Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: Why are people not asking us about the hope that we have? Because it looks like we don't have much hope. We're keeping a bunch of rules, we're going through the motions. Had my quiet time, check. Said a prayer, check. Gave a check, check. And we think that's it.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's style is unlike anyone else's, where he shares the life-changing message of the gospel in a way that's real, refreshing, focused, and fun. We know that life is pretty challenging these days, but these talks will help you meet those challenges head-on with biblical truth, encouragement, and direction.

Now, if you're not able to stick around with us for all of today's talk, you can always listen to, download, and even share this entire message with a friend right from our website, richardellis.com. So, let's jump right in with today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is Show and Tell. Let's start in Psalm 25. Psalm 25:14: "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, and he will show them his covenant." So, you're going to see here that this is pretty quick: God revealing himself, showing himself, illuminating what he's trying to get to you.

Go to Psalm 56, a few pages over. Verse 9, 56:9: "When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back. This I know," and this is the writer saying, "This I know," meaning personally, I know this to be true, "because God is for me." Now, just those words right there, "God is for me." You either know that personally or you don't, and you can't make that work for you just because you decided to make that work for you.

So, you read verses like "God is for me" and you say, "Lord, help me understand that." There is so much of scripture that I did not understand and I was trained, I was taught that it was about me. I go in there, do it. Yes, you're saved by grace through faith, but then the rest of it you’ve got to work hard and plow it up and make it happen, instead of God continuing to reveal himself through his word.

So, there was a day in my life where those words "God is for me" became very personal, very real, because he revealed to me what he meant by that. I am not against my children. I am for my children. And they may think through their history, their lives, there were times when you did things and it seemed like you were not on my side. I'm pretty much almost always on their side. It's all about them.

And so, if you're on the other end of that, now, I understand what I mean by that, but then my children or your children or your spouse, whatever it is, they think it seems like you're against me. And you may actually be against them. But when it gets to the place where you're healthy and you're on someone's side, you're for them, then you start to absorb that. But this kind of stuff God has to open your eyes, open your understanding, and let you personalize. You say, "Well, it's taken too long." It doesn't matter how long it takes. Wait for him. Where else are you going to go?

Go to Psalm 119. Now, there's a great chance that you have read this and you have no idea. You read it and you stare at the words, and if I ask you, "Do you understand what you've read when you read it?" and when I read it to you, "Does it make sense?" you may go, "It doesn't make sense." Because even the verses about him revealing himself don't make sense until he reveals himself through the verses about revealing himself.

Psalm 119, verse 17: "Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from your law. I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide your commandments from me. My soul breaks with longing for your judgments at all times." That's somebody saying, "You've got to show me, God. You’ve got to help me. You’ve got to help this make sense, help me understand. I don't want to just read words anymore."

You say, "Well, they knew what the law was." But did they understand it? Do you love it? Do you love his word? Do you love truth? Because it is transforming your life, because God works through it and in and through you to change you and the world around you. And then people see your life, and they see the truth being lived out in your life, and they go, "I don't know what that is, but I want that." And that's why the scripture talks about always being ready to give a reason for the hope that's within you, because sooner or later someone's going to say, "What the heck have you got?"

Why are people not asking us about the hope that we have? Because it looks like we don't have much hope. We're keeping a bunch of rules, we're going through the motions, had my quiet time, check, said a prayer, check, gave a check, check, and we think that's it. "Okay, God, here I am again. I know you love me, love you too, I’ve got to go, see ya, you know, talk to you later." You're just going through the motions.

Psalm 119:130, a few pages down, it seems like. Look at these little verses: "The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." Now, this is what is really extraordinary if you've ever met an uneducated godly person, spiritual person. Maybe they can barely read, but they got it going on. And their eyes beam light. Their lives exude the power of God, the spirit of God, and you go, "You don't know anything," except that they've been with Jesus and they have spent time in his word and it has been ingested, digested, and it's coming your way through their life.

I read a story one commentator put this out. A little boy was born blind. At last, an operation was performed. The light was let in slowly. When one day his mother led him outdoors and uncovered his eyes, and for the first time he saw the sky and the earth. "Oh, mother," he cried, "why did you not tell me it was so beautiful?" She burst into tears and said, "I tried to tell you, dear, but you could not understand me." So it is when we try to tell what is in Christ. Unless the spiritual sight is opened by the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand.

