Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: We got all these dreams for people we know, but their life was cut short. You know what? Life is something that God determines. Let him determine what's long or short. The problem is that you might make it to 80 or 85, and what are you doing with that? You're just on cruise. Live like hell and nobody cares. And how's that working out for you and everybody else around you?

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're so grateful you've tuned in to the program. Richard wants to share with you some encouragement, words of hope, and probably a laugh or two. And in today's complicated, busy life, that's exactly what's needed.

Richard's talks are always straight from the Bible, filled with truth. Now, you may not be able to hang out with us for the entire program, but you can always pick it back up at our website, richardellis.com. In fact, you can find all of Richard's talks right there waiting just for you, richardellis.com. So, with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title today's message is "Out of the Blue". A man was walking when he fell over the edge of a cliff. As he hurled towards the ground, he just managed to hang on to a protruding tree branch. Staring down at a 200-foot drop to almost certain death, he cried out, "Help me, please! Is anybody up there?"

A deep voice came back, "Yes, my son, I am up here." "Who is it?" called the man. "It is the Lord." "Can you help me?" "Certainly, my son. Just let go of the branch and I will catch you." The man thought for a moment then shouted, "Is anybody else up there?"

Along the way, every once in a while, things happen to people kind of out of the blue, out of nowhere, and you say, "That doesn't make any sense." Turn to Job chapter 1. It's amazing how often I turn to Job. Horrible story, but it's fascinating to me how God uses the horrible stories, the things that happen to people, and that's where we can find the most encouragement. Because the easy stuff's easy. It's when all hell breaks loose that we don't know what to do and we go, "Okay, God, now what?" And he says, "Well, I got some people who've been down this road before. Let me talk to you about them. Let's go back to them."

But I'm really not wanting to talk to you today about Job in this story. There's a bunch of other people in here in chapter 1. Job chapter 1, just let's jump in at verse 12. If you don't know the story of Job, and I don't want to assume anybody does, basically there's a big meeting in heaven. The devil somehow gets to go to these meetings. I don't know how he does it, but he shows up at the meeting and they're talking back and forth and God brings Job up.

The devil didn't bring Job up. God says, "Have you considered my servant Job?" And the devil says, "Yeah, whatever. Job. Look at how much he's got. Look at how happy he is. He's rich. He's got all this stuff. Of course he's going to trust you. Take it all away and see what happens." So God gives the devil permission to go after Job. You don't want to get mentioned in one of these meetings in heaven, I can assure you.

"You know, Lord, I'm down here, I'm trying to be very quiet. Do not bring my name up, okay? I ain't volunteering for any of these big Bible stories. Leave me alone. I trust you, let's just let that be the deal." Job gets brought up. And sometimes when God is doing something in someone's specific life, you get affected by it. And in this story, let me just pick up in verse 12.

"And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person.'" So it starts out, "You can do anything you want to do to anything he has, but you can't touch him." So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house and a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away. Indeed, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven." Now this is how they're describing it. This is the only way to explain it. "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I alone have escaped to tell you."

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword and I alone have escaped to tell you." It's just one after another they're just bam, bam, bam. He's getting clobbered with this horrible news.

While he was still speaking, another also came and said—and this is what I want to talk to you about. So far we're losing—I'm not saying animals aren't important, but so far losing animals and your livestock and your herds is one thing. The last one shows up and says this: "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house and suddenly—"

And if you read the Bible long enough you'll find there are lots of suddenlys in the Bible. And basically what I'm trying to talk to you about today is getting ready in your life for the suddenlys. "And suddenly," it says, "a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house and it fell on the young people and they are dead and I alone have escaped to tell you."

All of his kids in one moment. A roof falls and they're dead. Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head and he fell to the ground and one of the coolest things you'll ever read in the Bible, and worshipped. Now what are you going to do when suddenly something happens that you can't control and can't do anything about?

You're either going to scream and holler and complain, or if you're in a place like Job was, who had a relationship with God. And the reason Job got picked by God to go through all this was he was proving something to the devil. He says, "Knock yourself out, see what he does. I'll tell you what he'll do, he'll worship me anyway."

And he said, verse 21, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." In all this, Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. Now I gotta tell you, I ain't no Job. I got questions. I don't get it. Maybe you gotta live a long time, maybe you gotta go through lots of junk. But there's just stuff that completely freaks me out.

