Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: My plan is I'm going to work hard till I'm a certain age and then I'm going to take all that money and I'm going to retire and then I'm going to serve God. It's never going to happen. Unless you are doing what you claim you're going to do at the end along the way, it's not probably going to happen because you will not know what to do when you get there.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's going to take the next few minutes to share some great words of hope and insight for you. And in today's broken world, that is something everyone is desperate to hear. Richard shares unapologetically the truth of the Bible in a way that's clear, relational, and uplifting.

So thank you for taking this time to listen. We know it will bless you. And when you have a moment, you might want to check out our website so we can stay connected with you: richardellis.com. But right now, let's go ahead and get things off and running with today's talk. Here's Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is So That's Your Plan. An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while." The American then asked why he didn't stay out longer and catch more fish. The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life." The American scoffed, "I'm a Harvard MBA and could help you. You could spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat.

With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA, and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "15 to 20 years." "But what then?" asked the Mexican. The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."

"Millions? Then what?" The American said, "Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos." So that's your plan.

Charles Spurgeon said this: "Purposes, plans, and achievements of men may all disappear like yon cloud upon the mountain summit, but like the mountain itself, the things which are of God shall stand fast forever and ever." So turn to Joshua 24. Joshua 24:15, and this is Joshua speaking:

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." So that's your plan. In Joshua's case, that's his plan.

But there's a bunch of plans in that verse and you've got to choose whether the gods of your fathers served on the other side of the river, the gods of the Amorites, or the people that are here, or the God that you know is God. So where we're going today is this: You have a plan, whether you know it or not, and you are working your plan.

You say, "I don't think I really have a plan." Then that's your plan, to not have a plan, and you're just winging it. But someone comes along and says something like this: "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And we look at them and say, "So that's your plan?" You go, "Yeah, that's my plan."

"Well, that's a crazy plan. What does that even mean?" Live it and you'll find out. And so the world mocks our plans when they are His plans without trying His plans, and never find out they work and keep running their plans that don't work. Go to Proverbs 3:5 and 6, some of the best advice you'll ever get:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." So that's your plan? Yeah, that's my plan, to trust in the Lord with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways acknowledge Him and He'll direct my path or make my path straight.

You say, "Well, that's craziness. That's not a plan. That's just a confession." Okay, but you follow me and I'll follow you and see who ends up where. Because if you don't get your plan from Him or your planning from Him, you're going to end up in the wrong place. You say, "Well, what if I end up successful?"

If you end up successful and that's not the place He had for you, you failed. You have failed. "Well, I've got a dream. I'm going to do this or that." You better make sure your dream is really His dream and not just your dream. Because you will eat up your life, your money, your energy, your efforts chasing something and then you grab it and He goes, "Okay, so now you got that. Now what?"

And you realize that's not what He had for me. I met with a guy recently. He ran a huge corporation, listens out there to the messages every day. And we connected and sat down and met. And part of the reason I wanted to spend some time with this man is that he, on the phone when we spoke, said, "I'm not motivated by money anymore."

He said, "I think there was a call on my life when I was a young man, and all I care about now is telling people about Jesus." And I knew he was serious. When I sat down with him and prayed with him, I realized that that was the thump of his heart. He had a plan. You say, "Where's that going to take him?" He doesn't care, as long as it takes him to Christ and takes him to leading people to Christ.

And now I'm engaging in a process of discipling that man, trying to help him. You say, "Well, how do you decide who you're going to give your life to and who you're going to disciple?" It's pretty clear: faithful men who will teach others also. And I know some of the things I'm saying today you think maybe are a little harsh. It's okay, you'll get over it.

If you're a flake, don't ask me to lead you anywhere intensely. You say, "I don't like being called a flake." Why do you even think you're a flake? Where'd that come from? See, I'm looking for people who are going where Jesus said to go, which is follow Him, make disciples, take the planet. And so when I see someone and meet someone and hear someone whose chest is reverberating with that beat of God's heart and they are committed 100% and say yes, I want to know how to live and walk with God and then be in a position to help someone else do the same, can you help me do that?

I'll lay down my life all day long for that. You say, "Well, how would you have time for that many people?" I don't have to have time for that many people because we got you. Because if we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, then we're cranking out that same thing in this church. So then you're coming in on a gathering like this and looking around and going, "Okay, yeah, church may be good. Yeah, I like that song. Where's my person?"