Kill all the lights. Okay, now look around the room. Who can still see the scripture? Now, if the lights stayed off, how would you be able to read your Bible if you have a Bible? Figure it out really quick if you're listening somewhere beyond here. The lights, it's pretty dark in here. So, some lights are coming on that are shining on scripture to illuminate the scriptures. So, if you don't have light, you got nothing. You can't see it.

Now, you say, "Well, why would you do that exercise?" Because without Christ and the Spirit of God living in you and through you, you're in the dark. And you say it doesn't make sense. But let me tell you what does make sense. And I wasn't sure when I was going to tell you this story, but I'll tell it now.

So a guy's been coming to the church for a long time. We go to lunch and he says, "I have a friend who's very, very sick. Colon cancer. He's in a nursing home. Would you go see him?" I said, "Sure, I'll go see him." Well, then he calls, leaves me a message and says, "Can you go see him? Here's where he is." Busy day that day. He sends an email. "He's really sick. Making sure you got my message." So I called him. I said, "Come get me, we'll go."

So he swings by the office. We drive to Euless to this nursing home. We walk in and there is a 43-year-old man, 80 pounds, looked like he had just been picked up on a cot at Auschwitz and dropped in that room. And kind of coming in and out, was there, tried some humor on him, he laughed, I thought he's in there. So I got down by his bed, held his hand, and shared simply the gospel: that God loves you, that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and raised from the dead to save you.

I said, "Do you understand that?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "You're not going to live much longer, and you know that." I said, "Would you like to accept his gift of eternal life and have him come live in you and through you and spend eternity with him?" He shook his head, and then we started praying. And he would kind of come in and out, and I'd have to repeat it, and he would get the words out, and he became a Christian.

His mom had come to take care of him, and she was sitting on the bed. She had interrupted a few times and I'd asked her to be quiet, and she was trying to help him. I’m like, "You can't help him." So she's sitting on the bed behind me and I can't see her. The second he and I got done praying, I feel a tap on my chair. And I turned around and she was motioning desperately for me to come turn around and talk to her. She said, "Can you help me do that? Can you help me do that?"

I said, "You want to become a Christian?" She says, "Yes. Can you help me do that? Can you do that with me too?" I said, "Absolutely." And we prayed right then, and she became a Christian right after her son. And she said, "I've been looking for somebody to help me do that." And while I'd been praying with her son, she had asked the guy that took me, "Do you think he could help me do that?" And we're all nervous we're going to offend someone.

People are walking around, stumbling over the world in the dark, hoping. They're crying out. They're thinking about killing themselves because no one will come help them do that. "Well, I don't want to get in the way. I don't want to be unpopular. I don't want to be uncool. I want people to like me." You can't imagine how many people are dying. They're dead. They're desperate for someone to help them do that. So talk to them of Jesus. What she heard was me explaining to her son about Jesus and he was his only hope. And then the Holy Spirit of God, who had been working on her because of that, says, "I need that."

Go to John chapter 6. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John chapter 6, and this is very simple, but look at these words. Verse 44: "No one," and that in the Greek means no one, that means everybody, no one, everybody, no one. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me."

So he does the teaching, he does the drawing. You say, "Well, one day I'm going to come to Jesus." It's not coming. Your one day may never come. Your day comes when he draws you and you have to respond to that, when your heart beats and you go, "Why does this all of a sudden make sense, that God loves me, Jesus died for me, was buried and raised from the dead? I’ve got to do something about that." And you think, "Oh, I want my friend to be saved so bad. I want them to understand. I'm going to keep talking, I'm going to talk them into it." You're not going to talk anybody into this. It's all God. You can plant that seed, but the seed is the gospel. And then it goes in this place and it germinates and all of a sudden you go, "Wow, look what happened." Even farmers understand this. They take a seed, plant it in the ground, and wait. And something happens in that darkness and it's transformed, and then you see the result of that. But it's all him.

Look at John 16:13. And this is replete through the scriptures. And this is talking about Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit coming. He says, "However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak; and he will tell you things to come." So he'll teach you.

