Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Today on Richard Ellis Talks. You may have some questions, you may have had some tough stuff happen to you, you may have done some stupid things that caused you to question or wish you weren't a Christian, but you can't get un-Christianed. "Lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." So you are stuck with Jesus. If you've got him, there is no shaking him.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Thank you for allowing us to share this time with you. You may be stuck in traffic or stuck in life. Either way, today's message is going to help you get on the right track as you learn how much God loves you right where you are.

Richard's unique style checks all the boxes, with a lot of hope, insight, truth, and of course, humor. Today's talk with Richard will get our conversation started, but we want to keep it going with you. So let's stay in touch through our website, richardellis.com. But right now, let's go ahead and get right into today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is Powered On. Turn if you would to Matthew 28. For some of you, this will be the first time you've ever heard this verse, and unfortunately for some of you, it will be who knows how many times. You may even know it by heart. We're going to try to move as usual from left to right through these verses to the New Testament today.

It is very difficult if you're not a Christian to explain a lot of these things that we talk about as though it was some kind of sales meeting sometimes where everybody knows the lingo and what we're talking about. And it's very difficult in some ways for us because if we weren't there—and we weren't—and we did not see Jesus in the flesh—and I haven't. The song says, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?"

The truth of the matter is you weren't, but the only way you can be a Christian is that you were. Because when he was crucified, you were crucified. The flesh was crucified. So you were there even though you weren't there in a spiritual sense. You have to reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. But we take all of this by faith. We here and now look back to something that happened a couple of thousand years ago almost, and now we look forward given these things that we know. We look forward to what is going to happen, the return of Christ, or in some ways what turns out to be the mercy of God.

I talked to someone this week about this, that death, as it turns out, tends to be merciful. Because if you thought you were going to live four, five, or six hundred years, it would take a lot more counseling. I really don't know. If somebody said, "Hey, you got another 400 years," I'd think, "Oh my gosh, what does that even mean?" So in some ways, death and the hope of eternal life, the promise of eternal life beyond death, almost gives us hope in itself that sooner or later we are going to see him.

So you have God himself who comes in the form of a man, Jesus. He's born of a virgin, he lives a sinless life, he dies on a cross, buried, raised from the dead, and then for 40 days, he appears, disappears, appears, disappears. And we'll see in a minute, then for 10 days, there's nothing. But he has made them a promise.

Now I've made some promises in my life and I haven't kept all my promises. And maybe you've made some promises and you didn't keep your promises. I got married years ago and I vowed to be faithful to my wife. You say, "Oh, were you about to confess something?" It's not going to be quite that juicy. You say, "Well, have you been faithful?" Technically yes, but no.

Because the scripture says if you've even looked on another woman. So I haven't kept my promise. It's not a good thing. Have you kept your promise? See, we don't keep our promises, not always. You're dealing with a God who keeps his promises. He never doesn't show up. If he says he'll do something, he does it. He says he'll never leave you or forsake you. You will never be left or forsaken. Even if your kid dies, he will never leave you or forsake you. You may not understand what's going on, but he keeps his promises.

So you have to understand and you have to believe who it is you're dealing with. You are dealing with a holy, awesome—and I used to refer to him as the God of the universe—he is bigger than that. He is not just the God of the universe. He is the God that created the universe, but who knows what's beyond the universe. We're dealing with a God that there is no way for our human brains, there is no way to understand.

Our ways are not his ways. Our thoughts—he is so much higher. He is so much bigger. And when we see him and we meet him face to face, we will fall because we will be knocked down by our just complete missing the boat. What was I thinking? It described him in these ways, but why didn't I get who he was, how awesome he was, how powerful he is?

So when you go to your Bible and you're looking for God to show up and he says things—and we're going to read one of these things that he said. He's been buried, he's been crucified, he's been buried, he's been raised from the dead. Then Matthew 28, verse 16 and following: "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to a mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted." And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying—now listen to these words—"All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."

You say, "Well, this is God, why would he not have all authority?" The enemy has certain authority, and some of the authority that he has is due to sin in the world. And Jesus comes and takes on sin, takes on the grave, takes on death itself, takes on every enemy that you will ever face. So he conquers it and now he has the power. He has the authority in heaven and on earth.

