Richard Ellis Talks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's
style is very unique where he shares the message of
the Gospel unlike anyone else. It's real refreshing, focused and fun.
Whether you find yourself in a good place, maybe in
a difficult place, or possibly even in a very lonely place,
let me encourage you that you've come to the right

(00:22):
place now. If you're not able to stick around with
us for all of today's talk, you can always listen,
to download and even share this entire message with a
friend right from our website Richard Ellis Talks dot com.
So with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis the time.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Today's message is forever Home. I didn't know what this
was to you. Start looking up you sell these ads
for cats and dogs and animals, and you know the
ad is, you know, we want to find them a
forever home. That means those people will never get rid
of that dog or that cat. And then people, you know,
I've shared this Rebecka and I after thirty five years

(00:59):
bought a house. Didn't know we were taking it to
the studs and all this mess, and people say, well,
is this your forever home, and I say, I hope not,
because if this is my forever home, I'm in trouble. Now.
I know what they mean by that. They mean, was
this is your last move? Maybe on this side you
know your kids can lock you up eventually nothing you

(01:20):
do about it. So I might have one more move
in there, screaming, kicking all the way, and some of
them are in here, they know what I'm saying. So
you're forever home. Too many people buy a forever home
and they're forever home. They never leave, They don't do anything.
It's a prison of sorts. C. S. Lewis says, if

(01:42):
I find in myself desires which nothing in this world
can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was
made for another world, and sooner or later you're going
to figure out. However long this takes, there's nothing down
here worth keeping. And then all that matters are people.
And if you don't take them with you when you go,
you missed it. You can't ship anything ahead but people,

(02:03):
and how you let him live in you and through
your life. So let's start in Genesis one, verse three,
and let me kind of give you a little preface
to where we're going to go today. Genesis one three
says this, then God said, So when God says something,

(02:24):
and in the case of the scriptures, it gets written down,
but all God has to do is say, and when
he says something like this, look what follows. And God said,
let there be light, and there was light. Now I'm
going to give you some statistics, some numbers in a
minute that I have no idea, I have no explanation.

(02:47):
Don't understand when he said let there be light. I
cannot begin to tell you what happened. I mean, people say, well,
he made everything out of nothing, and my contention is,
you can't even make something out of nothing, so you
make the nothing first. There has to be nothing to
make something from nothing. So the universe itself, you got

(03:07):
to create this vast expanse out of nothing. And then
he just says words, let there be light, and look,
you know, it seems thes smarter we get the bigger.
God gets that universe has been sitting out there. It's
not multiplying, it's been out there the whole time. But
we make discoveries, we find telescopes, ways to see what's beyond,

(03:31):
and we keep blowing our minds and you would think
at some point somebody'd say, man, this couldn't have just happened.
There's got to be a God. But no, there's still
no God for a lot of people. No matter what
he's done or does, there's still no God. Genesis chapter one,
verse five. Then God said says something else. Let there
be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and

(03:52):
let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God
made the firmament and divided the waters which were under
the firmament from the waters which were above the firm
And it was so Boom speaks, divides the ground from
the water above on the earth Genesis one nine. Then
God said speaks again, Let the waters under the heavens
be gathered together into one place. Let the dry land appear.

(04:14):
And so it was. So let me just interject this here.
If that's the power of God's word, then why don't
we use his word more often? Right? People say, well,
you know all you do, you're a preacher, but all
you do is read scripture. Okay, give me something more
powerful than this. My words don't measure anywhere close to
his word. His words. So see what he says, So

(04:37):
I have words that I use on myself. I have
other people that use words on me. But find out
what God says in his word about you, your whole
life will change. Ecclesiastes three eleven. He has made everything
beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity in
their hearts, except that no one can find out the

(04:58):
work that God does from beginning to end. Now this
is very interesting to me human beings. The scripture says
here he has put eternity in their hearts. So this
idea of eternity, now, I can't get my head around eternity.
The closest I can come is when God says to Moses,
you know who will I say sent me? He says,

(05:19):
I am that I am, which means it's not that
I was or I'm going to be. I just am.
I always am, I just am. And he said, well,
what does that mean? It just He said, I don't
understand that at some point you're going to have to
let go. You will lose your mind or you'll just quit.
You are not going to comprehend this God. You are

