Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Jesus will change your life. And if you claim to know him and believe all this and your life doesn't change, something's wrong. And it's not with him. It's either I'm not submitting my will to him, I'm not willing to follow him, trust him, obey him, or it may be that you just don't even know him.

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 were 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 today's message is Seat Check. And I'd like to talk to you about something that for me, I read these stories over and over and I get in here and try to get my arms around it. And I can't be the only one that you open your Bible sometimes and you go, it's just too much.

And we only have a glimpse. The book says that if everything that had happened, everything that was said was written down, there wouldn't be enough volumes to contain it. So we have literally just a glimpse of what Jesus did when he was here, for instance, and what's really going on. Because if we really had the whole picture, it'd be overwhelming. This is overwhelming. Anybody agree with that?

I mean, you just reading the Bible itself, some people read it and give up. Some people read it and spend a lifetime studying it. And the more you study it, the more you realize you don't know and that there's so much stuff buried in here if you just take the time to chase it. But there's a lot in here. And every once in a while, you get a glimpse in here from heaven's perspective.

And you know that God knows everything because he's God. And you know, there's God the Father, God the Son, the Holy Spirit, three in one somehow. And who can explain that? But it's the deal. So you've got God in heaven. And who else is in heaven? You've got angels.

And you've got angels, these created beings. And a third of them got thrown out of heaven when Satan decided he wanted to be equal to God. So a third get chunked out. And every once in a while, you see these visits, which is kind of bizarre in itself, where the devil comes into some kind of boardroom into heaven and some things are discussed and you think, what's up with that? Can demons be in heaven or can the devil visit there?

But yet these things go down. And you realize that the devil even can't do anything unless he's authorized by God. So you've got God, all three of them. You've got the devil doing his thing with his demons down here, ruling the earth, doing whatever they want. And God has to allow it. But God has not lost control. He's still omnipotent, he's all powerful.

And then you've got these angels in heaven who whatever they're doing all the time, somehow and I don't know how to explain this at all. When I pray, I think, okay, well, what just happened? I prayed and I asked God for something, let's assume it really is his will. Did like one angel get dispatched to take care of my deal?

And if I'm under attack, do a bunch of them show up to protect me? And there's passages that talk about angels where they watch over kids or everybody's almost got one assigned to them. So there've got to be billions of angels if that's the case. And somehow God's running heaven, watching over us, taking care of business.

And yet you've got these angels watching this happen. And they're not eternal. They're created beings and they have observed a lot of unbelievable things. And one of the things that I'd like to talk to you about today is this whole thing of one of the three, the Godhead, leaving heaven and not just coming down for a visit.

But when you look at the Christmas story, he shows up not materialized like on Star Trek or something where he just kind of appears and then disappears. Some of that happens later. But he literally came down here and was born in flesh. And from my perspective, as much as that freaks me out, I think it had to freak the angels out just a little bit.

And let's read some of this and I'm going to jump around a lot today. I don't think anybody cares what I have to say, so let's read scripture. John 17. And this isn't going to be chronological, but I'm going to pull things that Jesus said, give you some context along the way, and try to explain how astonishing this really is.

John 17:1, let's just pick up there. "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his head to heaven and said: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you. As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do.'"

And look at verse five: "'And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.'" So Jesus talking to God in a body, man on the planet, saying, "I've done what you sent me to do." He's about to be crucified, buried, raised from the dead, finish the whole trip. And he's talking about the glory which he had with God before the world was.

So this isn't back in the beginning of time. This is in eternity. Jesus, when you talk about Jesus, this is not just some great teacher. This is not some nice guy. This isn't a do-gooder, one of the ways to heaven. Jesus Christ is one of the persons of the Godhead, who is God, equal with God before time itself even existed.

As he puts it here, "which I had with you before the world was." When you talk about Jesus or talk to Jesus or you use his name to summon something, you can't get a bigger name. You can't drop a bigger name. And some people are very casual. And I've shared this before playing ball or in the store, somebody says, "Jesus Christ!" and something like that.

