Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: What decision have you made and now you're in a mess? So you signed up for something and now you don't like what you signed up for because you didn't bother to ask God in the first place. Now you think, "Wow, I made that mistake. So I got it now. That'll never happen again." If you're wise. But if you're foolish, sometimes this turns into a lifetime of this mess.

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

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

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is "I Got This." Turn to Joshua chapter nine, verse one. "And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord." So Moses is dead. Joshua has been given the authority to take them into the Promised Land.

"But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily and went and pretended to be ambassadors. Now, look at how sly this bunch is. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves, and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy."

"And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, 'We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.'" So what did they do? They disguised it, made it look like they had been traveling forever to come meet Joshua and make a covenant. "Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, 'Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?'"

"But they said to Joshua, 'We are your servants.' And Joshua said to them, 'Who are you, and where do you come from?' So they said to him, 'From a very far country your servants have come because of the name of the Lord your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, 'Take provisions with you for the journey, and go meet them, and say to them, 'We are your servants; now therefore, make a covenant with us.''"

"This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy. And these wineskins which we filled were new, and see, they are torn; and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey." I mean, they're milking this for all it's worth.

Now, verse 14, and this is where, as I encourage you in the scripture, I've encouraged this: don't just sit down and read your Bible because you'll read it and you'll miss one phrase sometimes, and that's the whole story. And verse 14 is where this goes terribly wrong. "Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the Lord."

I got this. We got this. There's no need to ask God what He thinks because what does He know? We've heard their story, we know what's up. I got this. "So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them." So now they have promised to let them live. They have sworn, made a covenant with these people.

"And it happened at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, who dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers."

And why did they complain? Because they're upset with what happened. "Then all the rulers said to the congregation, 'We have sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them.'" So they're upset. We were given instruction to come in here and wipe out all these people and take over the land, but now you've sworn and we can't take them out. So we're stuck with these people. Because of what? They did not inquire of the Lord.

What decision have you made and now you're in a mess? So you signed up for something and now you don't like what you signed up for because you didn't bother to ask God in the first place. Now you think, "Wow, I made that mistake. So I got it now. That'll never happen again." If you're wise. But if you're foolish, sometimes this turns into a lifetime of this mess. And you go to make a decision and you just didn't ask God.

Now, why would you bother to ask God? Because He not only knows the past and the present, He knows the future. And He knows you, and He knows His plan, He knows His purposes. And so if we would just bother to inquire, just ask, say, "Hey, what do you think about this?" If they had done something different, that verse 14: they did not inquire. If they had asked, you know what God would have said to them? "They're not from afar. They're from right here. Don't do this." Keep reading.

Verse 20, "'This we will do to them: we will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.' And the rulers said to them, 'Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.' Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, 'Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell near us? Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves, woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.'"

"So they answered Joshua and said, 'Because your servants were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were very much afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.'" So whose fault is it? This is not the Lyian people's fault. People say, "Oh, why have you done this to us?" They didn't do anything to them.

You say, "Well, they lied to Joshua." Yeah, but Joshua didn't bother to ask God and figure out it was a lie. So this is not their fault; they're just wise as serpents, harmless as doves, just trying to be sneaky and save their lives. We know that you were told to wipe us out, so we lied. Well, you shouldn't have lied to us. Yeah, you know what? That's what the world does.

Verse 25, "'And now, here we are in your hand; do with us as it seems good and right to do to us.' So he did to them and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord in the place where He would choose, even to this day."

Now, this is jumping ahead a little bit, but if you follow this story, they did preserve them, but Saul attacked them eventually. And I think there were three years of famine, and finally in the middle of all that famine, someone inquires of the Lord, says, "Why have we got famine?" And He said, "Because Saul attacked." In fact, if you want to see this, 2 Samuel chapter 21, verse 1.

"Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, 'It's because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.'" So once they confessed that and got that figured out, the famine went away. Now let me throw something out to you. If it seems that all hell is breaking loose in your life—your house, your family, whatever is going on with you—a good place to start would be Him and say, "Did we somewhere, did I somewhere move forward without asking You about something?" And this is all consequence of that choice.