(05:42):
not going to get your arms around his creation. You're
not going to His ways are not our ways. His
thoughts are not our thoughts vice versa. It's you're not
going to get so you have to go up to
the edge of the precipice and say, God, I don't understand,
and I don't even understand how you even know that
I exist beyond that. But I trust you, I have faith,
I trust you. I'm going to let you be God

(06:03):
and I'll be me, and I'll let you live in
me and try to figure that out. But I understand
that I don't understand. He said, well, that's not an answer.
You're not going to come up with a better answer
than that. He's God. He's not some little carved thing
that doesn't speak or hear or understand. He's God. And
then these verses. Look at Psalm nineteen to one, not

(06:23):
even sure I can read it. Maybe you've been in
these places. I think in the in the western part
of the United States, there are vast prairies where there's
no especially when there's no moonlight at all, and you
get out there and lay down on a blanket in
a prairie and look up, and this is the verse.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament

(06:45):
shows his handiwork. Now, let me read you these numbers.
There at least the idea now is that there's two
trillion galaxies. Our galaxy, the Milky Way is one hundred
thousand light years in diameter light years in diameter, and
it contains between one hundred and four hundred billion stars

(07:07):
just the Milky Way, and there could be up to
one hundred billion solar systems in our galaxy. We are
part of a solar system, so one hundred billion in
our galaxy. It would take you one hundred thousand light
years to cross our galaxy. Neptune is two point seven

(07:30):
billion miles from the Sun. Neptune two point seven billion
miles from the Sun. The next closest galaxy, Andromeda Galaxy,
is approximately two point five three seven million light years
from Earth. We haven't even got past our galaxy to
the next galaxy. And the scripture says that God holds

(07:53):
the universe in the span of his hand. Who is
this God? And where am I in that mix? What
is Man that you are mind full of him? Or
the son of Man that you care of?

Speaker 1 (08:01):
You?

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Who were we? And we spend so much time thinking
about this being home? What am I gonna do is
it's about me what about my problems? And this again,
I'm reading this stuff and I'm telling you stuff, and
I know this to be true. Standing here, when I
became a Christian, the God who spoke all of this

(08:23):
into existence went from wherever he is to right here
inside of my physical body. How can that not change
my life? How can that not change your life? What
is not possible if he lives not just with you.
Jesus was with the disciples, but when Jesus left, the

(08:45):
Holy Spirit came. When you become a Christian, that God
moves in. Now here's my contention. If I spent more
time reading about who he is, what he has done,
what he's gonna do, what he has control over. You said,
what about the devil? What about the devil? He's been
given authority for a little bit of time, and I'll

(09:07):
show you what happens to him at the end of this.
He's just a fallen angel. He's not God. It's not
like God in Satan her neck and neck. And let's
cheer for God. Hope he wins. He's already won, He's
conquered death. It's over. It's over now. It may not
be over for you because you've picked a forever home.
And your forever home is not my floralver home. And

(09:31):
people get nervous. Nowadays they say, well, you're going to
talk about hell. Bible talks about hell a lot. He said, well,
you're going to try to tell me, you know, God's
going to send me to hell. No, listen to me
very closely. If you make hell, you picked it. You
will not land in hell and say, oh, well God
sent me down here. No, you rejected him the heavens,

(09:53):
just the heavens, it says, declare the glory of God.
Go read Romans one. You're without excuse. All of creation
screams that there's a God, and you did not recognize
him as God, but turned aside and you went another way.
That is not his fault. Now you say, well, is
there's still hope for me? Technically, where there's breath, there

(10:17):
is still hope. But as it turns out, even where
there's not breath, there's still hope because he raises the dead.
Now I wouldn't push it to this point, but it
is possible to physically die and be raised from the
dead and then get saved. Don't hang anything on that
because it's a point in demand. Wants to die, and
after that the judgment, and then it will be too late.