Don't do that. And let me encourage you something: even if you don't believe in God, even if you don't care about religious things, out of respect for me, don't do that. Leave him out of it. If you want to curse, use your mama's name, see how that goes over. And I'm not saying "your mama," I'm not that "your mama," because that would be my mama, not your mama.

When you say the word "Jesus," I have no way of even beginning to describe you. I don't even understand. I pray over my food, I pray a simple prayer, and you get to the end and say, "And it's in Jesus' name that we pray this." Do we have any idea the power that we invoke by simply saying that name? Don't mess with that name.

God, after Jesus came and lived, the book says that he gave him a name that was above every name. So there is power. You want to get something done, drop that name. Go to John chapter one. And people read this stuff, for instance, and go, whatever, I don't get this. You know what? There's a lot of things in life you would get if you would just read and figure it out.

John chapter 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." Now, what's the Word? What is he talking about? If you just read even if you've got some little commentaries in there, the Word is Jesus. It's the Logos is the word in Greek there, but it's simply put, this is Jesus.

So in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, great, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Then he goes on and talks about John and that he came, verse nine: "He came to bear witness of the light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him."

"But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Let me ask you a simple question. Look at verse 12. "But as many as received him." Have you ever received him?

Do you know what that means? Let me tell you something: you better figure that out. Because look what's coming after that. "As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God." You say, well, we're all children of God. That's not what my book says. My book says to as many as received him, those are the ones he's given the right to become the children of God.

And then he further clarifies it, "to those who believe in his name." You believe in his name? You believe in Jesus? What did he do? Who is he? King of kings, Lord of lords, left heaven, born of a virgin, lives a sinless life, dies on a cross, buried, raised from the dead, coming again. You say, well, sure, I believe all those facts. Has it changed your life?

Jesus will change your life. And if you claim to know him and believe all this and your life doesn't change, something's wrong. And it's not with him. It's either I'm not submitting my will to him, I'm not willing to follow him, trust him, obey him, or it may be that you just don't even know him. I recommend that you take this opportunity and believe in his name.

And then he goes on to describe it as people who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Then verse 14, here's the Christmas story in John chapter one: "And the Word," meaning Jesus here, "and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

And how tragic it is. Some shepherds figured it out, some wise men figured it out, some people at the temple, some people along the way. But what is so astonishing to me is that a world of people at that time, God came and went and they never knew it. They never acknowledged it. They never got it.

You think, well, everybody would know. If Jesus was born today, CNN would cover it and it'd be big news and he'd be big time. And you know what? He'd be nothing. He'd be some little boy that didn't even show up on the radar. Born just like he was in some poor place in Bethlehem. And we would never acknowledge it.

Some king would get upset and slaughter a bunch of babies trying to protect his kingdom. But we wouldn't get it. And you know what's proof of that? Is that this same God, when you become a Christian, he comes to live in and through each of us. And we come and go in our workplaces, with our neighbors, with our family.

And they are looking at the manifest presence of God who lives in us. And they look in our eyes and they watch our lives and they go, "Something's different about you, but oh well, where are we going to lunch?" And all the time, they are in the very presence of God and they sense something, but they don't believe, they don't get it.

And they just go on with their life and they die and stand before God and say, "Whoa, if I'd known all that was going on, I would have believed." You do know what's going on. And you refuse to believe. You're holding on to your life and your will and your way and you won't let him have it. And if you would simply say, "God, there's got to be something going on here. I see it in too many people. The Christmas story, Easter, all these things, something's up."

"Help me, God. Open my eyes. I'm searching for you. Show me the way." I'm telling you, he's not playing hide and go seek with us. Go to Isaiah chapter seven. Now, I don't know if there's a lot of preaching in heaven. You probably pray there's not, because if you end up there with me, we'd be in trouble because there's no time in heaven.

I don't know what the angels know. I don't know if God says, "Here's the deal. I made you guys and here's what it's all going to look like," or if they kind of find it out along the way. But what I do know is they have to know what's in scripture, because they can observe and process this and see it read and hear it read.