You say, "Well, what if I do that? What if I admit that? Then what's going to happen?" Then you say to God, "You're right, I'm wrong. This is where it went; I see now. And I acknowledge that. I take responsibility for my choice, my action. I confess it as sin, and now I'm asking You to have mercy." And then you start moving forward. You say, "Well, does that mean I can get out of this terrible marriage?" No. That means He'll transform the terrible marriage because now He can transform you, where before He couldn't transform you because you weren't obeying Him anyway.

Now go to 1 Samuel chapter 23. And I'm going to read these really fast, so if you're flipping pages, go with me. It's all going to be either 1st or 2nd Samuel. And this is a very interesting kind of thread that you can track. 1 Samuel 23:2. And I'm not reading the whole stories; I'm just giving you little bits of this. Okay, 23:2. "Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go and smite these Philistines?' And the Lord said unto David, 'Go and smite the Philistines and save Keilah.'" Okay, so he asks, and what does God say? "Go."

1 Samuel 23:4. "Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him and said, 'Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.'" 1 Samuel 28:6. "And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim nor by prophets." Okay, so if you keep reading that one, then God finally answers him.

Look at 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 8, and you'll see what keeps happening. Some people ask; they don't get an answer. 1 Samuel 30, verse 8. "And David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?' And He answered him, 'Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.'" So David asks specifically. It's not just scream loud and let's attack everybody. Every time, every situation, he asks.

Look at 2 Samuel 2:1. The next 2 Samuel 2:1. "And it came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?' And the Lord said unto him, 'Go up.' And David said, 'Whither shall I go?' And he said, 'Unto Hebron.'" So now he's getting very specific answers. Now you say, "But if I got specific answers, I'd do what God tells me to do." So listen, you're not going to like this. You got a book full of specific answers.

You say, "But no, no, no, I don't want that. Oh God, show me Your specific will in this area." And I think you're going to hear an echo like, "What?" Like, well, I don't mean about that in the Bible. I mean something really specific. Now let me tell you how this works. You do the things that are written down consistently; He will begin to reveal to you the things outside of that because you will be able to hear His voice and discern good and evil.

If you're living in sin, whatever it may be, you're going to hear nothing but sin probably, unless you hear conviction of the Holy Spirit and you repent of that and then say, "Okay God, I'm ready to move forward Your way." And I understand everybody doesn't agree with me. I really don't care. So, you know, and I understand we may clean the place out preaching the Bible. I don't care about that either. I can go back to selling mobile homes. All right, where'd we leave off? That 2 Samuel 2:1.

Look at 2 Samuel 5:19. "And David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up to the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?' And the Lord said unto David, 'Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.'" But now look down at verse 22. "Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, and He said, 'You shall not go up. Don't do it.'"

Now, he's been on a roll for chapters. He inquired, God says, "Yes." He inquired, God says, "Yes." He inquired, God says, "Yes. Go, go, go, go, go." And then he inquired and God says, "No." If you don't keep asking, you never make it to the "no". You think, "Oh, I got this. I know God's on my side, He's on my inside, and there's no way I can go wrong, and yeah, He's with me. If God be with us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be against us? I don't even have to pray anymore because He's with me." And He's saying, "Slow down, big boy. Slow down."

Now, you say, "Well, this sounds like really subtle stuff." Yeah, it's walking every day. The Bible talks about walk in the Spirit and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh, which means what? Every step you take, every step you take. You say that's not possible. How would you know if you haven't tried it? Now I referenced this the other day, but look at this specific thing where He says, "Don't go up." So he says, inquire of the Lord, and He says, "You shall not go up."

"When you attack this time, circle around behind them and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And it shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines." And David did so as the Lord commanded him, and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer. Okay, so you say, "Well, you know, it's just a little tweak. Wouldn't I have won if I'd gone anyway?" The answer is no.