(10:40):
Matthew six p nineteen. Now I think it is almost
it's not impossible. What I'm about to read you is
very difficult to read in our country and in our culture,
and maybe even in this church. Matthew six po't nineteen
says this, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in

(11:00):
and steal. So he says, don't do that. And my
question is am I doing that? Am I spending my
time laying up treasures here where moth and rust are
gonna take it out Verse twenty? But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in and steal. So

(11:20):
you have to do some accounting along the way. Is
my life about making money and buying stuff that can
be eaten by moths, rust and leaving that behind when
I die? Or am I okay? He's given me all
things to enjoy, but my focus is not on my stuff.
And I've said this before. Don't buy anything that he

(11:43):
can't give away or it owns you. You don't own it.
So he said, well, I bought a car. What if
he decides to give it away, it's not yours and
you can't take it with you. If he says give
it away, give it away. What I don't want to
give it my stuff away. And there's the problem. You
think it's your stuff, piling up, your stuff, vulnerable to moths, rusts, thieves.

(12:05):
So what I hope is if Jesus showed up, comes
by the house this afternoon, he's already in me, so
you won't have to go far. And he goes, look,
let's do an inventory. Here's your stuff. Inventory. Now, let
me show you your stuff in heaven. Let me show
you what your forever home looks like. There's a story
about a guy who died went to heaven, Jesus taking

(12:26):
him to his house past all these mansions, get down
to a shack and he says, well, here's your house.
He goes, this can't possibly be my house, Like, look
at all these mansions. He said, we did the best
we could with the money you sent. What are you
doing in Jesus' name? What do you know for sure?
I have shipped ahead. You said, well, you're talking about

(12:46):
good works. You got to get saved before your good
works make any difference. If you're not gonna make heaven,
you're just being good, just being nice. It's not bad,
it's just not gonna work get you into heaven. But
once you become a Christian, now you say, okay, God,
I'm I'm here for a reason. Use me. Why am
I here? Then, every day, everything that you do in Jesus' name,
che chan cha chan chi ching. On the other side,

(13:09):
he said, well, it sounds like we're working for something.
I am not for salvation. I intend to show up
in here well done, good and faithful servant, because I
made a decision down here, not to pilot up here,
but to ship it ahead to my forever home. Your
forever home is forever. You think you'd focus on a

(13:30):
forever home a little more than a temporary home John
fourteen two. In my father's house or many mansions, or
your translation may say dwelling places. If it were not so,
I would have told you I go. This is Jesus
speaking saying I am going I go to prepare a
place for you. I'm going to prepare you a place.

(13:51):
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you to myself that
where I am there you may be. Also, he wants
us with him forever in a forever home that he
is preparing for us Colossians three to two. Not in
line with what I'm trying to say. Set your minds
on things above, not on things on the earth. Now

(14:13):
I understand people say, oh, now he said I can't
have a boat. I didn't say he can't have a boat.
All I'm saying is it's all his. If you go
to Jesus and say, hey, I really like that car,
do I have permission to buy that car? You can
buy that car. Buy the car. But if you go
to buy something and he says, what are you doing
with my money, well, I want this car. I didn't

(14:35):
give you permission to buy that car. I don't care
what you think I'm doing. I want to do. I
promise you it's not going to go well with that car.
You're living in disobedience. Get rid of the car. If
you can't put his name on the title because he
authorized it. Now you said, well, then you can't have
anything nice. It doesn't say that in the book. It
just is. Don't get caught up in all that stuff.

(14:55):
Most people in this room and watching or listening beyond here,
we got more than a everybody on the planet. The
poorest person in the room is rich anywhere else in
the world. That's just how it works. Set your mind
on things above, not on things on the earth. So
we get caught up. I may have never told this story,

(15:16):
but the girls were young. They had a guy that
used to sit right over here. He was a pilot
that checked out new pilot. So if a guy bought
a new plane, this guy would take his pilots and
check him out on the new plane. So one day
after church, he says, hey, do you want to do
something this afternoon with the kids. This is sure, he said,
meet me down at Redbird Airport pulling this gate. So
the kids are little, We whoop in there, pull right

