Richard Ellis Talks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. If
you're looking for some encouragement, words of hope, and maybe
a laugh or two, that's exactly what Richard wants to
share with you today. We know life can get pretty
busy and complicated, so we're truly grateful you chosen to
take a break and listen to the program.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
If you're not able to hang out with us for
the entire program, you can always pick it back up
at our website, Richard Ellistalks dot com. In fact, you
can find all of Richard's talks right there waiting just
for you, Richard Ellis Talks dot com. So with today's talk,
here's Richard Ellis.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
The title today's message is thanks for remembering. I read
a story about a man in Phoenix who called his
son in New York, and he says, I hate to
ruin your day, but I have to tell you that
your mother and I are divorcing. Forty five years of
misery is enough? Pop? What are you talking about? The sunscream?
He said, Well, we can't stand the side of each
other any longer. The old man said, We're sick and

(00:58):
tired of each other. And I'm sick of talking about this,
So you call your sister in Chicago and tell her
and he hangs up. Frantic, the son calls his sister,
who explodes on the phone, like heck, they're getting a divorce.
She shouts, I'll take care of this. She calls Phoenix
immediately and screams at the old man. You are not
getting divorced. Don't you do a single thing till I
get there. I'm calling my brother back and we'll be

(01:19):
there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, do you
hear me? And she hangs up. The man hangs up
his phone, turns his wife. Okay, He says, they're coming
for Thanksgiving and paying their own way. The first Thanksgiving meal,
believe it or not, is recorded in the Bible. Some
people refer to it as the Last Supper or the

(01:39):
Lord's Supper, communion, or the Eucharist, and the word Eucharist,
believe it or not, comes from the word eucharisteo, which
means to be grateful, to feel thankful, to give thanks.
And I want to emphasize the word feel thankful when
they gave thanks and even when we read the scripture
in a minute where it says that Jesus gave thanks.
It's different, and to say thank you for something, but

(02:02):
when you say thank you with some feeling because something
has happened, that is very powerful and very meaningful. Even
thank you changes the way it is said. Now, I
want you to turn to Luke twenty two, and we'll
look at First Corinthians as well. But let's look at
Luke twenty two. And this is in a number of
places in Matthew Mark Luke Corinthians, or we're going to

(02:24):
do the Luke twenty two today fourteen and following, without
going too far back. The passover meal is celebrated because
when the angel of Death passed over the people of
God in Egypt, the ones that obeyed, the ones that
took the lamb and killed it and put the blood
on the doorpost on the outside of the house. The
blood was not for them to see, It was for

(02:45):
God to see. It was for that angel to come
by and said, those people get it. Those people have obeyed.
Those people have done what God said to do. And
when death passed over and the firstborn was killed in
every home, every stable, everywhere, the firstborn was killed, those
people were spared. The first porn in that house was
spared because they had obeyed God and put the blood

(03:06):
on the doorpost of their home. The passover now for us,
represents the fact that this blood of the Lamb that
was slain before the foundation of the world has been
placed on the doorpost of our hearts, so that when
God looks at me, he doesn't just see me anymore,
he sees a life, not just the door post covered,
but an entire life covered by the blood of Jesus

(03:28):
and the only way. And I think some people say, well,
it's offensive, you shouldn't talk about the blood. People don't
understand this. Why is the Bible so golory? And it
sounds like cannibalism all that. Notwithstanding, you got nothing without
the blood. And the reason it is so important to
do communion together, it is so important to participate in
this is that it is vital to our Christian faith

(03:51):
to remember what it took to get us into this family.
And even a mom if you talk to a woman,
my wife's had three kids, and you know I was
there saw them all make their exit. You know, I
just as a man, he's not even possible. And you
try to talk about it and say, well, do you remember,
And certainly they can remember, but the pain that you
go through to get a child on the planet, somehow

(04:13):
it goes away and you just keep going all with
your life. And I don't sit around thinking about my
mom and the pain she went through. But if I
stop and remember seeing it done, and then think about
the fact that my mom went through some anguish and
when she had me, there wasn't a lot of great
stuff going on to prevent pain. But you stop and
think and to say to my mom before she died,

