Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Today on Richard Ellis Talks, there is no fizz without the gospel. If you are living your life in front of your friends who don't know Christ, whether they are of another religion or don't believe anything, if you intend to impact their life, you have got to live the life, but sooner or later you are going to have to communicate the gospel.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're taking the entire month of September to focus on something that is very important to Richard, and I'm sure to you as well. And it all centers around the word legacy. How do you want to be remembered? Who has influenced your life in a meaningful way? What would people say about you when you're gone? What's left behind?

Well, we're introducing a brand new exciting feature that will be a place where you can share your story. I'll share more for you at the end of the program. But for now, let's jump right in with today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is "No Fizz." I've got a can of Dr. Pepper here and I want you to listen very closely, even if you're not present here today, you should be able to hear this. Should I shake it up first just to... no. The gentleman on the front row... yeah, the people in the back like, "who cares?" Here we go. Did you hear that? That's the sound of a fresh soft drink.

Now if you've ever had this experience, if I took this same drink that I just opened and it popped and fizzed and you go, "wow, it's going to be good," if it's hot especially and it's cold, this is going to be great. But if I set this drink down someplace and left it for not very long, especially overnight, and I picked it back up and took a swig of it, what do you think I would experience? A flat, no-fizz cola.

Everything that there needs to be in that cola is there—Dr. Pepper, Coke, whatever it is—it's in there. The contents are there. There's just something missing that leaves it flat and you say, "I'm not interested in just the contents, the syrup of it." There's something that has to be in there for this to work. Carbonation occurs when carbon dioxide is dissolved in water or an aqueous solution. This process yields the fizz to carbonated water and sparkling mineral water, the head to beer, and the cork pop and bubbles to champagne and sparkling wine.

Unfortunately, if most churches were a soft drink and we did a taste test, in many cases you'd find a flat church, no fizz. Now what's interesting to me about this is if you take, let's just go across the United States, let's start there, and you walk in and just pick randomly, just spin the wheel and go into a church. There are certain components usually that are there.

There's music, whether it's good music, bad music, whether you like it or not, different styles, they're probably going to have some music. Somebody's going to make some announcements. Somebody's going to pass some plates. Somebody's going to preach. All the components are going to be there and then you can break it down in those areas: "Well, what are they singing about? What are they talking about in the sermons?"

But what is it that when you listen to a message or you walk into a gathering, a worship service as we call them sometimes, a gathering of a church, what is it that doesn't leave you flat, but when you walk in you go, "whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, this drink's carbonated. There's fizz here. There is something else going on here. It has not lost that thing." There is something you just know.

I've had people say to me, "I've shown up at the church, this gathering, come in the back door," and just say they come in the ramp at the back door back there and it just hits them, something hits them. What is that? What is it that we either have or don't have? You say, "Well, but isn't it about just great music and preaching the Bible and isn't that it and people will come if you do that?" There is something beyond there. There are some components to it beyond there and I'd like to read through some verses and try to make some sense of this.

Go to Romans chapter one. Let's start there in the New Testament. Romans chapter one, and I'm going to read this verse to you to the day I die because I think it is part of the answer. It is the answer, but especially in what we're talking about today. Romans 1:16 says this, and Paul is writing here to the church at Rome: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."

Now let me just tell you very simply, number one, there is no fizz without the gospel. If you are living your life in front of your friends who don't know Christ, whether they are of another religion or don't believe anything, if you intend to impact their life, you have got to live the life, but sooner or later you are going to have to communicate the gospel. You're going to have to look at them in eight seconds or a matter of hours along the way somewhere, you have to say out loud, "Look, whether this makes any sense to you or not, the bottom line for me is somebody explained to me the scripture says Jesus died on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead."

You say, "but that's so simple." But we're not doing it. And if you can get those words out, there are people all around us who are sucking air. Everybody acts like everybody's okay. It's not working. And the worse it gets, the closer we are to some really amazing things happening spiritually, because you run out. And what's happening in our country and around us and even in our own lives, I think a lot of times, is we are running out of sins to run to.

We are running through things and where a guy maybe used to hide a magazine someplace and it was a Playboy at one point, well then you get the internet. Now it's not just girls, now it's two girls, and now it's orgies, and then it jumps to other things and we are just plowing through sin and it doesn't work anymore. And people get desperate. They go, "Okay, I've blown through all this and blown a lot of my life. Now what do I do?" And we've got the answer.

