Richard Ellis Talks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcoming to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's going
to take the next few minutes to share some great
words of hope, insight, humor, and relevance in today's lost
and searching world. That's something everyone desperately needs to hear.
Speaking of Bet, we'd love to keep this conversation going
with you anytime through our website. Richard Ellis talks dot Com.

(00:23):
In fact, there's so many ways to connect with us
from there that you really need to check it out
for yourself. Richard Ellis Talks dot Com. But right now,
let's go ahead and get things off and running with
today's talk. Here's Richard Ellis.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
The title today's message is hasmatt Hazardous Materials. The United
States Department of Homeland Security defines a hazmat suit as
an overall garment warns protect people from hazardous materials or substances,
including chemicals, biological agents, or radioactive materials. It's also defined

(00:57):
as an impermeable whole body garment worn and his protection
against hazardous materials, and it's worn by You've seen firefighters
in them, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, researchers, toxic spills, contaminated facilities,
toxic environments, so hazardous. The word hazardous means full of risk, perilous, risky,

(01:20):
dependent on chance. We try to protect ourselves. Certain things
happen in the world. You've got diseases, you've got germs.
I never, really, I don't think my dad was what
I'll define in a moment was a germophobe. But man,
he used to wash his hands all the time. He
would wash his hands, and his hands were even worn
on the top. It seemed a little bit from just

(01:41):
washing his hands so much. Someone who is that concerned
or beyond him, I guess is It's called mysophobia, and
you may know it as germaphobia, germophobia, or germaphobia, And
basically it's just a pathological fear of contamination in germs
jump to the extreme. Only two people in history have

(02:04):
not died. And I'd like to start with some scripture here,
one of those in Genesis chapter five. And these are
kind of very unusual things. Only twice that we know of,
at least it's recorded in scripture, and it just simply
says this Genesis chapter five, verse twenty three. So all
the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty five years,

(02:25):
and Enoch walked with God and he was not for
God took him. So it is possible that you could
just be living and be taken. Now. That happened to Enoch.
The other one that had happened to is in Second Kings,
chapter two, verse eleven, and this is about Elijah, and
I highly recommend going and read this whole story and

(02:47):
Second Kings about Elijah and Elisha and kind of the
tug of war going on with them, and where Elisha
had to stay with Elijah till this happened. Then verse eleven,
it says, then it happened as they continued on that
suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire
and separated the two of them. So this chariot pulls

(03:09):
in between Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah went up by
a whirlwind into heaven. Didn't die now, So he said, well,
is that going to happen to me? Not unless you're alive.
And we'll read this in a minute. Not unless you're
alive when Jesus returns. If you're alive, when the trumpet
sounds the Great shout, and the trumpet sounds, then you'll

(03:30):
be airlifted out of here somehow, so it is possible.
But if that does not happen, you're gonna die. He said, well,
I'm trying to push that off, and my calm, casual
encouragement to you is to give some thought as to
why it is that you want to live. Paul said,
for me, to live is Christ. To die is Gain.
So the only reason he could come up with for

(03:51):
living was Christ. Is that your reason for wanting to
take care of yourself, stay healthy and be on the
planet is for Christ? He said, well, no, it's really
about my face, family, it's my job. I'd like to
make some more money, and you know, I get all
those things can be goals and priorities that we make.
But when it's working the way it's supposed to be working,
we know there's an end in sight. We know he's
going to return or we're going to die. So for

(04:14):
us to live should be Christ, because to die would
be gain. We'd be with him. There's a story about
the Alca Indians in South American if you've seen the
movie Tip of the Spear, The Bridge of Blood, and
I've actually met Minkai, the Indian who killed Jim Elliott
in that Amazon jungle. And the other day I heard

(04:37):
that Minchai had died. How exciting. And I'm telling you,
when I hear of Christians that die and I know
they walked with God, I know their lives were about Christ,
I have a very hard time. I'm sad for their family.
I'm sad for all that. You know, there's nothing wrong
with grieving, because it's a loss, But to live when
it is Christ, then to die is gain. And when

(04:58):
you make it to your Savior, when you you see
you're Jesus, there's nothing going to be better than that.
And so I rejoiced. I had met this simple man.
He was just a cannibal basically, and got saved and was,
you know, friends with all these kids that he had
killed their parents and now he's friends with the family.
It's just only God can pull these kind of things off.