(04:33):
you know, thank you, thanks for having me. Just simple
stuff like that, it brings it back to your mind.
You think somebody went through something. Jesus didn't have a baby.
He was the baby that came and was had and died,
lived this life, died on the cross, shed his blood
was buried in raised from dead for what all of
it for us. So it is inexcusable really not to

(04:55):
think about it, not to remember. And he literally institutes
this thing so that we I won't forget. The problem
is some people forget to remember. People talk about We've
got a guy in the church. He has not spent
Thanksgiving with his son for eighteen years. I think it
was had been in prison all these years, and his

(05:17):
son called the other day and said, Daddy, where are
we doing Thanksgiving this week? Now? He said, well, he's
gonna be busy that way. You know what, He's gonna
be busy that day. He's gonna get to be with
his boy a meal. Whether we do it this way,
passing away for in a cup, or we sit down together,
it's the deal, and it's the thing that we are
supposedly waiting for our whole lives. For Jesus when he

(05:38):
said in the scripture, you know I won't drink of
this through of the vine until I do it one
day with you in heaven. There's a day coming we're
gonna sit down and have a meal. I just think
it's one of those things we ought to practice and
spend time together and just do nothing. But remember this
is not some ceremonial thing we do the baptism. We
do baptisms around here. Somebody who's become a Christian. After

(05:58):
you become a Christian, you get baptized. And I'm telling
you it's one of those deals. I sit down with
people getting baptized and I say, this is not gonna
make any sense till it's over. But you have no
idea how meaningful this act is going to be. This
thing we do and they get done, there's weeping and
we're hugging each other, and all of a sudden it
makes sense. It's the same way when you stop and
remember and you go back. It's like looking at pictures

(06:19):
of your wedding and you go, wow, what was I thinking?
You know, or something like that. You remember though, and
it brings back these feelings, and these feelings are tied
to this word eucharisteo that really means giving thanks, but
giving thanks with some feeling. And I pray that we all,
at some point along the journey get to the place
where when it comes to giving thanks, that it is

(06:39):
not just okay, thanks God for sending your son to
die for me. I know it all happened, thanks, but
where there is some passion, where there's some real gratitude
from the heart, not just from the head in regard
to this Luke twenty two fourteen, when the hour had comes.
So this passover meal, they've done a few of these before,
but this one's different because it's the last one they've
celebrated pass over. Undoubtedly together as disciples. They were together

(07:02):
three years, and now here's this last meal that he
would share with them. And when the hour had come,
he sat down in the twelve apostles with him. Then
he said to them, with fervent desire. And this word
fervent desire is a word that is translated usually in
a negative sense. It's a lust. It's this passionate, overwhelming thing.
This is not well, I'd like to have dinner with you.

(07:24):
It is something he is feeling from his innermost being.
I've desired with fervent desire. I have desired to eat
this passover and look at this with you. Jesus doesn't
need to have dinner with them in order to die
on the cross, but yet he does. And I know
if you're stuck in a cell somewhere in a prison,
or you're often some god forsaken country, it seems alone,

(07:46):
and you stop alone the way and take some bread
and a cup and celebrate it on your own. If
you got to do that, you got to do that,
you know what. We don't have to do that. And
there is something about doing this together. You can do
church if you're stuck by yourself. But God never intended
for this philosophy of well, I can worship God just
as well out under a tree on a golf course.
You know what, you can't back that up with scripture.

(08:08):
You can worship him anywhere. But he says, don't forsake
the gathering of yourselves together. We need to get together,
we need to be together, we need to stay together,
because on our own we will drift. And on this night,
this day, Jesus said, I've got to do this dinner
with you. And he wanted to do it so bad
and loved him so much that he let Judas be

(08:28):
a part of it, who in the middle of the
meal would betray, still loving him, still knowing he was there,
but yet wanted to share that evening with these twelve
with fervid desire. I have desired to eat this passover
with you before I suffer, for I say to you,
I will no longer eat of it until it is
fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Then he took the

(08:49):
cup and he gave thanks. I got to tell you
that in the midst of a dinner like this, you say, well,
there's food, and he's thanking God for the food. I
don't think think that's all there is about it. There
is something about giving thanks and this meal of all
meals when he is demonstrating to them that the cup
would represent his blood, the bread would represent his body,

(09:11):
and he's thanking God for these elements, and he's thanking
God in general for what's going to happen. Something terrible
is about to happen to him. How do you thank
God when you're about to use elements to demonstrate the
fact that you'll die. And one of the great challenges
in my own discipleship process was when Claude, who discipled
me for a long time, and I've shared this many times,

(09:32):
but we hit a massive impasse when he read me
first Thessalonians five eighteen, and he said, read that. And
I said, all right, in everything, give thanks for this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
And he said, here's God's will for your life. Give
thanks in everything. And we started going round and round.