And they wonder, "Why does someone not help me?" Because they are a rattled mess with fear and anxiety and stress and guilt and all this junk going on inside. And then we walk in with peace. We walk in with joy. We walk in not chasing something in the world, we're chasing God, and yet we don't say anything. You're going to have to take a step of faith and engage somewhere along the way or they're never going to get it.

You say, "Well, that's just not my personality." Let me tell you something, you got a new personality. It's the personality of the Jesus who died for you who lives in you and through you. You've got to spit it out. People call in off the radio, without telling too many of these stories, people listen out there and they say it just comes alive, it makes sense, whatever. That's not me. That's not anybody on the radio.

The only way anything makes any sense is the Holy Spirit of God mixed with the Word of God carbonates and they go, "Wow, that's what I've been missing. That taste. That's what I need right there." But you can't be ashamed of the gospel and expect God to do anything, because it is the power of God unto salvation to those that believe.

Go to 1 Corinthians chapter one, few pages to the right. 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse 18: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Don't stop talking about Jesus.

Go to 2 Timothy chapter three. If you don't know where this stuff is, Table of Contents. 2 Timothy chapter three, and I'll jump in here at verse one. Listen, this stuff is just, it's unbelievable what's in the Bible and how it describes potentially where we are right now. 2 Timothy chapter three, verse one. Paul's writing to one guy here, Timothy, and we're reading this letter that he wrote to him.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves." Sound familiar? Me, me, me, me, me. "For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." And then this phrase in verse five: "Having a form of godliness but denying its power."

Going through the motions. The syrup in the can. It's all there, all the components that kind of need to be there to make it church or religious or spiritualized sounding. It's all there. There's just no fizz. They deny the power, they deny the transforming component that needs to be there. Having a form of godliness but denying its power, and from such people turn away. Get away from these people, the scripture says.

One of the most dangerous things in the world is to run around with a bunch of flat Christians who have no intention of glorifying God in any way. They're going through all the religious motions, but they're not chasing after God. They have no intention. Get away from those people unless you sense that they're repenting and coming back to God, because you will not pull them up, they will pull you down.

You get lukewarm. You start to compromise. You start to go, "well, maybe that's not such a big deal after all." And from such people turn away. "For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away with various lusts," and then they're described this way: "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

And that is one of the disasters of the 21st, 20th century, whatever church there is. Churches, religious people, always learning, putting more information in their brain. "What is the Greek word for it? Let's parse it, let's chop it up a little smaller." I'm not against studying, but if you study, study, study and you never come to the knowledge of the truth, it's worthless. Filling your brain with more information.

But see, I was kind of raised in a world where if you could quote some verses, if you could do all the books of the Bible and if you knew the song, wow, there was a song. Now, is all that bad? No. But it better be more than just information in your head. It's not about knowing a bunch of facts, it's about knowing him and not ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

Go to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four, verse one and following says this: "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering..." and here he's talking about God's people the coming out of the Exodus, going into the promised land and entering into their rest, and this whole context here is entering to rest. "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them."

Now how is it possible to hear the preaching of the gospel, the truth of the gospel, and it not profit someone who hears it? So you're hearing me say out loud, "Jesus died on the cross, was buried and raised from the dead. That's foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those that believe it's the power of God," right? So how is it that some people hear that go, "Bam! I get it, I need it, that'll change my life, my forever," and some people go, "whatever"?

Here's your answer: "But the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it." Now let me tell you where you're going to get some fizz in a church and in your life. It's faith. Faith is the fizz. And you say, "Well, what do you mean by that?" Let me go to Hebrews chapter 11, read you another verse six. Hebrews 11:6.

And again, please don't misunderstand me. Some of you when I said Hebrews 11:6, bam, you can quote it. I think that is amazing. It's wonderful. It's not just being able to quote the verses. Can you apply the verse to your own life? Is it working or do you just have a head full of scripture that you don't know how to apply to your life?

The only way to make it work is to mix faith with what you know and you step out, you act on it. That's what makes it work. Look at verse six, Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him." You say, "Well, I want to please God, I want to make him happy, I want to do what he wanted me to do with my life," all those things. You're not going to do it without faith.

He goes on to say, "For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." You say, "God, I believe. I trust you. I got nowhere else to go, so I'm going to keep coming to you. And if it doesn't happen fast enough for me, I'm not going to quit. I'm going to keep coming. And if you say something in the scripture, I'm going to believe it. I'm going to trust you. I'm going to stand on that."

You fill a building of any kind with a bunch of people who actually know the scriptures and apply them to their life by faith, I'm going to show you a lit church, a fizz-full church where people come in and go, "Wow, the book says taste and see that the Lord is good in Psalms. I got a taste of that. I want more of that. This thing, it works. It bubbles, it's alive."