I don't need God. I don't need to ask God's permission or advice. I'm smart. And it's funny how people never say that humbly. You don't notice people saying, "Oh yes, I don't need God. I'm humble. I can figure it out by myself." It's usually got some attitude: "You can't tell me what to do." So I'm reading you scripture. Ultimately, I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I'm making some strong suggestions that you ask Him what to do because He's got some great ideas about your life.

One more: Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, go down to verse 14. Now, this is hard stuff to read if you got issues with somebody. "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men."

"If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." So here's a situation where someone is persecuting you, someone's done you wrong. And you say, "Don't worry about it, God. I got this. I'm going to take care of this. I'm going to get back at them." And what does God say to do? You bless them, pray for those, get away from it, and what does He say? "I got this."

You know why we don't trust God in these situations of revenge? Because we're afraid that He won't hurt them as bad as we would. Because I got a plan for them involving sharp knives, you know, whatever you've dreamed up you're going to do to this person who's done you wrong. And when you back off and say, "Okay, I release them; it's all You, God." You say, "Well, what's God going to do to them?"

What is the worst thing that could possibly happen to a human being? They die without Christ. Now, please don't be misquoting me here as stuff makes people nervous. I still say one of the worst things that you can possibly say to a human being is this: "To hell with you," or "GD you." It's really how you feel? You don't get it. You have no concept of hell, heaven; you don't get it. If you could see hell, you wouldn't want to be there, and you sure wouldn't want to send anybody there if you had any concept of God's mercy and His grace toward you, because you know what? We all deserve hell.

If it were not for Jesus, I would be straight to hell. Does it make me better than anybody else that I'm not going to hell? No, not any better. It's going to be a better turnout in the end for me, but I'm not going to make heaven because I'm a good guy. I'll make heaven because He's a good guy, and He made something available to me that I said, "Okay, I'll take Your gift."

And I've been thinking about this recently. The longer I live and the more people I see that die, I begin to think in that moment, no matter how much money, no matter how famous, no matter anything that went down in their life: in the moment where you die and you either face God Himself, the Father, at the Great White Throne Judgment, as the Bible describes it, or if you're a Christian, you face Jesus, the Bema Seat, as it's described.

The thought of even I'm not nervous about my exit or entrance interview with Jesus because I know I'm going to make it, but you need to be thinking about something. Your life will be tested by fire. And if you go through that fire and you say, "Well, I'm going to still make heaven," I intend to clear the fire and have something left to present to my Lord. And if you don't know Jesus, you will face the Father and the wrath of God.

You say, "Well, why would God be mad at me?" Because He gave you His own Son and you said, "Thanks, but no thanks. I got this." And then in that moment, you're going to be mad at God. "Well, how could God send me to hell?" Because you picked it, because you didn't need Him. You say, "Wow, that sounds intense. I'm just trying to have a happy day." You figure all this out, you'll have a happier day because you get you some peace and some joy and some love, and then you got some compassion for other people.

You say, "Well, you seem all upset." You'd be upset too if you knew what I know. You're in trouble. You don't know Jesus, you're in trouble. You say, "I don't believe that." You will. James chapter four, we're closing in on the end. James chapter four, verse 13. Now make sure as I read this you go, "Wow, wonder who those people are he's reading that about." Inquire of the Lord if it might be you or me.

Verse 13, "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 we're going to make a profit.'" That's what we're going to do. I got this. You got a plan. Are plans bad? Plans are not bad. Whose plan is it? Is it just your plan, or is it God's plan for your life? Because look at just what that phrase says: "Today or tomorrow," time frame. "We're going to another city, and we're going to stay there a year, and we're going to buy and sell and make a profit."

That sounds reasonable, unless you're not supposed to go to that city and you're not supposed to be buying and selling anything and spend a year there wasting your time, even if you make money. So what should you say? He says, "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." So you're playing with time like you got all the time in the world. You've only got so much time.

