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 now. If
you're not able to hang out with us for the

(00:21):
entire program, you can always pick it back up at
our website, Richard Ellis Talks 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 of today's message is blind Man's Bluff. I
want to talk today about the difference that prayer can
make and what it is that we are praying for
each other and for ourselves, and how that can change
literally the way we read the scriptures and whether we
understand the scriptures or not or get this stuff. And
one of the great confusions for me growing up and

(00:58):
a lot of people I talk to and we can
go through this occasionally. I'll talk about this along the
way is that they say, Okay, I got a Bible,
and I open my Bible and I read my Bible,
and I go to Bible studies and somebody teaches the Bible,
and it's just like, all I'm getting is information. I
can tell you. You know that Joan of arc was
not Noah's wife. You know, I know enough about the
Bible to know that I can tell you about Zachias

(01:22):
and something about a tree. And there are people don't
know anything about the Bible. But some people think, well, yeah,
I know some about the Bible. I can tell you
about Noah. I can tell you about the Garden of Eden.
They know the stories. And one of the challenges for
kids that grow up in churches. Too many times we
are teaching them stories, but when they get out into
the world or they grow up, they say, Okay, I
know some Bible stories, but I don't know why they're important.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
It's a so what. And they get in a classroom.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
In a college situation and a teacher says, well, do
you believe in God?

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
They say, well why and they say, well, because my
mom and dad raise me in the church. But they
have no answer, They have no understanding they have no
wisdom to come back with.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
And there is a whole lot more guys.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
And as we study the scriptures on a Sunday and
our Bible studies as a church, and as you read
it privately, you cannot go at this book by yourself
just to learn. There are churches out there that exists,
and I'm not trying to be critical here, but there
are certain denominations or even just groups of churches that
their whole purpose is to study the scriptures, and they

(02:23):
will describe we want to go deeper in the Bible
and learn more about the Bible. You can only dig
so deep, but apart from the spirit of God, you're
not going to get anymore. You can only chop up
a Greek word so many ways, you can only.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Diagram so many sentences.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
You can only get so much in your brain before
you realize, Okay, I know the stuff, but why is
all this knowledge this information? And I'm not anti learning,
but at some point you've got to get to the
place and say, God, all this information is not leading
to any transformation in my life. And there are people
who go to churches and they listen to sermons and
Bible studies and they get very fresh, and they fall

(03:00):
away because they go, this isn't working. I'm still kind
of empty. There's no joy, there's no peace. This stuff
is not working. I don't know how to apply these truths.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
These stories to my life.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Now I'm gonna tell you before we even get in here,
it is possible to change that. And God the Father
gets a lot of press. God the Son Jesus Christ
gets a lot of press. But the Holy Spirit, he's
pretty quiet. But the Spirit of God is the person
in the Trinity. And as we'll see in a minute,
who can open the eyes of your heart literally. And

(03:33):
when you read the scriptures, you go, oh my gosh,
there's something there I never saw. And I've been trying
to figure out how to describe this and without embarrassing
my wife.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
I met my wife. I saw my wife.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay, the first time I saw her, I was like
nineteen years old and didn't marry until I was twenty something.
Kind of didn't know her really well. But we see
people and for some reason physically they're attractive to us maybe,
and that sparks an interest.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
I could describe you.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
I can tell you where there's scars from a ski
accident on her leg.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
If she were dead and burned.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
I could probably identify certain things on her body, attributes,
her hair, or different things about her. But you know what,
my wife is not the sum total of her physical attributes.
And what frustrates a lot of women is men come
along and say, well, Wow, you're hot, you're beautiful, you're gorgeous,
or whatever, but a woman says, okay, great, but this
is all going to change. I want you to know me.

(04:27):
My wife is creative. I mean I could tell you
all these things or things that if you met her
and just saw her, you would not know any of
these things unless you spent time and got to know her.
And there's got to be a line that we crossed
with God. I have a lot of information about you,
but you know what, this isn't working.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
I want to know you.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
And when I open the scriptures, I don't want to
just be able to tell people facts about you. I
want to tell them if you love me, why you
love me, how you love me. I want this book
to come alive in my own life, so when someone
else hears it, he even praise it over me, They.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Go, oh my gosh, what was that? Now?