So you have a relationship with God the Father, God the Son. Make sure you’ve got a relationship with Holy Spirit. He's not some thing, he's a person, and he happens to be the person that resides in your body if you are a Christian. Kenneth Wuest, a writer, put it this way, and then I'm going to read this, and then we're going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Kenneth Wuest explains about 1 Corinthians chapter 2 what we're going to read: that Paul proceeds to describe the three successive steps in the transmission of truth from the heart of God to the heart of man. These are:

Number one, revelation: the act of God the Holy Spirit imparting to the Bible writers truth incapable of being discovered by man's unaided reason. Secondly, inspiration: the act of God the Holy Spirit enabling the Bible writers to write down in God-chosen words, infallibly, the truth revealed. And then thirdly, illumination: the act of God the Holy Spirit enabling believers to understand the truth given by revelation and written down by inspiration.

So you say, "Well, I believe it's the revealed word of God. I believe it's the inspired word of God." Is it the illumined word of God in your own life? Or have you stopped there? Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And this is Paul, one of the brightest, most educated people you would ever meet. Highly trained, Jew of Jews, went to all the right schools, and look what he says to these people in Corinth.

Verse 1: "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God." Like, I didn't try to impress you, fancy words, anything. "For I determined not to know anything among you except what? Jesus Christ and him crucified." That's all I talked to you about: Jesus and his crucifixion. "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

If you're going to be impressed, be impressed with God. If church is working the way it's supposed to, people leave here and say, "What an awesome God they have." Not "The music was amazing, the message was interesting." They should leave here and say, "What an awesome God they have." It's all about him.

"However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." If they're so smart and wise, why’d they crucify Jesus? They didn't understand it, they didn't get it.

And now I'm going to read you a verse that I have misquoted for years, recently misquoted: "But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.’" And I've quoted this to people and said, "Eye has not seen, heaven, no one has seen, no one's heard, hasn't even entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love him in heaven."

That's not what it's about. It can apply to that. All of that verse that he's quoting there is about here and now. Why? Look at the next verse 10: "But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." So this isn't about later. It's now. And by the way, this word "God has revealed," it literally means to take the cover off, take the lid off. And he says, "Okay, you get it? You understand I have things to reveal to you? Well, watch this. Look in here," and he pulls the cover off and shows you what's inside.

And then he says, "For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." Another commentator says the idea of "Spirit searches all things" is not that he conducts searches with a view of obtaining information, but that he penetrates all things. There is nothing beyond his knowledge. So there's nothing that the Holy Spirit doesn't know because he's God, he's omniscient. But he knows everything about himself, about the Father, about the process. So when you become a Christian, you have access to everything that God is and has for you.

When I was in business years ago, there was a woman that was divorcing her husband, and the guy owned a huge hospital chain. And I won't say names because wouldn't help anything. But they're in the middle of the divorce, and she had a black American Express card. And she flew to Florida, walked in, and bought a $5 million condo, put her black American Express card down, they took it, and she bought a condo on her credit card. Now, how is that possible? Because the funds were there, unlimited funds almost were there. She just had to put it down.

So you got saved and you said, "Well, this is my ticket to heaven." No, this is your card for life. And you won't put it down. "Well, you know, I just feel bad. I'm just so grateful," and I'm not belittling this. "Oh, thank you, Jesus, for saving me. If I never got another thing, that would be good enough." Okay, I get that. But what are you going to do with all these verses about exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ever ask or think? What if he's saying, "Put the card down. I'll cover it. Believe something, ask me what else there is"?

I mean, imagine a kid, parents say forever, "We're going to Disney World, going to Disney World." And they drive forever, stop and go to the bathroom a hundred times. They finally get there and they pull in the parking lot, and there's the kingdom, there's the kingdom. And they sit in the car and they all look and go, "Oh, we made it." And the parents go, "Well, that was fun, wasn't it, kids?" And he puts it in reverse, backs up, and they go home. "We went to Disney World."

What? Where's your what? "I'm going to go to heaven." Okay. And? What else? I don't know what else. "Can we go in? You mean like we can go ride all that stuff?" Absolutely. "That can't be true. That's only for somebody else." What if it's for you? What if it's all for you? What if you walk up to the gate and they welcome you in? I'm not talking about heaven. I'm talking about here. And can I ride that? Absolutely, sir. It's all part of the deal.