And I say, "Lord, I don't get it, I don't understand what you're up to." There are some things, turn to Proverbs chapter 29. I'll give you a category for the suddenlys happening to you and a reason for it that we go, "Okay, well I get that." Proverbs 29, verse 1. "He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy," and there's nothing anybody can do about it.

Now every once in a while do you ever feel this way? You're a sinner, you've proven that because you're still sinning. You say, "I'm a Christian." Yeah, I understand, but you probably got some struggles. So you have some struggle with sin or temptation and every once in a while I get this feeling of, "You know what? I don't think I got much more time. I don't think God's going to put up with this much longer." Because I sin, I say I'm sorry, I come back, I sin, I say I'm sorry, and I think he's done with me.

I don't think you're in trouble there because the challenges are going to keep coming. The problem is in verse 1, "He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck." Now I'm going to tell you when you're in trouble. When you sin and you are rebuked and God disciplines you and says, "Enough, there's consequence, consequence," and every time God comes at you, instead of it making you more malleable or softer or moldable, you just get harder and harder and your old neck just stiffens up and you say, "You know what? You can't tell me what to do." We've seen kids do it. You know what? God sees it every day.

My book says, "He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy." You better not mess with God. Now if you're still saying, "Lord, I'm sorry," and going—you say, "Well, you're a flake." You know what? I'm one of the flakes. Because he's still coming at me and I still get mercy, but I do not want to harden my neck. I'm still willing to say, "Okay, Lord, I'm wrong. I don't want to live this way, I don't want to die this way, you got to help me."

Now see if somebody's this evil person, just horrible person, we say, "Absolutely, they were rebuked so many times they hardened their neck and God—bam!—destroyed them." That's what was supposed to—good for them, to hell with them. You know, we got all these things we say. That makes sense.

Yeah, but what if it happens to kids, to young people? There's just—I'm like, "Okay, well how bad could they have been to get squashed, to get wiped out suddenly?" Ecclesiastes chapter 9, let me give you another category for this. Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 11. And this is the wisest guy that ever lived, King Solomon, and he writes this stuff.

"I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all." He says, "You know what? You think the fast people win, the smart people—nothing to do with it, man. You can be an idiot and hit the lottery and you're rich—bam!—just like that, right?"

I wouldn't recommend playing the lottery. Did you win the lottery, ma'am? You were laughing like you won the lottery back there. No, you're praying that you will, right? I'm wondering why all the psychics don't win the lottery. You'd think they'd know the numbers already. I don't understand that. Nothing to do with anything here, but I've always wondered that.

All these things he mentions, he says, "But time and chance happen to them all. Stuff happens." There are bumper stickers that explain it more clearly, but we won't go there. Verse 12. "For man also does not know his time. Like fish taken in a cruel net—" You know, the fish is just swimming along and all of a sudden somebody throws a net and—bam!—they're like, "What happened? What did I do to deserve this?"

I don't know that fish are thinking that, but you get it. "Like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them." Stuff happens. Now let me tell you something about things that happen suddenly to Christians and they're out of here. It's not a problem.

If you're a believer and God elects to let something happen to you suddenly and you're gone, I pray you're ready. But whether you're ready or not, if you're a believer, you're in heaven with Jesus. There is no coming back and promise me, once you see that, there is nothing to come back to. So the problem with people dying, these awful things happening, is not with the people who die if they're Christians, it's us.

I started one funeral where a mom years ago—a mother, the grandmother was in our church—the daughter killed her 12-year-old daughter, then committed suicide. It was a double funeral, all the 12-year-old little girl's friends are sitting out in the crowd. That 12-year-old girl wasn't planning to die that day. Maybe the mama was but not the girl.

A busload of 12-year-olds sitting in the back and all these other old people been to church their whole life and I thought, "You know, I gotta talk to somebody here and it's these kids that are hurting." So I started the whole funeral with this. I said, "Death sucks," just like that. I thought the old people were going to roll the pews up and set them on fire.

But you know what? Sometimes we're so worried about offending a bunch of religious people we miss the people that are dying, that are hurting, that need answers. Now those kids were listening after that because that's what they were feeling. This is hard stuff, it is incomprehensible stuff and you say, "Oh, it's terrible."