(09:53):
I said, Claude, I'm not doing that. I said, that
is ridiculous, it doesn't make any sense. I don't believe that.
I said, I'm not thinking God. And I started listening
off all these bad things. Thank Him for the good
Stuff's easy. You got food. Thank you God for food.
But when the food represents your death, how you going
thank him for that? And here's what Claude said to me.

(10:14):
I said, I'm not thanking God for bad things. He said,
you will, and he let it go. And I lived
it my way for months and kept hitting my head
against the wall and I'd get in a bad situation,
something bad would happen, and I'd get all worried or
complain or be mad at God or whatever and get

(10:35):
all stirred up. And it didn't work. And I kept
watching him thanking God and praising God and having joy,
and even though he had problems, he didn't react or
respond the same way I did. So finally went, Okay,
maybe you're right. I still don't believe it. In my
head I do, in my heart I don't. I don't
get it. But he challenged me to do it by faith,

(10:56):
and in those moments when something goes wrong, just to say,
and I literally would do this. I'd say, God, I
don't get it. I'm not even sure I believe it,
but I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm
gonna thank you and just take a step of faith
into nothing and all of a sudden, some terrible thing
would happen, and I'd say, Father, I thank you that
this has happened. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, it'll
hit you just like that, some joy will come over

(11:18):
you and you'll think, what the heck, where did this
come from? And why didn't I do this? Decades ago
Jesus demonstrated even here at this meal giving thanks at
a horrible time for him personally, it's a great time
for us. He died, and look what we get. We
get life. But don't ever forget that in order. We

(11:39):
all love talking about resurrection power and that we've got
the same power the Holy Spirit living in us that
raise Jesus from the dead, and that's all exciting. Nothing
gets raised from the dead without being dead. So you're
remembering the Lord's death till he comes. Nowhere it does
to say here, remember his resurrection till he comes, It says,
remember his death. And the thing we get stuck on,

(12:00):
which is wonderful, is he was raised from the dead
and he's coming again. He's alive. But you know what
he had to die to get raised from the dead,
and our lives that's included in the process for us
dying to ourself, taking up our cross daily that represents death. Remember,
you better be thanking him for the death side, or
you're not gonna make it because Heaven ain't here yet.
If you're sitting here breathing, you got some pain, you

(12:22):
got some problems. So even partaking of this meal together,
we remember that death is a part of the process
and that we've got a thanking for the pain. Like
he was having to thank the Father for the pain,
what these elements represented in his own life. Within a
matter of hours, he is thanking God, within a matter
of hours of dying and shedding his blood and everything.

(12:44):
Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ. Jesus.
Concerning you, he took the cup, he gave thanks and said,
take this and divided among yourselves. For I say to you,
I will not drink of the fruit of the vine
until the Kingdom of God comes. You talk about somebody
waiting to have a drink, imagine Jesus, and the scripture says,

(13:05):
only the Father knows the day. Man, I can't wait
to have another drink with my disciples, the best kind
of drink, but I won't touch it till we all
do it together. I don't know much about all this stuff,
and I can't even imagine it, and I don't know
what kind of table it's going to be. But one
day I think we sit down with him and we

(13:26):
raise a cup and we remember again, and whatever songs
get sung in heaven, all hail the power of Jesus's name,
whatever it may be, we'll get a chance to thank
him in person and drink of this cup and remember again.
And he took the bread and he gave thanks again,

(13:46):
and he broke it. Imagine breaking that bread symbolizing his
own life, his own body, which is about to be
just pummeled. And by the way, if you've ever seen
the Passion of the Christ, the thing that struck me
about the portrayal in that movie is he was almost
dead before we ever got to the cross. Surviving the
beatings is part of the process. They broke him for us.