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Let's jump in here at Isaiah chapter eleven and verse one.
And I'm not going to go jump in here and
give you all the technical stuff here. I'm going after
a phrase or two in here. But this passage deals
with Messiah. It's a Messianic passage about Jesus, who would
come eventually. In verse one, it says, there shall come
forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a
branch shall.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Grow out of his roots.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding. And if even go into Solomon,
what did Solomon ask for?

Speaker 3 (05:33):
First?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
God said, you can have anything you want, And he said,
give me wisdom, give me understanding about how to.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Rule a people.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
But whoever this is this is talking about here, the
spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord. And
he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes.
How much time do we spend judging people by what
we see, nor decide by the hearing of the ears

(06:02):
what we see and what we hear. We just some
people up and say, well, that's who you are by
what I see and what I hear. There's more to
somebody than that. But with righteousness he shall judge the
poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay
the wicked.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
And it goes on. You can read it in your
own time there.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
If you want to finish that, go to John chapter fourteen,
John fourteen twenty six. But the helper, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, he will
teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
Things that I said to you.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
You are not going to learn much from Scripture in
the things of God without a teacher. And the Holy
Spirit is the teacher. Now he's got assistant teachers. And
there are people who are filled with the Holy Spirit
who may be facilitating a small group or a Bible
study or preaching or whatever, and God can use them.
But you're not going to get anything out of this
book without the Holy.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Spirit doing the teaching.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
If someone goes into the process and says, well, I'm smart,
and I'm intellectual and I've got mental acumen or you know,
whatever you think you are, and you go at it
and say, I'm gonna study it, and then I'm gonna
teach it, and you leave the Holy Spirit out, you
are dead in the water, and everyone you teach is.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Going to be dead in the water.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
And you may leave smarter and with more information, but
you will not leave with much transformation, because only the teacher,
the Holy Spirit himself, can make sense of this stuff.
And in the same way that my wife is not
just a physical person, there is stuff about her that
she has to reveal to me that I have to
see in her to get past just that outside the
veneer of who you are, and these truth these facts

(07:40):
in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit is the only
one who can literally open your eyes and let you
see into the scriptures and see into this treasure.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
What is there?

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Go to First Corinthians, chapter two, and I may read
a little bit more in this passage, and let's just
start with verse one, just a few pages of the
right Paul is just oozing with the truths of.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
What he knows. And this is not just intellectual assent.
To Paul.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
He knows God loves him. He knows he's had an
encounter with the God of the universe. He knows he
lives in him and through him, and it's changed his life.
And so he describes some of this relationship like a
verse one. And I, brethren, when I came to you,
did not come with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring to you the testimony of God. And he was educated,
he said, But I didn't come to you trying to.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Wow you with my words.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
For I determined not to know anything among you except
Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in
weakness and fear and much trembling. And my speech and
my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom,
but in demonstration of the spirit and of the power,
that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. And let me stop

(08:48):
here and give you a test for me. If I
get up here and try to wow you with my words,
or someone that's teaching you in any situation, seminary, Bible study, anywhere, let.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Me tell you what y'all to look for.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
He says, I came to you with my speech, was
not with persuasive words in human wisdom. But what in
demonstration of the spirit and of power do you sense
when you hear someone speak the power of God and
the spirit of God at work in the situation and
in your life included. And if you don't, something's not right.

(09:21):
You're just getting information. Verse six. However, we speak wisdom
among those who are mature yet, not the wisdom of
this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who
are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the ages for our glory, which none of the

(09:41):
rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they
would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But as
it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered into the heart of man the things
which God has prepared for those who love him.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
That by itself, there's a sermon there.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Now we could dissect that, and you can say, okay, well,
it says their eye is not seen, so nobody's seen it,
nobody's heard about it. It's not even entered into the
heart of man. Nobody's even imagine what the things which
God has prepared for those who love him.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Those are the facts of the verse. But what is
the truth of the verse.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
You get your teeth into this and start to pray
through it and think about it, and say, God, what
are you talking about there? And you begin to discover
that what He has prepared for us is beyond anything
anybody has ever seen, heard of. Imagine, it's incredible. And
all of a sudden that gets a hold of you,
and that's something to live for. That'll change your life.