(15:37):
up through the gate up to this citation jet and
they're going crazy. Ah, that's the coolest thing ever. Right,
So we get out of the car, load up in
this jet. The pilot's are up there to be checked out.
We're in the back. Takes off. We're going to New Bronze.
Following back. I waited, I didn't know how I was
going to take You can almost just count one, two three.
It was a little longer than that. This rocket yet

(16:00):
all this cool stuff. Maybe ten minutes into that flight, Daddy,
how much longer they were bored in ten minutes, found
a deck of cards, tried to keep them busy, and
then it dawned on them. We still got to go
to New Braunfel. I don't care how fast it is.
Then we got to go back. They're hating it. So

(16:22):
in that flight, got everybody in the middle of the
plane whether they remember this, and I said, listen, this
is an airplane. That's what it is. It's nice, it's fast,
it's convenient. But you're gonna know people in your life
who will spend every hour every day. They think, if
I save up, make enough, one day, I will buy

(16:44):
this plane and it will make me happy. Girls, it
will not make you happy. It is convenient, but it
will not fix your life. Remember today, So what are
you giving your life to? Oh my whole life is
about buying a plane. I'm gonna get that big yacht.
I'm going to buy that lake out. I'm not against
any of these things. If God tells you to do it,

(17:05):
do it, but ask him first. It's not your money.
In the fastest way for a billionaire to become a
millionaire is to buy a plane. That's the joke they
all have. So what are we doing? People get these jobs,
to buy these houses, do all this stuff. You work
like crazy, you're never home. You pile up money. Then

(17:26):
you don't know your children. Your children don't know you.
Now they're in rehab. Now you're spending all your forever
home money on their rehab because you weren't around. You
were making money to buy stuff they didn't care about.
They wanted you. You buy them expensive presents and they
play in the box. It's universal. Kids love boxes, buying
boxes Hebrews eleven three. By faith, we understand that the

(17:49):
worlds were framed by the word of God. Back to that,
so that the things which are seen were not made
of things which are visible. He speaks. When he speaks
to you, listen to what he says. Do that. Read
the scriptures. If he says to do something, do that.
Hebrews eleven thirteen. These all died in faith, not having

(18:09):
received their promises, but having seen them afar off, were
assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were
what strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who
say such things declare plainly that they see a homeland.
And truly, if they had called to mind the country
from which they had come out, they would have had
opportunity to return. But now they declare a better that is,

(18:31):
a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not a shame to
be called their god, for he has prepared a city
for them. And by the way, the New Jerusalem that's
described over in Revelation, it's fifteen hundred miles by fifteen
hundred miles by fifteen hundred miles cube. It would basically
cover the continentally United States square and then fifteen hundred
miles somebody's calculated probably a million miles a road in

(18:54):
the New Jerusalem. And just a point of interest, the
Holy of Holies was thirty feet by thirty feet by
thirty feet a cube internally perfect cube. So no matter
what you build, no matter what you come up with,
it's gonna be dirt up there. It's nothing streets of gold,
translucent gold. Like what are we doing? Oh, I'm stockpiling

(19:15):
for what? Because if you don't get you some Jesus
and give that to your children, you're gonna leave all
this stuff, and if they don't know Jesus, they're gonna
destroy their lives with your money because you didn't show
them what to do with it and what was important
Hebrews thirteen fourteen. For we have no continuing city, but
we seek the one to come. There's no forever home

(19:35):
down here, forget about it. It's on the other side.
If you're a Christian. Even if you're not a Christian,
there's a forever home for you. On the other side.
It's just a lot warmer. So let's do the last ones.
In Revelation twenty one to one, Now I saw a
new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first heaven
and the first Earth had passed away. Also there was
no more sea than I. John saw the Holy City

(19:58):
New Jerusalem, coming down out of and from God, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard
a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the Tabernacle of
God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people. God himself will be
with them and be their God. And God will wipe
away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no
more death nor sorrow nor crying. There should be no

(20:20):
more pain for the former things have passed away, New Jerusalem.
I'm out of here. Even if you're young, you're not
going to be here long. Get a grip. Wake up. Oh,
I got my whole life ahead of you. Okay, so
you're gonna live one hundred years. Let's say, then where
are you going? If you don't have an answer for that?
What are you doing? Oh? I'm going to live like hell?
And then at the last minute, I'll give my life
to Jesus. Then you have nothing to show for it