You know when it's terrible is when it happens to you and your family. And you say, "Well, but it's a fluke deal, it ain't going to happen to me." Well, good luck with that, in all your immunity to disaster and problems. I wouldn't be banking on that. And Solomon wise enough to say, "You know what? It can happen anywhere, any time, to anybody."

Now I'll tell you what I say at funerals. Sometimes somebody's gotta die for somebody else to live. We got all these dreams for people we know, but their life was cut short. You know what? Life is something that God determines. Let him determine what's long or short.

The problem is that you might make it to 80 or 85, and what are you doing with that? You're just on cruise. Got my ticket to heaven, live like hell and nobody cares. And how's that working out for you and everybody else around you? Let's read some other verses here.

Acts chapter 1. Jesus has died, been buried and raised from the dead at this point and he's about to go into heaven. Verse 9. "Now when he had spoken these things, while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight." And this is a very aside thing here, but wherever Jesus is depicted as coming—and I don't want to stretch this any further than it is—it'll be a cloudy day when he comes.

There will be clouds. It won't be a clear blue sky. Because everywhere talks about Jesus coming, he comes with clouds. I don't know what it is, maybe it's to hide till he wants to appear, I don't know what it is. Clouds. He was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? What are you looking at? What are you looking for? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven." He'll come out of the blue. Just one day, suddenly, out of the blue, he'll show back up.

Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. A few pages, these are all left to right, almost all of them, there may be one that's not. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 50. And in here he's talking about life and death issues and anywhere he talks about corruption, he's talking about this body, this physical body that is deteriorating, that is corrupting.

And when he talks about incorruption, it means you have a new body that will not die, will not decay, that'll live forever. "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed."

I was at a funeral the other day and the preacher said, "We've all got to die." And I wasn't upset with him, but you know what? That's not true. Not all of us will die. It could be that while we sit right here, while you're driving around in your car out there someplace, wherever you are, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet sounds and I'll read you the verses. You better be ready because he can come out of the blue. Suddenly.

"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality."

Go to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10 and following. Now this is more to how you live in the meantime. He says in 2 Peter 3:10, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are there in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

Now you read all this, you hear me read this, you go, "This is just the Bible, that's some old book, people wrote it, made it up, there's nothing—you can't prove any of that." Yeah, I can, it's just going to take me a little time. And by the time I can prove it, it's going to be too late for your you-know-what, because you'll be out. Then you'll be going, "Oh, oh I get it now, I heard some preacher say that. I believe now, I believe now." Too late. You weren't ready for any suddenly.

A speaker friend of mine goes around and did something stupid when he was younger, got put in jail and he got out and one of the things he tells people is, "You can't cram for a crisis." You can cram for a test, but crisis comes out of nowhere, you have got to be ready.

What kind of people you're supposed to be. He tells you there. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And in the context of people having questions about loved ones who had died, friends who had died, they're trying to clear this up. Verse 13. "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope."

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

If he comes back today, you're going to have to wait for the graves to empty and then we follow them out. All those bodies, all those people eaten by sharks and burned in fires, you say, "How's that going to work?" You're dealing with God who took dust in the first place, made man, breathed in it and gave him life. You think he can't find your dust all over the planet?

Matthew chapter 24, go back to the left a little bit. Man, these are some great verses. There's more of them in there, I'm telling you, if you just read it, they're everywhere. Matthew 24:27. "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the heaven to the other."

And then jump down to verse 38. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only." This is Jesus speaking. "But as the days of Noah were—" Now look what he compares to what's going to be going on when he shows up.

"But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

What does he equate it to? Some crazy nut guy out there building an ark, he's not even near enough water to float the thing. Noah, you're a fool, wasting your life. Come party with us, eat, drink, be merry, tomorrow we die. What are you wasting your hundred years building a boat? You're an idiot. You stupid Christians. Boring life.

So what is Jesus saying? Just like when Noah was here, you can tell them building a boat, flood's coming, pay attention. But it's not till the boat's sealed up, everybody's in it, and the rain starts falling and all those people screaming, "Oh, we believe now, we believe now."

There was only one lifeboat that day and it was Noah's boat that survived that storm. Verse 38 again. "For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, the other left."