Somebody here is probably not saved. Maybe I'm supposed to share the gospel with someone and help them come to Christ. And if they've come to Christ and they're sucking air, I got air and I'll help them. So is that what you think before you come to a gathering of a church like this? Or is it all about you for the rest of your life?

Come dragging in here, barely making it. You say, "Well, I got challenges." We all got challenges. But the same wave that can crush you can ride you to the beach if you get on the right tool. Just depends on what you do with the waves. See, you say, "You expect something." It's not that I expect something. He expects something or He wouldn't have done this.

Now let me read you one more and then we'll get into the next thing. Micah 6:8: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." You say, "Well, that's your plan?" That's a plan. Read the scriptures. See what they say about how you're supposed to live your life and apply that and you go, "Well, my life's starting to change."

Of course it's going to change if you get in the Word and let the Word apply to your life and apply it to your every day. It cannot help but change. Simple things like that. Now let's talk about Jesus a minute. So let's say Jesus calls a meeting before He leaves heaven and just says, "Okay, this is going to be a little traumatic. Maybe you guys know what's going to happen. But all the Old Testament saints, if you didn't pick up on this, here's what I'm about to do. I'm going in."

"You've known this was coming. You look forward to it while you were down there. And you didn't see me there, but I'm going in. I'm going to go in born of a virgin. I'm going to live a sinless life. I'm going to spend 30 years while I'm down there, 30 years praying, preparing, studying, learning, working to prepare for three years, to prepare for three days. And during those three years, my plan is this: I'm going to pick 12 guys. That's my plan."

"I'm going all the way down there to pick 12 guys. And going into the picking, I already know that one of them is going to be a thief, betray me, ditch, commit suicide. So I've already lost one of my 12 going in. He's going to go, see it all. But now we're down to 11 before we even start. Because he's going to flake out and kill himself. But these 11 are going to make it."

"And what they're going to see is what the Holy Spirit can do. I'm going to authorize them to do miracles. I'm going down there to raise the dead, heal the sick, lame walk, blind see. I'm going to do all kind of miraculous stuff, show them what's possible to get the attention of the Jewish people. I'm going to spend every day with them almost for three years. Then my plan is I'm going to get myself killed on a cross, which was prophesied. And they're going to bury me and then I'm going to be raised from the dead. And that's how I'm going to save the world."

So that's your plan. Yeah, that's my plan. So what would you have done? Never preached in China, never preached in India, never came to the American Indians. So He didn't even come down here and save the world. He came down here and made saving the world possible. But what did He do?

He lived a simple life and modeled something that if we ever get our heads around, it's what He left in place to accomplish the job that needs to be done. Because if it was just about reaching people with the gospel, then everyone listening to me, you'd get saved and in an instant, you'd get saved and accepted Christ, you'd be beamed out of here so fast you wouldn't even know what happened to you. Just boom, you'd be gone.

But I've been stuck down here for a long time since I got saved. So what's up with that? Heaven so great as it is and it cost Jesus His life to get us there, and it did, then what the heck am I still doing down here? He better have a reason and He does. But it is not for you just to sit and wait for the train to come pick you up and take you home.

It's to be about what He was about, which was making disciples. You say, "Well, you keep hammering this discipleship thing." I'm going to hammer this till I am not breathing anymore. Because we are not taking the planet with all these other plans when we could be taking the planet with His plan.

Go to Luke chapter 12, very interesting story that Jesus told. Luke chapter 12, verse 13: "Then one from the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.'" Doesn't sound like a bad thing. Somebody died, let's split up the inheritance. But Jesus knew where he was coming from when he asked the question.

"But He said to him, 'Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?' And He said to them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.' Be careful wanting something you don't have, like that's going to fix it." Then He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain man yielded plentifully."

So look at these key things. The ground of a certain rich man, so this man owns property and he is already rich. "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully," so explosive yield. "And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, if you are talking to your soul, you're in trouble." "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry."'

"We're set. New barns, all this. We got nothing to worry about except this. But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will these things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." So you say, "Well, look at my portfolio. I'm rich." Are you rich toward God?

And you say, "Well, this, I'm managing my money, I built new barns." So that's your plan. You're going to get rich and just sit around, eat, drink, and be merry and that's it. That's not the plan. You say, "Well, there's something wrong with being rich?" Nothing wrong with being rich as long as you are richer toward God than you are down here and you're laying up treasure somewhere where moth and rust and nobody breaks in and steals it, not down here where you could drop dead tonight and leave it all behind to who knows who.