(10:37):
You say, God, but I live in this situation and
I got problems in a marriage and step kids and
an ex wife and we're broken.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
I'm working three.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Jobs and I can't do this anymore. And then all
of a sudden you remember, Yeah, but don't forget. Eye
has not seen, nor ear heard, nor is entered into
the heart of man the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
You're not stuck here forever. I got something for you, And.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
There's a lot of it in this life, but there's
a lot in the hereafter as well. Of Verse ten,
all these truths, then, but God has revealed them to
us through his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, Yes,
the deep things of God. For what man knows the
things of a man except the spirit of the man,
which is in him. Even so, no one knows the

(11:20):
things of God except the Spirit of God.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Now, if you want to know.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
What God was thinking, what's going on with God, then
the Spirit of God is the one that's going to
reveal to you the things of God, in the same
way that the spirit, the life that is really in
me knows who I am and what's going on in here.
So you say, well, if I want to know God,
I'm going to have to get the Spirit of God
who lives in me. If I'm a Christian, and if
he lives in me, then he can reveal this stuff
and show me what's going on and what this is

(11:46):
really all about.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Verse twelve.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Again, now we have received not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit who is from God, that we might
know the things that have been freely given to us
by God. Now I don't know how much sense this
is going to make. I'm throwing it out here, but
there is more to being a Christian than you ever imagined.
And as cool as it is to hear the gospel

(12:08):
that Jesus died of the cross, was buried in raised
from the dead and come to an understanding. And there's
a certain amount of spiritual revelation that comes with just that.
You say, I know for a fact, I understand if
I dropped dead to day, I'll go to heaven. That's amazing.
But there is so much more. I've used this to
try to describe it before it. If I said to you,
I say, have you ever been to the ocean?

Speaker 3 (12:28):
You say no.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
And there's a lot of people never seen the ocean.
Oh my gosh, you can't imagine the ocean. It's wide,
and it's deep, and it's as far as the eye
can see. And I could use all the words and
tell you what was in it with words, but there's
nothing like seeing the ocean. So I load you up
in a car and we take a trip, and I
take you to the beach. And I've had this experience

(12:49):
myself after not going to the beach.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
In a long time.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
And you park your car and you walk up, you know,
some sand, a little boardwalk something, and you come up
over at dune and then boom, there it is in
front of you. All of a sudden, you go, wow,
there's the ocean. I've seen the ocean. And you think, well,
not really, but I have technically. And then you go
down to the beach and you step your feet in
the ocean and you walk into the ocean and you

(13:12):
stand there up to your ankles and you go, now,
I've been in the ocean.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
That's true. But have you seen the ocean?

Speaker 2 (13:19):
And some Christians get up to the beach and they
see it and they're wow by the ocean. And then
they step in the ocean and they say, well, I've
done it.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
I'm here now I've seen it. I've done it. I've
experienced the ocean.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
What I'm saying to you is get you some tanks,
get you some goggles. You say, a lot of tanks.
Then let's start out. Just swim a little bit. It's
amazing what you find you just swimming a little bit.
And then you say, well, get me some historical and
then you look down and you can see it just
from the surface, and you say, no, no, I do
want some tanks. And then you go down and you
realize there are people that get submarines and they still

(13:50):
haven't seen the ocean, and they find things nobody know existed.
Knowing God is like trying to attack the ocean. You've
got to keep going. There is more there. You say, well,
I'm done just on the beach. That's not God's fault.
He is an ocean of mystery and not just information.
It would be like back to my wife, I say, well,

(14:12):
I can tell you when she was born, which I
won't reveal that publicly. And that's what you call wisdom
right there. Some of this is already applying to my
own life. I can tell you facts about her. But
you know what, the longer I know this woman, the
more I know her, and the physical stuff may change.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
But the goal is to what to get to the
end of your life.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
And if you have the blessing and the privileges spending
twenty thirty, forty fifty years with somebody, it's not even
about the shell anymore.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
It's about that person that you got to know.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
And if I had stopped and said, oh, you know what,
I don't want to go farther than this. We can
be physical together, we can go on trips, but I
don't want to talk about anything deep. I don't want
to go past this point. What would you miss out on?
And then you see these couples who don't even speak anymore.
They look at each other and know things. There aren't
even words to express the things they can say with