(14:11):
He took the bread and he broke it, symbolizing what
would happen. And he gave it to them, saying, this
is my body which is given for you. And then
this passage, do this in remembrance of me, Do it
to remember me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying,
this cup is the new covenant in my blood which
is shed for you. A new deal was made with

(14:32):
his own blood. If you go over, if you would.
To First Corinthians, chapter eleven, let's look at that similar
description here Paul writing to the church at corinth In
verse twenty five, he says the same thing this do
as often as you drink of it and remembrance of me.
And then look at verse twenty six what Paul adds,
for as often as you eat this bread and drink

(14:53):
this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes.
Now again, we're not minimizing the resurrection. But somebody died
for you. Jesus died so you could get a life,
an abundant life and eternal life. And he said, every
time you do this together, you are declaring that Jesus died.
You proclaim his death until he comes. So part of

(15:15):
this process, and whether it's for some people it's every week,
for some people it's every day. They go to Mass
or something every day, and it's a whole nother meaning there.
Usually they're literally trying to get Jesus back in them
for the day. My understanding of the scripture is that
when Jesus comes into you're born again. When he comes
to living you, he's not coming and going, he stays,
you cannot digest Jesus out of your body. He comes

(15:39):
to live inside of you and stay with you. But
when we stop and partake of this meal together, what
we're doing is remembering what it took to get him
menaced and what it took to have this relationship with
God the Father. When he says, here, do it in
remembrance of me. The word remember here is a word anamnesis.
And where you hear the word amnesia, and there we

(16:01):
have amnesia. When it comes to this, we forget, just
keep moving like it never happened. And it means a remembering,
a recollection. I've tried to think of a few things
in this regard about remembering. If somebody you know is
going to have surgery and you see that it you know,
December twenty ninth, somebody's having surgery, a pretty serious surgery.

(16:22):
And on December twenty ninth, if you know that's coming,
and you make a phone call the night before or
you show up at the hospital, what are they going
to say, thanks for remembering? It means something to people birthdays.
I think birthdays are a big deal. Somebody calls you
on your birthday, Wow, thanks for remembering. One of the

(16:45):
toughest ones is the death of a loved one, and
an anniversary comes along. Your husband, your wife, your mom,
your dad, your brother, your sister, and every year somehow
you remember and you call the person and say, you
know what. I'm not trying to dig up in the past,
but somehow I thought of you today and I remember
ten years ago today. There's somebody in our family that
on Thanksgiving Day, a husband died on Thanksgiving Day, and

(17:09):
every Thanksgiving it is impossible here I am. I don't
even know the people that well, but I remember that
that day is tough for her and she's in a
nursing home now. But you know what, Thanksgiving comes and
it's a great day of Thanksgiving, but for her, it's
a tougher day because literally, on Thanksgiving Day, her husband died.
Promise me you'll always remember you're braver than you believe,

(17:32):
stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. That's
what Christopher Robin said to Pooh Tupac Shakur said this.
I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing
through every dark night, there's a bright day after that.
So no matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out,

(17:53):
keep your head up and handle it. What he told
people to remember, Marshall Field, the big department store owner.
These are things he said to remember. The worth of character,
the improvement of talent, the influence of example, the joy
of origination, the dignity of simplicity, and the success of perseverance.

(18:17):
Those were tenants. Those were things that he told his
employees and his people to remember. If you ever seen
or listen to the musical The Phantom of the opera,
the song Christine, the Phantom sang, think of me, think
of me fondly when we've said goodbye, remember me once
in a while. Please promise me you'll try when you

(18:37):
find that once again you long to take your heart
back and be free. If you ever find a moment,
spare a thought for me. And I love the way
music sometimes with the writer intended, I can take and
sanctify and sing along and say, Lord, this isn't to Christine,
this is to you. An old proverb says, the heart

(18:59):
that truly loves never forgets. In Exodus chapter thirteen, Let
me just read this to you. And Moses said to
the people in verse three, remember this day in which
you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
For by strength of the hand of the Lord brought
you out of this place, no loven bread shall be eaten.