So he says all authority's been given to me in heaven and on earth, so I've got the authority and now I am going to send you. "Go therefore or as you are going, make disciples." He gives them a command. "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." And then look at these promises. "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen."

I talk to people sometimes and they go, "Man, I used to believe. I used to be a Christian." Let me tell you something about being a Christian. You can't "used to" have been a Christian. There's no "used to" to it. You either are or you aren't. And if you are, you still are. Now you may have some questions, you may have some doubts, you may have strayed, you may have had some tough stuff happen to you, you may have done some stupid things that cause you to question or wish you weren't a Christian, but you can't get un-Christianed.

Can't happen. "Lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age." So you are stuck with Jesus. If you've got him, he's got you, you've got him. There is no shaking him. Go to Luke 24. Luke 24, jump in here at verse 33. "So they rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem"—these are the guys that were on the road to Emmaus—"and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, 'The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!'"

And they told about the things that had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, "Peace to you." But they were terrified and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, he said to them, "Have you any food here?" So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and ate it in their presence. Then he said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning me."

And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Then he said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are my witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you."

Now here he is saying he's going to do something. "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Do not leave without me. And too many times we get some idea. We say, "Well, we're going to go do something for God." You can't do nothing for God. You've got to let God do something in you and through you or it's not going to work.

"Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." And he led them out as far as Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. They went and waited. As it turns out, it's only 10 days. You say, "Well, I can't wait." You've got to wait.

Go to John chapter 14. While you're looking for that, I don't have my cell phone on me right now. We get in the car and we have one charger in the car. You'd think we'd have more. And when we get in the car, someone grabs the charger and plugs it into their phone and you know what the comments are? "How much you got?" That's the question. "2%." So if I got 8%, 2% trumps 8%. So you get the charger. But I only got 8%, but 2% is worse than eight. I need it more.

And at night, I plug my phone in. You know what the coolest thing to do is, is to wake up in the morning and look at your phone and all of it's just boom, 100%. I got power. I can go. I can app. I can whatever I need to do, right? There's nothing like having no power. It's about to die, it's about to go away, and that's how we live our lives on like 1%, 2%. Some of you got the brightness down so low even God can't read your screen anymore because you're managing your power.

The trick would be if I could just keep it plugged in all the time, I wouldn't have to worry. That's the deal. Stay connected where you don't ever have to—it's always 100%. And some of you think, "Well, I'll go to church on Sunday or something and I'll plug in and get all charged up." And then by Wednesday, Thursday, you're 2%, maybe Monday. Plug in every day. Charge every day. Walk with him, talk with him.

All right, where were we? John chapter 14. Now listen to this. You've got to read your Bible. You can't imagine what's in your Bible. It's not like it's hide and go seek, either. It's like right there. John 14, verse 12. And this is Jesus talking to his disciples. This is before he dies, before he's buried, before he's raised from the dead. Verse 12: "Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do. If you love me, keep my commandments."

Now look at this. "And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper." And the word here "another" means another of the same kind. So it's not like it's not going to be like Jesus. It'll be just like Jesus, just a different kind. It'll be like having him without him being there. "And I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever." In other words, Jesus in the flesh was not omnipresent. He couldn't be everywhere all the time. But the Holy Spirit can be omnipresent because he lives in all of us.

And he says that's who it is, "that he may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him; but you know him, for he dwells with you." Now look at this: "he dwells with you"—so they have sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit, but look at what he adds—"and he will be in you." If you're a Christian, God the Holy Spirit lives inside you. It's not possible to be a Christian and not have him living in you. So you have all the power of the universe, God himself inside you.

Now please be careful. You get poets out there, philosophical people going, "Oh, you know, you need to just get in touch with the God that's within you." If he's not in you, you can't get in touch with him. You say, "Well, no, I've got another opinion." You're just as empty as you can be unless he is in you, you got nothing. You can believe whatever garbage you want to believe, but the only way he gets in is for you to receive him, for you to let him move into your body, to your life.

So keep reading. "But you know him for he dwells with you and he will be in you." And then look at this next phrase. "I will not leave you." And if you have the King James Version—I grew up with this—it says, "I will not leave you comfortless." That's okay, great, I need comfort. Listen to the Greek word. The Greek word for this word is *orphanos*, where it's straight-up the word orphan. "I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you."