(05:20):
So that's the worst case scenario if you're a Christian.
Turned out to be the best case scenario. And unless
you're in the Enoch Elijah category, you're going to die.
So at least we started out with something positive. First Chronicles,
Chapter four, go over there with me a few pages
to your right. First Chronicles chapter four, And this passage
actually kind of got famous books written about it, and

(05:42):
people were praying this prayer. But I'd like you to
look at what it really says. First, Chronicles, chapter four,
verse ten, and Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying,
and so this was what he prayed to God, Oh
that you would bless me. Indeed, a lot of us
pray that prayer. God, bless me, bless Grandma us, all
the missionaries in Africa, you know, we go these little prayers,

(06:03):
simple prayers. But he starts out, Oh that you would
bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, in other words,
lands whatever I have, my territory, that your hand would
be with me, and that you would keep me from evil,
that I may not cause pain. So God granted him
what he requested. And the thing I'd like to focus

(06:24):
on here a second, is that you would keep me
from evil, that I may not cause pain when we
succumb to evil, when the enemy gets a hold of us,
when he gets to us. And sin is a part
of our lives and a kind of an ongoing part
of our lives, then you think, well, it's just me sinning. No,
my sin, and I can tell you from personal experience.

(06:44):
My sin ends up causing someone else pain. It's inevitable.
And he's saying, so, it's not just that I want
to keep myself from evil. It's that I don't want
to cause any more pain than there already is in
the world. Okay, So your prayer, if you're praying that prayer,
keep me from evil. If you go over to Matthew
chapter six, verse thirteen, Lord's prayer here taught him how

(07:05):
to pray, and verse thirteen part of that prayer, do
not lead us into temptation. But what deliver us from
the evil one? For yours is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen. So deliver us from
the evil one. Don't lead us into temptation, and deliver
us from the evil one. I don't want the enemy
to have access to me. And we'll get into this

(07:26):
in just a little bit. How are we exposing ourselves?
How is it that the enemy can get to us
not just a foothold, but only one time? In scripture
this word is used is stronghold, And we'll see what
that means and what can happen there. So you're just
basically saying, God don't lead me in a temptation, deliver
us from the evil one protection right, I don't want
to even play with these things. Why do I pray that?

(07:49):
Because he's after you. We are the target, and there's
no days off, there's no days where the devil goes okay,
cease fire. They know they've lost already. Now it's just
a matter of lying and tricking and trying to deceive
us if we're believers into not following God and trusting him,
living in fear, and if we aren't believers, telling us no, no,

(08:10):
you don't need God, You're good. As a six year
old kid, I was having those thoughts the day I
became a Christian at six years old. I remember sitting
on that front pew, that little church, to go down
front the way they did it, and I remember this battle.
I remember hearing the gospel as clear as day, and
part of me there was a voice of sorts. Didn't

(08:31):
hear an audible voice, but I knew I could hear
someone saying inside of me, it's me, trust me, accept
this gift I've got you believe, And on the other side,
another voice was pulling on me, saying you're good, you
don't need this. You say, well, how do you know that?
At six years old? You can know a lot of stuff.
At six years old. It may be very simple, but
you understand basic things. And I knew as a little

(08:53):
six year old boy there were two forces fighting over me,
and I thought, I got to pick a lane. One
of these is not for me, one of them is
for me. I better decide what I want, and I
pick Jesus. Romans chapter eight. So you say, but what
can go wrong? I'll read you some stuff that can
go wrong Romans eight thirty five. Go read the rest

(09:14):
of this later, but the whole chapter. Who shall separate
us from the Love of Christ? Shall tribulation? You say, well,
I'm facing tribulation that won't separate us. Distress, nope, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword,
as it is written, for your sake, we are killed

(09:34):
all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. So even if you say, well,
I'm facing all these things, and people literally have faced,
are facing and will face any number of these things.
But what does it say, even with all that we
are more than conquerors. So, yes, the enemy's gonna come
after us. Yes, you might be martyred. Yes, some things