I'm so fascinated by the news of powerful people and it's interesting how in some cases they're 70, 80 years old and finally the crop comes in and at the end of their lives, they are crushed by shame, embarrassment, catastrophe, because they have lived a life of power where they got away with things but now all of a sudden you can't.

All the stories come out, it's too many stories, it's irrefutable evidence. So that's your plan? Live like hell and then expect heaven to be sweet when you haven't thought about it at all. You say, "But I'm a Christian. What are you saying?" Okay, if you're a Christian, then what's supposed to be going on? "I don't know." Well, that's what we're here trying to help you see what's supposed to be going on. "Well, that'll cost me."

Exactly. So if you hold on to your life, Jesus said you'd lose it. But if you lose it for His sake, that's when you find it. You say, "Well, I want to find my life." Then lose it for Him. Go to Hebrews 11. Let me just cover a few of these and then we're close to being done. So Hebrews 11, some of you know it's about faith.

Verse 1 defines it: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Down in verse 7 mentions Noah: "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."

So God says build a boat, here's how you build the boat. It took him 100 years to build a boat that sailed for a few weeks and when it was done, nothing. The boat was useless. But he did what God told him to do. So if God comes along and says to you, "Build a boat," and you say, "That's insanity. I'm not building a boat, I'm not doing that because everybody will think you're nuts."

And what do people say when you embark on some journey where God told you to do it? They'll look at you and say what? "Oh, so that's your plan?" You say, "Yeah, that's my plan." "Well, where'd you get your plan?" "I got it from God." "Oh, well, that's just beautiful. You can waste your life doing all that God stuff, but I'm going to do what I want to do when I want to do it and end up most toys wins. I'm the king, I'm the boss, I figured it out."

And then you pursue what God told you to do and what happens? You get to the end of the road and what do you hear? "Well done, good and faithful servant." Because you did what He told you to do. You are who He told you to be. You did what He told you to do and you gave your life away. You made disciples. You were engaged in the processes He's put you here and left you here to be involved with. And you changed the world.

So what is your plan? "Oh, I'm not doing that." So what are you doing? "Nothing." You say, "Well, no, that's not true. I give a little money to the church." Okay, good for you, we're not turning that down. "I pray." Let me tell you something about your praying. If you're talking to the same guy I'm talking to all the time, He's going to get your butt in gear.

You're not going to end up not doing what the scripture says if you're talking to God. Now you mix talking to God and being in the scriptures, you can't come up with anything else. Now you may say, "Okay, I admit it, I have never experienced what you're describing: personal, time-consuming, involved in someone's life where it cost you. It didn't happen to me."

Then let it happen to you so you can let it happen to somebody else and stop making that your excuse. "Well, I'm nervous." I get that, I was nervous too. But thank God for an old man that was persevering and took the time and helped me understand or I wouldn't be here. So Noah. Abraham, God promises him a son.

Look down in verse 17: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called,' concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense."

So God says, "Abraham, trust Me, I'll provide you a son," gives him Isaac. Then He says, "Sacrifice your son." He says, "Okay." So that's your plan? God, that's your plan? He didn't ask God that, obviously just did what he was told. But anybody looking at Abraham goes, "Dude, what are you doing? That's your plan? You're going to kill this only son that's the son of promise?"

You do what God tells you to do. You obey. That is the only plan. One more, James 4. James chapter 4, verse 13. And here he says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.'" You say, "Well, there's nothing wrong with saying that."

Not necessarily, but look at the little caveat he puts on this: "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Your planning for a year, it's okay, but you don't even really know what's going to happen tomorrow, much less for the next year." So what is he encouraging them to do? "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

Let me read you the quote again by Spurgeon: "Purposes, plans, and achievements of men may all disappear like yon cloud upon the mountain summit, but like the mountain itself, the things which are of God shall stand fast forever and ever." So your life, you say, "Well, I got all these plans." You can drop dead. And then what?

And we are so busy, and this is very interesting, I talk to some people who say this: "Well, no, here's my plan. My plan is I'm going to work hard till I'm a certain age and then I'm going to take all that money and I'm going to retire and then I'm going to serve God." It's never going to happen. Unless you are doing what you claim you're going to do at the end along the way, it's not probably going to happen because you will not know what to do when you get there.

You'll be so busy and so consumed with making money and all this business. There's nothing wrong with work and business, but if you are not doing what He said to do today, it probably will not happen tomorrow because you just keep putting pushed away.