That's huge to me. Because you've got Jesus with you, he's there all the time, he's raising you, he's walking with you, he's showing you. And all of a sudden he's dead, then he's buried, then he's raised from the dead. You say, "Okay, well, it's going to be okay." And then you realize he's leaving, and then one day you literally see him going to heaven. You're like, "Well, now what are we supposed to do? We got no Jesus. Who's going to raise us? Who's going to stay with us? Who's going to show us the way?"

He says, "I will not leave you orphans." In other words, I'll send you someone. "I will not leave you comfortless. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. A little longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live, you will live also." And so when the Holy Spirit shows up, they go, "He's back!" I don't do well by myself. Every once in a while, Rebecca will go off to see one of the girls in school or something and I'm—you think, "Well, it's going to be great, I'm going to have a break." I don't want a break. I don't like it. I don't like being by myself. I love my wife, I love my girls. I don't want to be by myself.

And the thought of knowing what I know and living with him in me, and for even if a few moments somehow if he left my body, that's just terror because I don't know anything else since I was a little kid. I did not always know that he was in there, but I can tell you this, I'd know if he wasn't in there. It'd be a big problem. And you say, "Well, I've been a Christian a long time, I know he lives in me." That's all I know now. You need to remember that there are people who don't know that feeling. They don't know that promise, they don't know that presence, and they live every day of their lives alone, empty, empty.

That God-sized vacuum that only he can fill, they got nobody. Nobody's home and they're alone all the time. And so when you present the gospel and you speak to them of Jesus and his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection—joy, love, peace, all these things that come with the package—that sounds very appealing because if they're really honest, they got nothing, they got nobody. Nobody's home, they're barely home.

I read something the other day about Pamela Anderson. Anybody know who Pamela Anderson is? All the men are very reluctant to raise their hands. This hot blonde bombshell, Baywatch, you think, "Wow, what's she doing? Playboy bunny, all these things." And you might have judged this woman. She comes out the other day, turns out she was molested as a little girl, gang-raped by an ex-boyfriend and all his buddies, and then it went on and on and on. You know what? You might be a little screwed up, too, if all that had happened.

But she shouldn't be living that way. How should she be living? Your way? How are you living? Should she be judgmental like us? Oh, that's brilliant. Quick to wag those fingers instead of ask a few questions. Slow down. Do what Jesus did. He'd pull up to a well and have a conversation and find out what was going on, and a whole city get changed.

Go to Acts chapter 1. I keep trying to figure out ways to articulate this is not just a big deal, this is *the* deal. This is bigger than life. It *is* your life. You say, "Well, no, I'm living my life." It's possible you really are living your life. You need to let him live his life in you, through you. You say, "Well, but I'm really busy, God, I can't get to that right now." You are bought with a price. You don't own yourself. You don't get to pick.

Now we do pick, which basically we go AWOL on him. And it's just a recurring thing. "Yeah, but if I completely yield to God and I make him not just the guy that saved me from hell, but I make him the boss, I make him the Lord, he's going to ruin my life." He hadn't ruined mine yet. I have more fun than all of you. We could have gotten thrown out of a restaurant the other day. It got pretty sketchy. I'm the best spitwad shooter on the planet. I can hit you like at 30 yards almost. My wife hates this, but I'm really good. It's a gift, a spiritual gift of some kind.

So I laugh hard, I play hard. I went into a restaurant the other day and this girl had this big old owl tattoo on her arm, and then it looked like there was like some kind of bead in the owl had a bellybutton bead. I was like, "What the heck is that? I've never seen that, that looks like painful to me, like it's shot with a dart gun or something." So I ask her, I go, "So what's up with the owl?" Then she starts talking about the owl and her great-grandmother.

I said, "Well, what about the bellybutton?" She says, "No, it's not the bellybutton. Had to cut it and put it in there." So she's talking about all this. So I said, "Sit down here a minute." She sits down and I said—and I've never asked anybody this—I said, "Where's your great-grandmother?" She said, "Well, she used to love—" I said, "No, no, no, not where she lived. Where is she right now?" And she stopped, she said, "Well, she was a schoolteacher, she was a little tough, but she was basically good." And I realized just like that, it was about what her grandmother—she didn't understand.