(09:55):
could go poorly from the world's perspective, But what does
it say. Yet in all these things, we are more
than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded.
And this is the stuff you can't just read. You
have to read this stuff and say, Okay, he is
saying that he was persuaded. Am I personally that persuaded?
And personally I have my moments, but in general, overall

(10:19):
I am persuaded. I can quote this Personally, I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things president, nor things to come, nor
height nor depth, nor any created thing shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ. Jesus, our Lord. You've got nothing that can
separate me from Him. So I'm gonna be okay. You say,

(10:42):
what about people today? The average is four or five
hundred people are martyred Christians every day all over the world.
I'm telling you that must be a terrible thing. But
unless it's a tortuous, miserable, but even then, Jesus is there,
not just with you as a believer, He's in you
and for me. I'd really am not asking for this,
but hopefully in that moment, part of the process is

(11:03):
no matter how bad this gets, in just a few minutes,
I almost see Jesus, I'm gonna be out of here.
And then there's nothing that they can't touch me. After that,
they can't do anything to me, so much hope. One
Corinthians ten thirteen. And this is the first verse I
ever memorized. I can't remember it all the time, so
I guess not really well. But no, I do remember

(11:25):
this one, and thank God the preacher that encouraged me
to memorize this. First Corinthians ten thirteen. No temptation has
taken you, overtaken you except such as is common to me.
And so you're saying I'm being tempted. You got nothing new.
You can't say, oh my gosh, the devil they had
a meeting and cooked up something special for me. No,
it's the same old stuff for millennia. No temptation has

(11:47):
overtaken you, except as such as common to man. But
God is faithful who will not allow you to be
tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation
will also make the way of escape that you may
be able to bear it. So you get suited up,
you go into a situation, you say it's going to
be too much. It's not going to be too much.
There's always an exit. I'm standing on a stage, and

(12:08):
from where I'm standing, I can count one, two, three, four, five,
six exit signs just in this theater, so I know
if something goes wrong in this theater, there are exits.
They are not obstructed. If I push these doors, they'll
open and I'm out of here. The place catches on fire.
I'm not looking for the fire. I'm looking for the
exit from the fire. Look for the exit. There's always
an exit. No matter what you're tempted with or you face,

(12:31):
there is always an exit that is promised in scripture,
and the temptation is never going to be more than
you can handle. I have never I know this for
a fact. I have never been tempted in my life
with a temptation that was greater than I could have
said no to. Not possible. YEA, how you know that
the scripture says that I'm protected? You say, oh, but

(12:52):
I had a doozy. I have had no doozy greater
than my ability to look for the exit and get out.
And I don't always look for the exit. But I
have protection. You have that same protection, that hazard protection. Okay,
now go to Second Corinthians, chapter ten, and I put
this in here. I'm not exactly sure who this is for,
but I'm going to read this to you because this

(13:13):
is extraordinary. Second Corinthians, Chapter ten, Verse one. He says, Now,
I paul myself am pleading with you by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ, who impresents am lowly among you.
So from what this the way he's described in scripture.
Not very impressive looking guy. That doesn't matter. By the way,
if you think what you look like has anything to
do with whether God can use you, you're missing it.

(13:35):
This is not about how you look. This is about
who you are and whether He is in you or
not and has access to your life to live in
and through you. So he says, who impresents him lowly
among you, but being absent and bold towards you. But
I beg you that when I am present, I may
not be bold with that confidence by which I intend
to be bold against some who think of us as
if we walked according to the flesh. In other words,

(13:56):
we do everything just physically. For though we walk in
the flesh, yes, we are still in these bodies. We
are still on the planet. This is the vehicle that
we live in and do what we do through though
we walk in the flesh, we do not war according
to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty in God. For pulling down strongholds,

(14:20):
casting down arguments, in every high thing that exolves itself
against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish
all obedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Now, I'd like
to go to this word stronghold. Some translations have the
word fortress. It means a castle. So here's what happens

(14:40):
the enemy, and the word defined means to fortify the
idea of holding safely a castle an argument. So here's
what happens in your life, in our lives. The enemy
comes in and builds a castle, a stronghold, a fortress
in your life, and he tells you things that are
not true. It's all going to be lies, but you

(15:01):
believe those lies. I'll never amount to anything. That's what
I was told. If that's what you were told, I
wouldn't hold that. But some people, you know, you'll never
amount anything. You can't do that. That's for other people,
not you. Whatever lies you're told or this is all
not true. I'm thinking of specific man right now who's
not a believer yet I do believe he'll get saved.