So if that's the way it's going to go down, you say, "Well, I don't believe that." Well, you just keep believing what you want to believe and see how that works. It's not going to work. Pay attention. If the Holy Spirit's even remotely tapping on the door of your heart, pay attention.

Look at verse 42. "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." He is going to show up out of the blue. Be ready all the time.

You say, "Well, how can anybody be ready all the time?" Walk with him every day, step by step, minute by minute, stay in touch. I drive and I'm about to teach some of my girls to drive, which would increase my prayer life just exponentially, I'm sure. It does. Amen. Got an "Amen". That's a white guy's way of saying "Amen". It does. Okay.

So, I'm going to give you an example of this. What you figure out if you're a decent driver, which I'm not claiming that, but here's something I've started paying attention to how I drive to see if I'm even modeling anything remotely close to what I want them doing, which I'm really not, so I'm gonna have to change my driving.

But I notice when I'm driving down the road, I've got a rearview mirror to my right, right by my head, I've got two side mirrors, and this is what happens. I'm driving down the road, I catch myself glancing in the rearview mirror, the left mirror, the right mirror, rearview mirror, left mirror—and then if I'm making a turn, peripherally I turn my head, I'm looking because we got blind spots.

But I'm watching, without even knowing it you are if you're a decent driver, you're checking mirrors. You want to know what's going on around you. I'm going to add one more way to drive. Get you a sunroof and glance up because he could come out of the blue.

We ought to be checking up like we're checking those mirrors and just saying, "Lord, okay, I'm here. I woke up this morning, you got me alive for a reason. I'm going to do this deal." But I'm telling you, it'd be just fine with me if you beam me up right now.

Now is that a death wish of some kind? No, it's just like, you know what, why would anybody want to stay here? If heaven's so great, what are we doing here? Take me, Lord. Come get me, Lord. Now I'm not talking about driving under overpasses terrified that something's going to fall out the sky and destroy you. This stuff can happen.

I'm talking about living every second you've got so if the day is your last day because you die today, or if Jesus comes back, you're ready, you're watching, you're praying, you're alert. Because stuff can happen out of the blue and the best thing that'll ever happen is Jesus'll come out of the blue and take us home. Be ready.

Guest (Male): Before Richard comes back to wrap things up for us today, I'd like to share a couple important things with you. Let me encourage you to take a minute and check out our website, richardellis.com. You'll find today's talk right there in the talks page along with all of Richard's audio and video messages. You can even forward them to a friend so they can hear them too.

You'll also find the prayer wall to add your prayer requests, a link so you can connect with us, the contribute page for you to be able to give to this ministry, all of our social media links, and much more. So check it out, richardellis.com. And Richard's back now to wrap up today's talk.

Richard Ellis: Let's pray. Father, there may be people listening today who are terrified, who for all their lives for fear of death have wondered it could happen any time, Lord, and I know that feeling. Not crazy about dying some horrible way, Lord. But I think about it. So if I'm thinking about it as a Christian, Lord, then people who aren't Christians are bound to be thinking about it and trying to avoid it and put it out of their mind. But you're either coming back or we're dying, Lord. And I pray either way we'd be ready.

And if somebody today for the first time in their whole life is finally getting it and they go, "Okay, I had no idea this whole God-Jesus thing was about saving my life," then may today somebody just pray a simple prayer and say, "Father, and that's what I want you to be to me. I have screwed up royally. I am a sinner. There's no question, you know it, I know it, and I've proven it to everybody around me. I understand now that Jesus came to the earth, died on the cross, shed his blood on that cross to pay for my sin, to cover my sin, was buried and raised from the dead and he is alive and I need him alive in me and through me."

I accept this forgiveness of sin that you offer as a free gift. This gift of eternal life, again as just that, a free gift. Come live in me, through me, change me from the inside out, make me the person you intended for me to be. Like being born all over again, give me a clean slate, a fresh start, a new beginning. And help me live this life the way you intended and even if I go down sin again, Lord, I know you'll forgive me. Help me to go home and stay home when I do stupid stuff even after today.

And Father, for all of us who claim to know you, help us keep our eye on the ball and pay attention and watch and pray and make every second count and do all whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, do all to the glory of God knowing that as sure as we're hearing these words, you could come out of the blue. And that is exactly our prayer. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. We love you, we thank you, we praise you, and we pray it all in Jesus' name, Amen.

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