Well, why do you always cry when you talk about Jesus dying on the cross, being buried and raised from the dead?" Because if you think getting a car is something, there's you some more. There's you some more. So it all gets screwed up pretty easily by the enemy because he just offers them a little bit more and they take the bait and here we are.

And we've been taking the bait for millennia. Ecclesiastes 2. I do recommend praying for wisdom. I'll tell you why. Because if you don't pray for wisdom, there's a good chance you'll be a fool. And there are people who read the Bible and it's right there. It's all right here. God told Solomon this. Solomon did this, screwed his whole life up, turned away from God. He acknowledges that at the end and we read it and go, "Nah, he just didn't—he didn't know what he was doing. I could make it work." And then you're going to burn through your life.

The example I have is if a guy's going down the street and he looks at his little map app and he sees where he wants to go that's right over there. Like right there, like half a mile away. And he takes a left-hand turn because there looks like there's a way through. And when he makes a left-hand turn, there's a sign that says "Dead End". The sign says "Dead End". And he's like, "Well, that could be an old sign because where I'm going is right there. Certainly there's a road through here."

So he drives a little ways, another one: "Dead End". Dead end, dead end, dead end. He keeps driving these dead end signs. Guess what's at the end of that little street? A dead end. Are you an idiot? "Well, I'm going to make it work. I'll drive through that fence." To prove what? It's a dead end. Go around, go the way you're supposed to go. So you read the scriptures and you go to do something. The devil offers you something. And you say, "Wow, that feels like that'd be exciting. It'll be more than I have now."

And God says, "Hey, look what it said there. Dead end." Then your heart's racing. You go, "Okay, Lord, calm my heart. I realize that I'm just being thrown something from the enemy. Take a deep breath. De-escalate. Okay, I'll go around. I'll go your way." And you miss all that foolishness. This room, including me, is filled with dead end people, right? And the ones who have prayed for wisdom and gotten wisdom, they don't go down those streets anymore. Because there's nothing down that street. You're going to drive down there, turn around and come back. Why would you do that?

Ecclesiastes 2:8: "I also gathered for myself silver"—this is Solomon—"silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers"—I'm going to buy me some singers—"the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me." He didn't lose his wisdom. It's not what you got, it's what you use.

"Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them." Now that's rich. "I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my reward for all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly.

For what can the man do who succeeds the king? Only what he has already done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness." Look at that statement. "Wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness." That's how extreme they are. "The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceive that the same event happens to them all." 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

I have told this story maybe once. A buddy of mine I've known him for over 20 years. And when I met him, he was a jacked up full mess. A disaster. And he got it in his head that he was going to buy a red Ferrari. And there's a place up on Central Expressway where he bought it in Dallas. And he told me years later that he, I mean he already had Range Rovers, Porsches, he had like four or five cars. But he had to have this red Ferrari.

And he said he went one day to pick up the car. And he got in it at the dealership and he pulled out onto the access road. He had to go north to do a U-turn, come under the freeway to go south on Central. He said, "Before I got to the U-turn, I knew it wasn't going to work." You say, "Well, what does that mean?" You think that more is going to work. You think if I get another car, if I get another house, if I get a plane, if I get whatever it is you think, I promise you, I can line these people up that get whatever they thought that thing was, and they get in it and think it's going to solve everything, and it turns out just to be another thing.

And then the devil says, "Well, I guess we need two of these. And now we got to collect them. Now we got to have a barn of these." There aren't barns big enough. Now you say, "Yeah, but that'd be so cool." You need to be asking God what he thinks would be so cool. Because you can burn the only life you got chasing cool and end up cold with nothing to show for your life. Every once in a while someone says to me, "Well, you know, you should go into advertising, you should go into this or that and do something else. You could make more money."

You don't have enough money. There isn't a company anywhere got enough money to pay me to do what God made me to do, right? And until you figure this out, more will never make you happy because I already got more. I got him. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 7: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

"But as it is written"—quoting in the Old Testament—"eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." So, we read this the other day, I'm reading it to you again. Why? If you want more, I can't even get my head around how much more there is.

It literally says that "eye has not seen". So what God has for those that love him, no one has seen, no one has heard, it hasn't even entered the heart of man the things that is prepared for those that love him. So what am I missing? The devil says, "Oh, no, no, you don't want more of him. You want more of this. You want more stuff. You want more of the material." And God says, "That's not what I'm about. Certainly, I'll take care of you and bless you, but what you really need is me. And what I really have is more than you can even begin to comprehend."