(15:21):
But the enemy has built a castle, a fortress, a
stronghold in this guy's brain. And you say, well, what
do you do? What does it say to do? The
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in
God for pulling down strongholds. Go read at some point,
and I think it's Joshua Chapter six. Joshua takes Jericho,

(15:43):
and God says, this is how you're going to take Jericho.
Fortified city, impenetrable. You can't take it. He says, go
to Jericho. Tell everybody quietly, walk around at once every
day for six days. On the seventh day, walk around
at seven times, and on the seventh time, blow the horns,
shout in the wa walls will fall down. You go,
that's crazy stuff. It's only crazy if it doesn't happen.

(16:04):
But if God tells you to do something. And by
the way, in that story, if you go read the
details on it, he told before the guys with the horns,
send the armed men. Now here's my question for you,
as a believer. If you're a Christian, are you armed
and ready? Could you pull a sword if you had to?
Are you even ready for battle if it hit? Are
you just somebody in the back in the back ranks

(16:26):
that whatever. You wake up in the morning and you
go into battle and not dressed for battle, and you think, well,
I'm just going to be a nice guy today, Everything's
gonna be okay. That's not how this works. It's not
flesh and blood. It's principalities and powers. The enemy is
an unseen enemy that uses people. But you have to
be shooting at the person, not the shadow of the person,
or you never hit the target. So you wake up

(16:46):
in the morning, and if it is a spiritual battle
and you're gonna take down these strongholds, you better have
some spiritual game, some ability to address these things and
know what to say. Now, what do you use if
the enemy's hold somebody lies? You have to know the
truth in order to offset a lie. So someone says, well,
I was told this, Now, please don't write me letters,

(17:08):
or are you gonna write me letters on stuff? You know,
people's told women can't wear pants to church. Seriously, what
does that have to do with anything? Oh, I was
told that I was raised at I was raised where
you couldn't play cards, and I got a really terrible
story I'd have to tell you privately about what happened
to My little brother got caught playing cards somewhere, as

(17:29):
though he were going to go straight to hell playing
poker or something. I understand you could end up gaming,
but everybody in my family could play dominoes. So dominoes
are okay, but not cards. Just crazy stuff. So you
have to sift through all these things that you're told
that someone has said, Oh this is this that find it.
If you can't find it in the scripture, you ain't

(17:49):
got it. Okay. There's just certain things or that I mean,
just the devil will lie. I tell you all kinds
of crazy stuff. So how do you combat that? Read
it with me again? The we of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments in every high thing that does what
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought

(18:12):
into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Kind of what
happened to me the day I became a Christian. I
was having these thoughts as a six year old kid,
and I had to say, no, those are not the thoughts.
That is not gonna get me anywhere. So what has
the devil told you? What is it You've got to
tear down kind of march around as it were, and say,
We're not playing this game anymore. I'm gonna find out

(18:32):
what the truth is. I'm going to believe the truth.
I'm going to live the truth and bring all of
these things. Look what it says, captivity to the obedience
of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when
your obedience is fulfilled. What us we got here? Go
to Ephesians chapter two. We'll do a couple of these
and then we'll be done. Ephesians chapter two and verse one.

(18:58):
And this is talking to Christians and you he made
alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which
you once walked according to the course of this world.
So there's three things going to be. I'm going to
highlight this. For this reason, enemies of the soul are
described as the world, the flesh, and the devil. So
what's coming against you? What's this hazardous stuff coming against you?