(15:03):
their eyes because they know each other. And to be
able to get to the place with God in a
quiet place somewhere and almost words are not necessary. And
your heart is communicating with his heart. And there are
things that you've read in the scripture. You just I'm
telling you, I think I might have me a you know,
a snorkle. That's about all I'm into this. But he's
baiting me. And there are times when I read this

(15:25):
book and things happen that I never experienced when I
was just gathering information and I read it and something
will just go boom, almost knock me down.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
It's a hidden treasure in a.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Verse, I had seen my whole life, but I had
not dug it up. I had not allowed the spirit
of God to reveal something to me that was buried
there that I had to go to him to find.
And you go to the scripture and you say, God,
I know there's more here. For a fact, I'm positive
there's more here than just these facts. You got to
talk to me or I'm not gonna get it. I'm

(15:57):
not gonna make it. And you go digging you know,
if you go dig in for gold, most people don't
just go blowing on the ground. Oh well, I guess
there's nothing here.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
Now.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Every once in a while someone says to me, well,
I'm wanna go deeper. I want to dig deeper. Then
I'm listening with the Holy Spirit involved in the process,
because if you go digging deeper, you can get you
some seminary Greek professor to help you dig. You're gonna
get nothing but more information. You better get you a
shovel with the Holy Spirit's name written on it and
say this is what's going to unearth this stuff.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
Let's go to Phesians chapter one.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Now, I'm about to read you some verses that if
you want to know what to pray for yourself, you
want to know what to pray for your wife. You
want to know what to pray for your future husband,
your future wife. You want to know what to pray
for your children. You want to know what to pray
for your parents, you want to know what pray for anybody.
You don't know what to pray for people. I'm about
to read you something you can read it right out
of the Bible, and here's something to pray in Efphesians,

(16:50):
Chapter one, verse three, and following he says, blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
in Christ.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
So every spiritual.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Blessing, everything you want and you really need, whether you
know it or think it or not, is where every
spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. You are not
gonna get there without the spirit of God. And then
he goes on talking about how that He chose us
that we should be holy without blaming before him, describing
who we are in Christ, and then go down to
verse fifteen. Therefore, because of all of this that God

(17:25):
has done, and where all this is and what's happened,
he says, Therefore, I also after I heard of your
faith this church at Ephesus. I heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love for all the.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
Saints, which that should be basic. Okay.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
you're a Christian, and your love for all the saints.
You know what, most churches don't get past that. I
got faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I got
love for only a select group of people. You bring
a bunch of whatever is in here, poor black, white, Hispanic,
something outside of my realm. You know what, I don't
have life love for them. You are dead in the

(18:01):
water right there. You don't have love for all the saints.
You're in trouble. You will not get any farther. You
can accumulate all the information you want, but you will
never taste of what follows here. Therefore, I also, after
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for all the saints, do not cease to
give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.

(18:22):
And this is what he prays, that the God of
our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give
to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him. Do you have the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him? How are you
going to have wisdom in the things of God and

(18:42):
get revelation and understand the Word of God and the
things of God. If you don't have the spirit of
wisdom revelation in the knowledge of God, you're not, and
you don't and you won't. So when you sit down
to read the scriptures. I'm suggesting that you sit down
before you do anything else. Make sure there's no sin
in your life, because that's gonna clog things up.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Get that straight.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
And if you go to study the scripture, then start
out by saying, Father, I am praying for the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
And look what he goes on to say.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of his calling, What are
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards
us who believe. Then look at the three things he's
mentioned there. Your eyes are gonna be open, and you're
gonna know what the hope of his calling, the riches

(19:31):
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us
who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
which he worked in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and seated him at his right hand in
the heavenly places. Now to boil this down, the time
We've got to keep this simple. You say, Okay, God,
I got kids, and I'm trying my best to raise

(19:53):
my kids. We're gonna raise them at church. We're gonna
teach him Bible stories. We're gonna try to.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
Apply principles in our home and in their lives.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
But what's missing here, there is a spiritual element that
the Holy Spirit of God himself is going to have
to open the eyes of their understanding.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Are there not going to get it?