And some churches don't have any fizz, so what they do is they crank that sucker up. We'll get the best music, we'll hire musicians, we don't care if they're smoking pot out in the foyer, bring them in, do their set, get them out, we're going to impress these people and you go in and you go, "Wow, it was amazing. They put on a show. This could be in Vegas, it was amazing." But then you leave and you're flat.

And somebody says, "What's wrong? I went to church and it was flat and my life still sucks and now what am I supposed to do if church doesn't fix it?" People that meet you and me at work, at school, strangers, we ought to be fizzling, alive, not something manufactured, just living it.

I talked to a friend of mine this week. He was interviewing some guy for a job and in the middle of this job interview, this guy's got enough authority at his job to be able to do this, but he starts talking to the guy and he says, "You know what? The interview's over," and he went at him about his personal spiritual life. I said, "Dude, you're going to get sued or get fired."

You know what? He doesn't care. You say, "Well, what if I get persecuted?" Welcome. "What if it costs me something?" That's the deal. You say, "Well, you're saying that sharing the gospel with somebody and risking my job is more important than... sharing the gospel is more important than my job?" Maybe. You say, "But my job is my life." That's the problem. God's going to take care of you. You say, "Well, it's easier for you because it is your job." We'll fire you if you don't share the gospel. You can't pay me to live by faith.

Now, am I talking about being perfect? It's not that people should come in here in this gathering and see us and go, "Oh, they got it all put together." What we ought to be able to do is start row by row, seat by seat, and if I said, "Okay, all the visitors can't participate, we're going to start right over here with Patrick," and Patrick's going to explain to you where he is in his life, what his current struggles are, and how he is applying scripture to his life by faith to see some change.

It's not that he doesn't have some setbacks and move forward, but he is going in the right direction and move down the rows. And you say, "Oh my gosh, but he's doing terribly in some areas. We just heard it." Exactly. It's not that you've arrived and not that I've figured it all out, but I have made a decision to move in a direction and that creates life in me and life through me and it's real.

People go, "Okay, I could do that." If it's not an event and then another event, if there's some process, I'm in process, maybe it'll work for me. And you sit down with somebody at work or wherever you are and you say, "Look, you see my Bible, you saw me reading my Bible before work. Let me just say it out loud. I got problems, dude. I got situations. My wife this, my kids that, my parents or whatever. Here's my life. I don't know what's going on with you, but here's my life. The only way I make it is I pray every day and God's helping me and here's what I'm doing."

People connect with that and go, "Okay, so that's how it works practically." And they say, "Well, I could do that." Not get your stuff together and show up and be perfect at church. Nobody can do that. We can't even do that. Let me read you one more: 1 Peter one. 1 Peter 1:6 and I'll read a few of these and then we're done.

There were a bunch of these I could have picked. I just pulled this one because it just said it in a different way. Verse six, 1 Peter 1:6: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love."

Now let me just comment on this briefly. One of the strangest things for me in the world is that I love somebody I have never seen in my life and I am loved by someone that I have never seen in my life. And I have this very close but yet long-distance relationship. And I love this verse seven that says the genuineness of your faith.

Is your faith genuine? Is your faith real? Is it working? Not are you perfect. Is it working? Are you working on it? Are you applying it and going, "I'm making progress?" It would be too personal for me to tell you what I'm thinking, but there are areas of my own life where I am still struggling. And I move forward and then the devil swings and hits me again and he knocks me back.

And I go, "But God, I thought we were making progress." He says, "We are, now address this issue." And I address that next issue and I go, "Okay, that one's... we locked that door, we locked that door, we took care of all that," and then the devil comes back with a left and bam! and hits me again. And I go, "God, is this ever going to end?"

He says, "No, not until you see me. They stop throwing the punches when you get to me. But until then, walk by faith, trust me, take one step at a time, take the next step, do what you read, apply it to your life. It's not just words on a page, it's stuff to be lived out." When it says, "in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you," you know what that means to me? In everything give thanks.

But that's where the faith kicks in. You say, "Okay, God, I'll thank you. I'll trust you. I'll praise you." For some of you, it's financially. You say, "Well, I couldn't tithe if I tried." You know what? That's talking about it, you believe in it, it's taking that step and beginning to be a steward of your life and of your funds.

Okay, keep reading with me. 1 Peter chapter one, verse seven: "that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls."