What else is there? See, you've been told you're going to be rich, healthy, all these things. What he offers is bigger than all that. He reveals to you the mysteries of that kingdom. Things that being healthy and wealthy don't fix, because no matter how healthy you get, you're still going to die unless Jesus comes back. And no matter how wealthy you get, you're still going to leave it all when you die. But what if I told you there's more of him than you're aware of?

Look at these verses: "But God has revealed," taken the lid off, the cover off, "them to us through his Spirit." So, how are you going to get to these truths? Through his Spirit. "For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."

Just listen to this. John 5:39. This is Jesus speaking to them. He says, "You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and you're right. And these are they which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life." So the scriptures spoke of Jesus. And when he spoke to these people, he says, "You search the scriptures, but you've missed me in the scriptures."

Now think about your life. Are you just jumping through a bunch of religious hoops, saying a certain number of prayers, going to church, doing all these things? Or is it personal? Is it real? Is it like genuinely from your heart? And if it's not, then something is desperately wrong, but it can be fixed.

Keep reading verse 11: "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so," and there's this word again, "no one," these words, "no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." So you say, "Well, I'm going to figure God out." You are not. You are not going to get anything except intellectual knowledge about God any other way but that it be revealed to you by his Spirit.

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." So you say, "Lord, I read my Bible. Something's missing. I don't get all of this. What's wrong?" He says, "Ask me, I'll show you." So you go to the scriptures. You say, "Holy Spirit, I can't do this without you. And I'm positive, I am sure because it says so, that you are trying to reveal to me the deep things of God, what is available to me that I'm not aware of. So I'm listening. I'm open to that. Show me."

You say, "Well, I'm not interested in that. I don't want all that. I just want my ticket to heaven and you to leave me alone. I gave some money, what do you want?" That's it? You're going to pull in the parking lot and back out and go home, and that's it, and miss the whole kingdom?

Keep reading verse 13: "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So if you, for instance, if someone comes in here into this room, or you're even listening to this message, and you go, "What is he talking about? He gets animated. He's talking about the kingdom and all these things." You're like, "What?" You don't get it. Let me tell you why you don't get it. You are never going to get it till you get Jesus.

So you're on the outside looking in. You're like, "Is this almost over? What, you know, how did I get stuck in here?" Or if you're a Christian and you've locked down. Cold heart, stone cold, you're done. God himself can't kick the door down and won't. And you have no interest in the things of God. Then this is a beating. But if you're hungry and you want more and you actually believe there's more, and now you got scripture to back it up, then now you climb in your closet with your book and you say, "Okay, it's game on. You're going to back up these promises, and I ain't leaving till you do."

This is not so much about how hard you study. It's about depending on God for your eternal salvation, but also to reveal himself through his word by faith. And you sit and read it and say, "Okay, I see what it says. Now help me, give me understanding into that." And that is not about how smart you are. That's about how good he is. And that's the power of God and the spirit of God working in your life.

Verse 15: "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ." So when you get the spirit of God, you say, "Well, what's God thinking?" He'll tell you. He'll show you. What if there's more? What if there's more? And it's not a what if there's more. There's more.

Guest (Male): Richard will be back in a moment to wrap up today's talk. But first, I want to share a couple of 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: All right, one last thing. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. And this is a great thing to pray for your children if they're believers, and obviously if they're not believers, to pray that they'll see and understand. But look at Ephesians chapter 1 and let's go down to verse 15. This is Paul writing to the church at Ephesus.

Verse 15: "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints," they're Christians, "do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Verse 17, and what is he praying? "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come."

Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, so that you can know what? You can know him and what's available. What if there's more? There is more. As great as it is and as grateful as I am that I'm going to die one day or Jesus comes back, I'm going to make heaven. That's enough. But it's not about that being enough. It's that he promised more, and not just in the hereafter, but in the here. So let him show you, let him tell you. Every day can be show and tell with Jesus. You climb in your closet and now you're like, "Something's going down in here because he's going to show me something, because there's more." And then the power of God and the spirit of God begin to manifest in our lives, and people say, "I want what you got."

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening today to Richard Ellis Talks. We're confident that the program blessed you, and we want to hear about it. One way is to give us a call and let us know. The number is 855-6-RICHARD. Another way is to drop us an email. Jump on over to our website, richardellis.com, and click on the connect tab at the top. We'd love to hear from you.

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