She said, "Heaven." And I said, "Are you sure of that?" She says, "Well—" Then I looked at her and I said, "So what happens to you?" Now this is—we were laughing hard, giving her a hard time, and all of a sudden it got really serious in this restaurant. I said, "What about you?" And in simple little words, over a little lunch sitting right there by me, in less than two or three minutes, I told her. I said, "I don't know if anybody's ever explained to you, you know, the whole Jesus thing, and that he came and you'll never be good enough. You can't be good enough to get him to love you. He just loves you. He died on the cross, was buried, raised from the dead." And you could see something going on in her head, and this is what she said to me. She said, "No one's ever told me that before. No one's ever explained it to me that way."

What are we doing? How hard is this? I didn't break into some, "And God said! Please sit down and I will explain to you about Jesus!" I'd run like crazy from you if you broke into that voice. We're freak shows, that's why they don't want anything to do with us. Be alive, just be there and be yourself and let Jesus speak to these people. You say, "Well, did she become a Christian there?" No, I wrote her a little thing something she could go look at, and you know, it doesn't have to happen right there. But the gospel is so stinking powerful. And people have nothing, and they're afraid they're going to die, and they're afraid they're going to be—they don't know where, and they don't even know to think sometimes, "I'll be separated from God." They just don't know. And then you offer them some hope and they grab it. They grab it, and their whole lives are changed.

So look what happens. Acts chapter 1, verse 1: "The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day was taken up, after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."

"And being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, 'Which,' he said, 'you have heard from me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'" Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

And he said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." And then he's taken into heaven. Then down at verse 13: "And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." There's about 120 of them, it says there.

Then go to Acts chapter 2 really quick and look what happens. He shows up. You know what happened in that restaurant the other day? He showed up. He backed me up. I was completely myself, to the chagrin of my own family a little bit. And the second you interject the gospel, you know what he does? He shows up. You're powered on. You think, "Well, there's nothing going on here," and then boom, he boots the thing up and here it goes. He goes, "Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not ashamed of me? Guess what, I'm not ashamed of you. I'll back you up."

Guest (Male): Richard will be back in a moment to wrap up today's talk. But first, I want to share a couple thoughts with you. Let's be honest. Real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others to see. Most people have deep hurts, questions, and struggles. We get it and want to help you in any way we can. So let's keep this conversation going. Give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD, or connect with us at our website, richardellis.com. You can even put in your prayer request right there on the prayer wall so others can pray for you as well. Call us at 855-6-RICHARD, or online at richardellis.com. And now, let's get back to Richard with a final word on today's show.

Richard Ellis: Acts chapter 2, verse 1: "When the Day of Pentecost"—so this is 50 days after Jesus has been raised from the dead that weekend—"when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." They are together. "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, like cloven tongues of fire, and one sat upon each of them."

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues"—or other languages that you might have a translation that says—"as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven." So what did he tell them to do? Go into all the world. What they didn't factor in is that this feast that was coming up, Pentecost, the whole world came to Jerusalem.

You say, "Well, how are we going to pull this off?" He's like, "It's not your problem. Just trust me, believe me, follow me, obey me." So they had all come to Jerusalem. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

And people say, "Well, you gotta speak in tongues." Let me tell you something. If you're speaking in tongues this way, somebody understands what you're saying. You come in here and say, "Well, to be a Christian, you gotta speak in tongues." [Speaks Portuguese] I have no idea what I just said. What was that? Portuguese, right. Because I grew up in Brazil, I speak Portuguese. You say, "Well, that's no miracle." Oh yeah, it is. I had to learn Portuguese. That's a miracle, baby.

So I open my mouth and I start speaking Chinese. I don't know Chinese, and you hear it in your own little dialect from some place in China. That's a miracle, but somebody understands it. So this gets their attention. And you keep reading down verse—gives everybody from where they are—verse 11: "Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." And it goes on to say that that day, 3,000 people get saved. And you know what? They get saved and go home wherever they're from. And the gospel is spread bam, just like that. You say, "Well, what can God do with 12 guys? What can God do with 120 guys?" He can do whatever he wants to. You've got to be available.

Guest (Male): This has been Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. The message of the gospel is one we take very seriously in our mission to reach the planet, and you have a vital part of doing that along with us. If you've been encouraged by these talks with Richard, be sure to tell someone about the change they've made in your life. You can even share today's talk with them through the website, richardellis.com.

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