(19:19):
He made your live. You were dead in your trespasses
and sins in which you once walked, according to the
course of this world, according to the Prince of the
power of the air, the devil, the spirit, who now
works in the sins of disobedience, among whom also we
all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh.
So the world, the flesh, the devil, all coming against you,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,

(19:41):
and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his
great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved, and raised us up together,
and made us sit together in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might

(20:02):
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. And then the one most
people have heard, for by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast,
for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for
good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk

(20:23):
in them. And very briefly Ephesian six, I recommend doing
a study of this, taking some time with this, because
this is what you suit up with to go into battle.
And Ephesians chapter six, verse ten, he says, Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might.
Strong in the Lord, in the power of his might,
not your might, put on the whole armor of God,

(20:45):
that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh
and blood. We are not worrying fighting against flesh and blood,
but against what principalities powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of war, wickedness
in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to withstand in

(21:05):
the evil day. And having done all to stand it's
kind of some dukes of hazard. If you know it,
get your dukes up means let's fight. Now. This is
how simple this is. And if you go on and read,
it tells you you gird your waist with truth, breastplate
of righteousness, feet shot of the preparation of the Gospel
of peace, shield of faith, able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked, one helmet of salvation, sword

(21:28):
of the spirit, which is the Word of God in praying.
So you say, well, I get home at night and
I feel so defeated. Do you know why you feel defeated?
Because you're defeated. You lost. You said, well, how did
I lose? You can't lose if you fight. Now, listen
to what I'm saying. If you suit up and you
go into battle, you say, but I got hit, I

(21:49):
had some you know, I got attacked. Sure, you're going
to get attacked, but you don't have to lose the battles.
You're not going to get hit beyond what you can take.
We've already read that. There's always a way of escape.
And if you're suited up, you can't come home every
night with your butt kicked unless something has gone terribly wrong.
If you start your day right, you're gonna injure day

(22:11):
a whole lot differently. So you wake up, you see
the Lord, we got another day. What are we doing today?
We're gonna get attacked, aren't we. Yeah, we're gonna get attacked.
And I got a pretty good idea how I'm gonna
be attacked. It's been the same old silly thing my
whole life. So what do I do. Let's get dressed.
We're getting dressed to go out into the day. Let's
put spiritual. Let's put this stuff on and be ready.
How are you going to wield a sword of the spirit,

(22:31):
which is the word of God if you don't know
the word of God. So you learn some scripture, You
meditate on scripture, you memorize some scripture, and you get
in a situation and someone speaks up and says something.
You go that ain't right. You speak the truth and love,
but you speak to the issue. I would say that
ninety five percent plus of Christians that I meet live

(22:52):
defeated live. They haven't won in so long, maybe never one.
They're just hanging on to Jesus till the train comes
to get them and they get out of here. That
is not what's supposed to be happening. We have the
power to suit up literally, has Matt spiritually. You say, yeah,
but you could still get hit with something, something seep in.
I get all that, But you don't have to live

(23:13):
as exposed as you're living, and you certainly don't have
to go to sleep every night defeated.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
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. Well, we get it,
and we want to help you in any way we can.
So let's keep this conversation going. You can give us
a call anytime at eight five five six Richard, or

(23:42):
connect with us at our website, richardellistalks dot com. You
can even put in your prayer request right there on
the prayer wall. Call us at eight five five six
Richard or online at richardellistalks dot com. And now let's
get back to Richard with a final word on today's show.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Now, we got a few people in the room, and
I know of the few people in the room. Some
of the struggles, and I know some people want in
particular back here, had some struggles, had some struggles. Have
you had victory over any of those struggles? Huh yeah.
So every once in a while someone will stand up
and say, got my twenty five year chip? Sober twenty

(24:21):
five years? You know how you get a twenty five
year chip? You got to be sober every day for
twenty five years. You know you do that. You fight.
It doesn't mean you don't ever have thought to take
a drink. It means you make a choice. And the
things that the enemy brings against us, you got to
make a choice. Before you get to the choice, you

(24:43):
got to pray and know what your answer is going
to be before you get to the question. It's like
studying for a test, easiest test in the world, the
ones you know the answers to. So what's my answer
in this situation? What God says? I'm not doing this anymore.
I am not going to live defeated. I am not
going to bed every night defeated. So I'm going to
get up. I'm going to as Matt up, and I'm
going to live the life intended.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
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(25:24):
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(25:44):
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