Speaker 2 (20:10):
So you're begging God and saying, please, God, don't just
let our lives communicate information, but let them see the
transformation in my life and in our lives, and open.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Their little eyes the eyes of their heart.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
You're not gonna seem without the eyes of your heart,
the eyes of your understanding, the eyes of your spiritual
man being opened. Let me read these one more time altogether,
that He may give to you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is
the hope of His calling, what are the riches of

(20:43):
the glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what
is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe. Now,
how much power does he have working in our direction?
He describes it according to the working of his mighty power,
which he worked in Christ when he raised him from
the dead. If all you get out of this is
this one of the things we don't understand. I think
is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead

(21:06):
is operational in my life, or it is not operational
in my life.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
You say, well, I don't feel like I can do anything.
I pray it goes nowhere.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Then say, God, help me see and understand scripturally and
spiritually what is going on here that when I pray,
I have access to the same dynamite the dunomus, this
power that you use to raise Jesus.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
From the dead, that is what's going on with me.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
If he can raise the dead with that power, what
can you do in your life with it?

Speaker 3 (21:33):
What's the sin you struggle with?

Speaker 2 (21:35):
You've got power in you, spiritual power that can raise
the dead. It can overcome anything you face. But you're
going to have to figure out where this truth is,
how to apply it to your life, and it may
require someone else to help you. But at least pray
that God will reveal it to you along the way
verse twenty again, which he worked in Christ, when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at his
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality

(21:58):
and power, and might and dominion every name that is named,
not only in this age, but also in that which
is to come. And he put all things under his
feet and gave him to be head over all things,
to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of
Him who fills all in all.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
We'll get back to Richard in a moment to close
out today's talk, but first I want to share something
about our program. Our mission is actually very simple, to
take the planet. So it's our prayer that these daily
talks from Richard aren't something you only hear and enjoy,
but that they inspire you to share with others. Together
we can do this. The message of the Gospel is

(22:34):
something everyone needs to hear, and that's why it's such
a priority to us. So join us in this important mission.
Call us at eight five five six Richard to say
you're in, or you can get on board with us
through our website Richard ellistalks dot com. Well, here's Richard
with some closing thoughts for us.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
I looked up the definition of blind Man's Bluff, and
I spent too many years playing blind Man's Bluff, and
the way I see it and the way I describe it,
I'll just read you this definition. Blind Man's Bluff is
a children's game in which one player designated as IT
You're it, is either blindfolded or closes his or her eyes.
The IT player gropes around blindly and attempts to touch.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
The other players. Now you say, well, my eyes are
wide open. I say no, your eyes are wide shut.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Your physical eyes may be wide open, but are your
spiritual eyes wide open? Where you can see, where you
have revelation, you have wisdom, where you can understand. You say, well,
you're talking about a bunch of spooky stuff. It's spiritual stuff.
The natural mind is not going to discern this stuff.
You're going to have to cross some lines and say, God,
open my eyes and let me see what is really

(23:44):
going on in my own home, my own life.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
That it is spiritual battle.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
We are trying to live the Christian life with our
eyes closed, trying to touch other people, and what do
we look like?

Speaker 3 (23:54):
It's silly? And they go, what do you mean you're
trying to help me.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
You can't even see yourself, and it's a blind man's bluff.
We are acting like we can dress up, we can
play the part, say a few words, but the bottom
line is, if you're blind, you're just bluffing, and I
encourage you to slow down, to stop. I'm not saying
don't read your Bible. I'm not saying don't go to
these Bible studies. But stop a minute and say, Father,
I'm engaging in a process that is more than just information.

(24:19):
I'm asking you to open my eyes, give me a
spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowledge you the eyes
of my understanding being enlightened, so that this is not
just facts, that it starts to come.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
Alive in my life.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Raise these words from the dead in my own life.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Now you all looking at me like, what in the
world is he talking about.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
I'm gonna encourage you, even if it doesn't make any
sense to start praying this prayer by faith, If it
doesn't make any sense to say, God, I don't know
that I understand this, but I've been reading the Bible
my way or not all these years.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
I'm gonna try it your way.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
And I'm going to say a simple prayer before I
go into the scriptures and say God, I'm asking you
to show me. I've been trying to dig this up
in my own power, how to bring it to lives
and let's see if there's a difference.

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
also connect with us at our website, Richard Ellistalks dot com.
One last thing, Richard Ellis Talks is a daily program

(25:25):
but also has daily costs, and being a listener supported
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(25:46):
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bless and thanks for listening to Richard Ellis talks. Yeah.