And it's like mist that blows through. It's like—and people say, "Well, I'm going to," and it's hard to tell young people this: "I'm going to live forever." You're right, just not here. You are going to live forever, but you're only going to be here a little while. And all of these little decisions you make along the way affect the rest of your life. And you don't believe that now. You get to be my age and you'll start connecting the dots and go, "I wish somebody had warned me when I was a kid not to do this."

You can smoke all the weed you want to smoke, and you know what? God will forgive you. You can do all the coke you want to do, and God will forgive you. You can drink all the alcohol you want to drink, and God will forgive you. You can sleep with anything that's breathing, and God will forgive you. But there is consequence. And sooner or later down the road, when you finally wake up and the consequence hits, you will inquire of the Lord. But then you're going to have a lifetime of baggage and junk going with you because you might have fried your brain or your liver or whatever else you screwed up in your life.

And then you're going to go, "Why did someone not warn me when I was a kid of all this?" Now, you've been warned. People are warning you. You go, "Well, whatever. I got this." But God is also trying to say, "Look, you don't got this. Let Me got this." And I love even the phrase "I got this" because it's saying something in the present that sounds like you've already taken over the future. It's a past-tense thing: "I got this." Really? You've already run down the road in the future and determined that you got this.

God can do that, and faith in Him can do that. You can't do that because you're making all these plans about tomorrow—today, tomorrow—and a whole year. And what does He say here? You don't even know what's going to happen today. What are you talking about, Eunice? So what should you say? "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."

So what I listen for when people say, "I got plans, going to bada-bing, bada-boom, I'm going to go do this and that," now I'm listening for at the end or somewhere they get it going and you say, "Lord willing," I go, "There you go, that's a good way to do this." But when they don't throw the "Lord willing" in there, I'm like, "Ooh, this may not go well for you, dude. Because somehow this is all you." And then look how he ends this chapter, verse 17. "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." What's He told you to do or not do? The second He tells you to do something or not do something and you go the other way, now there's sin in your life and now you're in trouble.

So what do you do then? You confess your sin; He's faithful and just to forgive your sin, to cleanse you of all unrighteousness. You pick up where you left off and just pray to God that the consequence is not overwhelming, and you move forward.

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

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

Richard Ellis: Now let's say you're not even a Christian, and you've heard that God loves you, that Jesus died on a cross, buried, raised from the dead to pay for your sin, to get you into heaven. And your whole life, you have been saying about your life, "I got this." And now you're hearing God say, "No, I got this if you'll let me." And so you hand over the reins, the control, all of life to Him and you say, "I admit I don't got this. I don't want this anymore. I can't carry this anymore. I make very bad decisions, I end up in painful situations and that's probably going to continue. You made me, You know me, and it looks like You love me or You wouldn't let Your Son die for me. So You take it."

And I can promise you this: when He says, "I got this," He's got this, and He can take care of you, and He will provide for you. And for me, it's been way more than food and clothing. There are days when I am almost embarrassed to say what He's done for me because it does not even seem fair that He would be so good to me, so good to me.

So you say, "Well, but you could have lived your life and done this and that and been successful in some business whatever, whatever." You know what? You got nothing more successful than me serving Him. You got nothing to offer me that would beat the way He loves me and takes care of me and the peace I have when I obey Him and trust Him and follow Him. And when He says "no," try to say, "Yes, sir. Thank You, sir." Every once in a while, "permission to speak, sir?"

And you get permission to speak freely, and you say your piece and you say, "So the answer's still no?" "Yeah, the answer's still no." "Thank You, sir. Thank You, sir." You say, "Well, you're just some kind of robot." No, I'm a slave. I'm a servant of the Most High God, and I wouldn't trade with anybody. Because somebody helped me finally see that when He says, "I got this," He really's got this, and He can take care of my life and my eternity. Give Him a shot at that. I promise you, you won't want to go back. There's nothing back there.

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning in today to Richard Ellis Talks. We all have busy schedules these days, so it means the world to us that you would take this time to listen. Richard would love to know how today's talk has touched your heart, so give us a call at 855-6-RICHARD (855-674-2427). You can also share your story with us at our website, richardellis.com.

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