(20:42):
up there, and you're a time bomb. What if you
don't give your life to Jesus before you die? And
who would build their life on sin would then pull
the emergency cord at the last second. You have no
understanding of his grace. And then look at Revelation twenty
one to fifteen. And he who talked with me had
a gold reed to measure the city, its gates and

(21:03):
its wall. The city is laid out as a square,
which I just shared with you. It's length is as
great as it's breadth. And he measured the city with
the reed twelve thousand furlongs. It's length breadth and height
are equal. New Jerusalem. He'll be amazing live there forever.
And as I said in the beginning, he said, well,
I don't want to live in some new Jerusalem forever.
Then pick Hell. You already have stick with your decision.

(21:26):
What do you mean I didn't pick Hell, Well, then
pick heaven, because if you don't pick heaven. You picked Hell. Well,
that didn't sound good, Then don't do it. Pick heaven. Well,
how do I pick Heaven? Acknowledge Jesus, He's the way
the truth alife. No man comes to the Father but
by him. That's what he said. I'm not making this
up as what he said. Well, I don't believe that,
then pick Hell. It's either one or the other. He said. Well,

(21:49):
we had two people in here previous Sunday, coming out
the door. I try to talk to everybody comes out
of this building. They come to the door, something was wrong,
talk to him, sat them on the bench. Both of
them got saved in the lobby. They picked Heaven. They
had questions and he had answers. It was simple, but
they had to make a decision to as many as
received him. To them, he gave the power become the
sons of God. The children of God, So pick heaven.

(22:11):
What can't be that easy? It's that simple, not easy
for him, but simple for you. Just picking? What oft
all my sin? He died for that. What if I
screw up in the future, He's got a remedy for that. Picking.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Before Richard comes back to wrap things up for us today,
I'd like to share a couple important.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Things with you.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Let me encourage you to take a minute and check
out our website, Richard Ellis Talks dot com. You'll find
today's talk right there on the talks page, along with
all of Richard's 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 to connect with us, the contribute page for you

(22:50):
to be able to give to this ministry, a radio
station finder, all our social media links, and much more.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
So.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Check it out Richard Ellis Talks. And Richard's back now
to wrap up today's talk.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
And here's your verses. If you don't Matthew twenty five
forty one, go back over there a second, Matthew twenty
five forty one. This is about dividing the sheep from
the goats, he says, Then he will also say to
those on the left hand, depart from me. You cursed
into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil in his angels.

(23:25):
And this is very interesting, he said. Well, I thought
hell was prepared for people who rejected Jesus. No, Hell
was prepared for the devil in his angels. God never
intended for anybody to end up in Hell, but the
devil in his angels. You say, then, how do people
end up there? You pick it? Why would you want
to end up forever You're forever home with the devil

(23:46):
in his angels. Well, I don't want to be in
heaven singing songs. Okay, there you go, but don't say
nobody told you because you will die and you will
not curse me or us because we didn't warn you.
So people get all nervous. Oh what if we talk
about hell? People will get ups that they're gonna be
mad as hell when they end up there. If you
didn't warn them and curse your name forever because you

(24:08):
had time for everything else but their soul. Tell them
about Jesus, they'll hate me. It's okay, you'll get over it.
They won't get over hell, and then he cites the
reason why these particular people ended up with the devil
and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave
me no food. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink.

(24:28):
I was a stranger. You did not take me in naked,
you did not clothe me sick, and in prison, you
did not visit me. So practical things that he's left
us here to do. There's an old song that goes
like this, this world is not my home. I'm just
passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

(24:49):
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door, and I
can't feel at home in this world anymore. Make Heaven
your forever home, and you'll be forever home when you
get there.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thanks for listening today to Richard Ellis Talks. We're confident
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Jump on over to our website, Richard Ellis Talks dot
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(25:24):
at the website, there's a ton of great stuff there
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(25:45):
It's easy and much appreciated. Eight five five six Richard
or Richard Ellis talks dot com. Until next time, God
bless you and thanks for listening to Richard Ellis Talks. Yeah.