(19:19):
He told them to remember. And it's fascinating. Over one
hundred and fifty times the word remember in the scriptures,
and it's a lot of the times God through the prophets,
through his messengers saying remember, remember what God did, and
God remembering his covenant with us even when we don't
remember him. I do want to take just a second
and take you to Psalm one O three. And I

(19:41):
don't know if you feel comfortable underlining things in your Bible,
but this would be a great one to underline. This
would be a great one to read frequently, if not memorize.
Psalm one O three. Listen to this a psalm of David.
Verse one, Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all
that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Now,

(20:06):
what are some of the benefits to being a Christian?
Some of the stuff you need to remember, who forgives
all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases. You say, well, no,
he didn't heal my disease. I had medicine, And where
do you think they got that medicine. Who redeems your
life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and

(20:29):
tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so
that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord
executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He
made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the
children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow
to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always

(20:51):
strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor punished us according to our iniquities. As the heavens
are high above the earth, so great is his mercy
toward those who fear him, as far as the east
is from the west, so far as he removed our
transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so

(21:12):
the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows
our frame. He remembers that we are dust for as
a man, his days are like grass as a flower
of the field. So he flourishes. For the wind passes
over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers
it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting, on those who fear Him and

(21:33):
his righteousness, to children's children, to such as keep his covenant,
and to those who remember his commandments to do them.
The Lord has established his throne in heaven, all his
kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you his angels
who excel in strength, who do his word, heeding the
voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts,

(21:54):
you ministers of his who do his pleasure. Bless the
Lord all his works in all places of dominion. Bless
the Lord, oh my soul, and don't forget his benefits.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Richard Ellis will return in a moment to wrap up
today's talk with a few final words. But first I
want to share some important information about the program. The
reason we do this is to share with you the
good news. When you open your heart and life to
the saving grace of Jesus Christ, that's the beginning point
of the most amazing journey you'll ever experience, but it's

(22:28):
also a journey that we want to join with you.
So if you've been on this road for a while
or just getting started, let us know how we can help.
Maybe you've got some questions, stuck in neutral or even
wondering how to take the next breath. We're here. Give
us a call at eight five five six Richard. You
can also connect with us through our website, Richard Ellistalks

(22:49):
dot com. We're here to celebrate with you too, So
if this program has made a difference to you and
encouraged you in any way, tell us about it. Let's
keep this conversation going by giving us a call at
eight five five six Richard. You can also send us
an email through our website, Richard Ellis Talks dot com.
That would really make our day to know how Richard's

(23:10):
talks have helped you. Call us at eight five five
six Richard, or email us through the website Richard Ellis
Talks dot com. And speaking of the messages, you can
find today's talk along with every message from Richard at
our website, Richard Ellis Talks dot com. Finally, we really
believe that these talks with Richard are making a difference

(23:31):
in your life. So this is how you can make
a difference to ours. You can contribute to this ministry
by giving us a call at eight five five six
Richard or at our website Richard ellistalks dot com. We
would be so grateful for your gifts and Richard's back.
Now to wrap up today's talk.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Every time we eat of the bread and drink of
the cup, you can almost hear Jesus saying thanks for remembering.
One of the best ways to never forget is to
use thanks for remembering. There is something about with individual people,
your mom, your dad, anybody in your life. If you'll

(24:12):
just stop long enough to thank them for who they
are and what they've done, you'll be amazed at what
you start to remember. Thanks has a way of triggering memory,
and it is especially true of God. You think you're
having a bad day and nothing's going right, I'll tell
you someplace to start. I thank you for waking me
up this morning, and I'm awake, and I got life,

(24:33):
and I got breath, and I got enough health to
be standing here talking. And I thank you because I
remember that I got no life without you, that I
was all by myself in the world. And if I
died by myself. It had been hell for sure. I
thank you for dying on that cross, for shed your blood,
for being buried raised from Dad. Let me tell you something.
Your day's wh We get better in a matter of

(24:54):
seconds because no matter what bad is going on, there's
nothing like thanks remembering what he's done and who he is.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thanks for tuning in today to Richard Ellis Talks. With
the busy schedule everyone has these days, it means the
world to us that you would take this time to listen.
Let us know how it has touched your heart by
calling us at eight five five six Richard. You can
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dot com. One last thing, Richard Ellis Talks is a

(25:24):
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we believe that these talks with Richard are making a
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(25:46):
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God bless and thanks for listening to Richard Ellis Talks

Speaker 2 (26:00):
YAP