It just depends on what you're looking for. One of my girls showed me something the other day, some guy who has a blog or something about this. And it talks about "who can find a wife", right? You say, "Well, I'm looking for a wife." You need to be sure that's exactly what you're looking for. You might be looking for a woman, but if you're looking for a wife, a biblical wife, that's going to look different. And you're going to look different. So you can tell what somebody's looking for by the way they look and the way they talk about what they're looking for.

People who are chasing God are not chasing the world. So, let's shift just a little bit here. So you say, "Well, I want more." Then tell God that. But tell him you want more of what you haven't seen, what you haven't heard, what's not even entered your mind. Like, okay, God, I'm on this planet and you made everything and you hold it all together and you live inside of me. And if you live inside of me and there's something available to me that I don't even see, haven't seen, no one's seen, no one's heard, no one's even thought about, that's what I want more of.

Now it's not that you're going to get more of God than you have. You're never going to have more of God than you got when you became a Christian. It's just you're going to have an understanding of who you got. Chase that just a little bit because it's not like he's playing hide-and-go-seek. He's playing go-seek. Come on. Why is it the Bible say blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness? Because hungry, thirsty people find food and drink. They go looking for it. They get in trouble.

Ephesians 3. 3:20: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." So now how's he described? Unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. So I even ask or think about something and he's saying, "Oh, no, no, I'm way past that."

Now let me take you back to my car, which by the way is named "Ridiculous", because every time I get in that car, it's just ridiculous to me, and I'm very grateful. What I didn't know is that my wife had been praying for me a car. I had settled in on just what I had. But she had asked God for a car. But what did he do? More than she had asked or thought. That's what he did. You say, "Well, I'm going to ask and that's what's going to happen to me." I don't know what he's going to do for you, but I'll tell you what. Too much "more" might be too much "more".

You say, "Well, what does that mean?" You better be just asking him what he wants to give you and maybe that's what you can handle. You say, "Well, I got nothing." That must be where he's got you. Been there too. But see, too many times we think in terms of physical things, like things or health. I'm not against asking God for health. I appreciate health. We got some people in this room got some health problems, lots of challenges, and they're crying out to God.

Guest (Male): Before Richard comes back to wrap things up 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: Just don't go short. Don't say, "God, heal me from this." If you're going to ask God to heal you, pray for health. Don't just fix this, fix the whole car, right? If I take my car into the shop and it's got some issue and they come back and say, "Well, this, this, this were wrong and we fixed all that too." I'm like, "What? Oh, it's under warranty, it's free." I didn't want all that fixed even if it's free. What are you crazy? Right?

So you say, "Well, I asked God to fix this little thing." Go all the way, right? So Lord, I got trouble with my hearing, I got trouble with cancer, I got trouble with whatever it is. But don't be stopping on those. You do a full check-out and if there's something that's going to be trouble down the road, you go ahead and work on that while you're in there. And so many people are terrified to ask God to do things. You know why you're terrified to ask him to do something? Because you don't want to embarrass him.

Nah, I asked him, you know, he just couldn't do that. So I'm not going to ask him because it might be too hard and then if it's too hard he'll look bad and I don't want him looking bad. Let him look bad. Give him a chance. You say, "Well, what if the answer is no?" Then the answer's yes. That's the way it's going to be. And now you're going to find out who you are. Am I okay with his answer? And you got biblical precedent for going in three times. Jesus, three times. Paul, three times. Now, they got answers and they let it alone. If he doesn't tell you to quit asking then keep asking.

But by the way, if you get an answer and the answer is no, you better keep moving with your no and let his grace be sufficient and let his strength be made perfect in weakness. I'm not saying don't ask. Philippians 4, and I referenced this a minute ago, so we'll do this one. Philippians 4, verse 10: "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased"—in other words, to have just enough—"and I know how to abound"—more than enough.

Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And that's the context of that verse. Right? So you say, "Lord, we barely have enough." But we know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. You need the same strength when you are abounding, by the way. When you have too much, you have to have his strength to be able to handle that because you can get sidetracked.

Let me just shut it down with a quote. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. And I went looking for that quote and had no idea who said it. Guess who said that? A preacher who's dead now named Ravi Zacharias, who had to have more and it turns out pretty much died in shame but used mightily of God. I used to listen to this man and think, "Man, this is another level. This is another—this is something else. I don't know anybody else ever heard the man, right?"

I mean you think this is not even possible. So if you're wondering whether God can use you, he can use you. But man, that's not the way to go out. You want more? Tell you how you get the ultimate more: get you some Jesus. Because once you get Jesus, there is no more. He is more and he satisfies. And whatever he offers you and whatever he provides and whatever he shows up with, not of your own manipulation or doing, if he says, "This is what I have for you," you go, "Yes, sir, thank you, sir, and I will be content with this." Nobody wants better for you than Jesus. And if he thinks you can handle something, it'll show up.

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