There's some awareness. And one of the things they had to have heard hundreds of years before Jesus even shows up is in Isaiah 7:14. And this is in the scriptures: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Here's the sign, Messiah: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us.'"

So the angels say, "Okay, there's a verse in there. They're talking about this. All the Jews are waiting for this sign, this thing to happen." And everybody will believe it because virgins don't get pregnant. So whenever a virgin gets pregnant and has a baby and they call him God with us, Immanuel, that's it, we'll know he's coming.

Go to Isaiah chapter nine. Few pages over. Some more insight here. And I'm trying to be gentle, but let me say that and then however it comes across, I can't fix that. This is one of those deals. If you just take the time to read it, the statistical probability of all this stuff that was written hundreds and hundreds of years before actually coming to pass the way it says here, it's impossible.

You say, well, I don't know if I believe the Bible. And my favorite is people saying it's full of errors. Okay, show me one error. All these people that discount the Bible and say it's full of errors can't show me. None of them ever show me even one error. They just heard somebody say that. And the way they write it all off, they say, "See, it's full of errors, that's it, I'm done with it."

How are you going to explain the virgin thing, okay? Well, I don't believe she was a virgin, it was Joseph's baby. Okay, I'll give you that. Isaiah 9:6 and following: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." So a child is going to be born, a son. And who could measure up to this? Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

It's got to be God. This isn't some nice guy, because you can't give these attributes to just someone that's nice. It's God. And then it goes on, the Old Testament prophesied literally the place, Bethlehem. And King Herod says, "Where is this thing supposed to happen?" And he goes and slaughters the children, as I mentioned earlier, in this area. He found out where Jesus was going to be born because the Bible says it. The Old Testament revealed this stuff.

Now, here's where it gets a little freaky. Because there's no time in heaven. So the angels are watching and listening and when's this going to happen. And all of a sudden, there's some kind of stir. I can't explain this. Some kind of stir and it's time in the fullness of time.

And this Jesus, who forever and ever and ever has always been on his throne, says, "I'm out of here." And it's not in the Bible, but the principle is here that at a point in time, Jesus himself, they knew it was time. And I don't have time to go into all this, but these stars were lined up for this event.

And they had to be lined up before the beginning of time. God had planned this to the second. The stars, the planets reflected even his crucifixion. This is not some kind of coincidence. And in heaven, it's time, here we go. And however this stuff works, whether Jesus got up or what he did, there's a seat left in heaven that he intended to come back to one day.

Now, where is he going? We've known he's coming. Messiah's supposed to come. The Jewish people are waiting for this to happen. And he came and a lot of them, most of them, probably didn't even get that anyway and still don't. And I'm not being critical, it's just you can be a Jew and miss Jesus.

Now, look at these scriptures in light of what's going down. Go to Luke chapter one. New Testament, Luke chapter one. And I don't have time to read all this stuff. And in Luke 1:26: "Now in the sixth month the angel," the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, Mary's cousin, who had John the Baptist.

"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David." And that's very important, the house of David. "The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her..."

Now, imagine how in all of time in eternity, this moment, everybody's awaited for this moment. And the angel comes and looks at Mary and says, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

Now, all mamas get pregnant and think, oh, my baby's going to be this or that. I don't know of any mamas, only one mama in history has ever had an angel show up and say, "You're having the kid. You are highly favored. You are going to give birth to the God of the universe in flesh." Now, what does that look like from heaven?

Go a few verses down, Luke 1:35. She asked, "How's this going to happen?" And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

Now, I can't explain this, but somewhere at a certain point in time, this virgin girl, the Holy Spirit comes upon her and, just to put it the way it is, a sperm materializes somehow in an egg in her womb and just like that, Jesus is not seated on a throne. He is embedded in the womb of a virgin girl and never ceases to be God.

And people say, I don't get this thing about God living in me. I don't understand like Jesus, you say, I'm asking Jesus in my heart or into my life and that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, that he doesn't live in a building anymore. He lives in me as a Christian. If you had trouble with the virgin birth, you're going to have trouble with that.