One of the richest men in the world when he died was worth a lot of money, the IKEA guy, if you know anything about IKEA, pretty rich guy. But if you go read the story about the IKEA guy, he and his wife lived in a pretty simple place for as much money as he had. They both drove old cars.

You say, "Well, if I got rich, I'd do all these things." Why? I'm not saying you can't drive a nice car, but you better be sure you're doing what He has told you to do or you are missing it. And it's not that you're going to look bad or good in front of us, it's that you have to stand before the bema seat, the judgment seat of Christ, and give an account for your life.

And I'm thinking it's going to go okay, I'm still a little nervous because I got plenty of days I've missed doing what He told me to do and I got a long way to go. And I've still got the enemy firing on me all day long trying to take me out. I have snipers assigned to me, I am sure of it. Take him out.

You say, "Well, how do you know that?" Because I am marching on the gates of hell, that's how I know that. And the book says march on the gates of hell and they will not prevail against you. So I know by the authority... you say, "Well, that's foolishness, all hell's going to be unleashed." Okay, but they will not prevail against us.

You say, "Well, I just think I'm going to keep my desk job back over here. I don't want to be in the battle." That's where the fun is though. Seek and save that which was lost. Not to be served, but to serve and give your life, He gave His life a ransom for many. So where does all that fit into your plans?

So back to James 4: "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good... look at this verse, James 4:17. If you underline stuff, this would be a good one. "Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."

So the Holy Spirit speaks to you and says something's got to change. And you say, "I hear you, but I'm not doing it." Then be prepared to live with sin in your life. You're disobeying. You say, "Well, I didn't know this before." But you know it now. What are you going to do with it? If you know what is right to do and you don't do it, it's sin.

Guest (Male): We'll get back to Richard in a moment to close out today's talk. But first, I want to share something with you about the program. Our mission is actually very simple: to take the planet. So it's our prayer that these daily talks from Richard aren't something you only hear and enjoy, but that they inspire you to share with others.

Together we can do this. The message of the gospel is something everyone needs to hear, and that's why it's a huge priority to us. And you can join us in this important mission. Call us at 855-6-RICHARD to say you're in, or you can get on board with us through our website: richardellis.com.

Well, here's Richard with some closing thoughts for you.

Richard Ellis: Now I know this is all kind of intense. The reason it's intense is there's nothing at stake but your life. But really, that's not even all that's at stake. There are people right now waiting for you to wake up, grow up, and get after it because they are being saved or not for a period of time. Let's say they're just waiting for somebody to come along.

A buddy of mine that I play golf with, we showed up to play the other day and he said, "I invited two friends." We get on the first tee, nobody's there. He and I said, "Okay, we'll go." About three holes in, a guy shows up in a golf cart, no golf shoes, no golf nothing, no bag, no clubs. He gets out and he's going to walk with us.

So he carries my friend's bag, that turned out good for him. So we walk one more hole and the other guy shows up, a 70-year-old doctor. He's got clubs, he's going to play. So we play a few holes. The first guy at the turn after the ninth hole peels off and has to go to a meeting.

So now we're down to three. My buddy, we go a few more holes, then he's got to leave. So I'm left with this 70-year-old man that I've never met in my life, Jack. And about two holes later, I started asking Jack questions, and out in the middle of a fairway, Jack becomes a Christian.

You say, "Well, but you're a preacher." Let me tell you something, he didn't know that. You got to stop using me as your excuse. I'm not out there collared up with my clubs, I'm just out there a person playing golf and had a conversation with a man. And he looked at me and said, 70-something years old, "Nobody ever explained it to me like this before."

He had waited his whole life for that day to be born again. And we are surrounded with these people. You say, "Well, you want us to share the gospel and see people saved." That is not all I want, because that's all I got for a long time. I want to see these people raised.

I want them to not be orphans. I want them to have parents, big brothers, big sisters, someone to come alongside and help them not live straggling and overwhelmed and pulled back into sin because that's all they know. And whose fault is that? We are not growing up and getting on with what He left us here to do. So you say, "So that's your plan?" That's the only plan I got, because that's the plan He left us with.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Richard Ellis Talks. We really appreciate that you spent this time with us. But we want to keep the conversation going with you, so give us a call anytime at 855-6-RICHARD. That's 855-6-RICHARD. Or through our website richardellis.com by sending an email to us so we can stay connected with you.

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