Now this is fizz. "Now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible." Do you rejoice, do I rejoice with joy inexpressible? Do you have moments? I'm not saying it has to be all the time. But if somewhere along the way you do not get overwhelmed with joy that is just inexpressible, then you've gone flat.

The world is trying to be happy. I cannot promise you happiness as a Christian, but I can guarantee you joy if you will live by faith. And joy in the long run trumps happiness every day. Because I can have joy in the midst of horrible circumstances. The old song says, "The world didn't give it to me and the world can't take it away," and that's the truth.

The scriptures, the Holy Spirit, those mixed together, the faith, our faith mixed with that, produces joy. This thing just comes alive and you can't make it up. You can't manufacture it. You can't make it happen somehow. It is a byproduct. It is part of God saying, "Okay, you got the gospel, I show up. You're not ashamed of me, I'm not ashamed of you." It's either fizz or sizzle.

And I wouldn't say this person's name for the life of me, but a girl showed up here recently and communicated to someone in the church that they were just tired of the whole Dallas scene. Being a young person, being anybody in this world. It's have you got the latest this, do you drive this, do you wear this, do you live here, have you been there, what do you do?

It's just this whole thing that can just suck the life right out of you and at some point you go, "You know what, God? I can't take this anymore. You've got to be filling me with you and overflowing in me to somebody else in the world. Change me so that you can change the world and have this impact that you want to have. I can't take this anymore." And then God starts using your life. Let's pray.

And our Father, I thank you for today. I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth of the gospel that Jesus did die on that cross, that he was buried and raised from the dead. I thank you for giving us the faith that we need to even believe you, Lord, and to trust you. And I pray right now that somebody who has heard this and it has not just fallen flat, but it mixed with faith that you have given them, Lord, they would believe and that you would accomplish in their life what you want to accomplish.

And that they would come to the place where they say, "Okay God, I get it, I see it, I'm a sinner. I have screwed my whole life up and my eternity is shot apart from you unless I do something and I understand what to do now. I believe that Jesus died on that cross and shed his blood, was buried and raised from the dead to give me eternal life and between here and heaven, abundant life. I have no way to pay for this gift, as you call it, of eternal life, but I do believe it was bought and paid for and is offered to me. I accept as a gift, I accept eternal life. I accept the forgiveness of my sins. I ask you to come live in me through the person of your Holy Spirit and through me and change my life. Show me how to live by faith, fill me with the joy, the peace, the love, the long-suffering, all these things that are byproducts of your Holy Spirit living in me. Fill me to overflowing, God.

I understand I will not be problem-less, that I may have more challenges from now on, but I know that they will not last forever and I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do to be whoever you want me to be, go wherever you want me to go, as long as it's pleasing to you and it points to you and not to me anymore and not just me, me, me for the rest of my life.

And Father, for those of us who supposedly know you and do and have gotten far, far away and we've bought into a little bit of this, a little bit of God, a little bit of the world and kind of mixed it all up and trying to make it work, Lord, I pray that we would be hot after you, that you would recarbonate your people, your church, and that we would not fizzle out as Christians, Lord, but that we would fizz in a world that needs a life, in a world that needs a taste of the next life, abundant life, eternal life.

Thank you for loving us, for being patient with us as we move forward, Lord, ever closer to you and our prayer continues to be: even so come Lord Jesus and may we long for that day and it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Richard Ellis Talks. We so appreciate you taking the time to be encouraged by Richard's unique way of challenging us to become more like Jesus every day. But it doesn't stop there. We want that same inspiration to be passed on from you too for others to be encouraged by your life in their own walk with the Lord.

And most of us have seen great examples in someone else firsthand that has significantly touched and inspired our life, so much so that we want to pass it on to others as well. This legacy should be what we all inspire to. Even the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 verse one, "Follow my example as I followed the example of Christ."

So who is it in your life that was a great example as a Christ follower that has inspired you to do the same? And what is it that you want to make sure others know about what is most important to you as a believer?

Well, I have some really great news to share with you, we have just added a legacy wall on our website for you to tell your story. Who has made a difference in your life? And what is it that you want to share with others in leaving a legacy of your beliefs and values? We want to hear about it. Go to RichardEllis.com and share your story today.

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 at RichardEllis.com. And while you're there you can help us greatly by giving to this ministry.

This program is making a huge difference in people's lives and you can make a big difference to ours too. We really do need to hear from you on that. Go to RichardEllis.com to support this ministry and share your story. Thank you. And until next time, thank you for listening. We look forward to coming alongside you again for more Richard Ellis Talks.