If you don't have trouble with the virgin birth, you're going to be okay with carrying God around inside your body. Women have a huge advantage when it comes to this stuff because they know what it is to carry a life around inside of them and feel movement and kicking and all the other junk that goes on, something pressing against your bladder and all that stuff.

They have an advantage. But the fact is you can have life within you. And when you become a Christian, God himself comes to take residence in you. And people say, "I had a bad gut feeling. I was uneasy. I didn't think I should have been there." And I went out with this guy and we got in a situation and everything about it freaked me out.

I knew I had to get out of there. Something inside of me said, "Get away." If you're a Christian, that's God. Because you have a life living within your life and living through your life. And if you get out of the way and say, "Okay, God, this is you living in me and through me. I'm out. It's all you. Tell me where to go, tell me what to do, tell me how to live."

If you're a Christian, that's what's going on. Now, if you're not a Christian, you have a bad gut feeling, it may be angels themselves trying to direct you and sending people into your life and who knows how you get where you get. But God is after you. God is so after us that he said, look, the only way to get it done and he knew this before the foundation of the world, they're never going to get it figured out unless I go down there myself.

So I'll go be born the way they were born, I'll live their life without sin, I'll die as a perfect sacrifice, be buried, raised from the dead, and if they don't get that, there's nothing else I can do. What more are you going to do than lay your own Son's life down to rescue a bunch of people who don't deserve getting rescued anyway? It's just a choice that God made to come after us.

Luke chapter two. Look at Luke chapter two, just a few more. And I just think, well, everybody knows this story. Don't ever just read it and go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, I know all this." Read it again. Think about it again. Pray about it again. Let God give you some more stuff about it. They go to Bethlehem. The baby's born. Verse eight, Luke chapter two.

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel..." and God is very gentle. Gabriel shows up to Mary, one angel. Even if he's going to show up with a bunch after that, you start with one and then you build on that. You don't freak people out.

So obviously he's being gentle to the shepherds here. "And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"

Christ, the chosen one, the Messiah. "And this will be a sign to you." You want to figure out how to find him? "You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." There's only going to be one because nobody would have a baby in a stable and put a baby in a manger in a bunch of hay and swaddling cloths.

So they go into town, they probably know all the barns because they're shepherds. And they go in and find this baby. Now, that's what he told them to go look for. But while they're still out there in the fields, look at verse 13. Don't you it's almost like you get the feeling that these angels are about to pop.

They can sing and do all their stuff in heaven, but every once in a while, God authorizes an angel to show up, one or in this case you'll see a bunch, and just let it rip. And these shepherds get to see a little glimpse of what's going on in heaven. "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'"

And when they get done with their bit, they go back into heaven and the shepherds are on their own. What an extraordinary thing. From the angels' side to declare all this stuff. I'm very grateful that in a way somebody called seat check one day and came, astonished the angels, lived, born a tiny baby, a sinless life, and then ends up on, as this story would tell, a throne, not what you'd expect.

Died on that cross, went all the way so that he could be buried and raised from the dead. And I am going to go back and read you one more verse. Mark 16:19. Turn to that. It's just a simple two-line verse. And there are theologians and writers who think this may be the most astonishing thing that ever happens in the Bible. At least from heaven's perspective.

Mark 16:19. Jesus has lived, he's died, he's been buried, raised from the dead, and he's about to go back to heaven and this is what it says: "So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God." And from the angels' perspective, he's back. Back where he belongs.

He left and he made it back. He accomplished what he went to do, but he came back. And there's tons more verses that deal with this. Go read the Revelation. People fall before this throne. But Jesus left that seat, he left that throne to come after you, to come after me. To rescue us, to accomplish what he came to accomplish. And he finished it. And this life, this eternal life is available to you.

But nobody can shove it down your throat. Nobody can make you do it. The angels have declared it, Jesus himself has declared it, we declare it, we sing about it, you can read the Bible, just look at nature itself: it declares the glory of God. But you have to personally respond to that or you've got nothing.

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 First Corinthians 11:1, "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 this. 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.