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 today's message is on the outside. If you
look at the definition of the phrase on the outside,
one of the things is on the outer side, edge
or surface of something, literally just out on the edge
of It also can apply in baseball to the side
of home plate farthest from the batter. It can also
be used to describe someone's appearance, which we will get

(00:58):
into that a little bit today. And then one of
the phrases you may or may not know is the
phrase not in prison. So one of the best ways
to not if you're on the outside. One of the
best times to be on the outside is in reference
to prison, if you have been on the inside in
that specific category and are here today or listening beyond here,

(01:20):
and you feel like even though you're no longer on
the inside, you are still on the outside. That is
not the case here. If you were here and you've
been on the inside and you're on the outside, the
only thing that's going to keep you left on the
outside is to not have a relationship with Christ ultimately,

(01:40):
and a lot of times people who have done time
end up in halfway houses. Feel like, I'm on the outside.
There's no way to get in, there's no way to cross.
I've done my time, you know, I've paid my dues
to society. Why is this so hard? And there is
pushback and a lot of different areas with different people.
It can also be defined away from or not belonging

(02:01):
to a particular circle or institution. One of the trickiest
things about doing church and being a church is more
people than you can possibly imagine observe what we do.
They hear about what we do and are terrified that
there is no way they could break the barrier. They
would never be good enough if they were asked just

(02:22):
one or two questions, tell me about yourself, where are
you from? Tell me about your life. They couldn't keep up.
They think that I don't look right, I don't dress right,
I'm not from the right place, I don't drive the
right cars, I don't make enough money. There's all these
obstacles that somehow have gotten put up and leave people
on the outside kind of looking in, And you say, well,

(02:42):
why would they want to be a part of this?
Because church can be one of the most screwed up,
jacked up places on the planet, except for the fact
that if you ever find a church where people who
have felt like they're on the outside and now have
someone on the inside that makes them feel like they're
on the inside now of even a family like this,

(03:03):
then this is something hard to find. And at some point,
if you're not a Christian, let me speak to the
people that are not Christians. Yet, if you're not a
Christian and you come to a gathering like this and
you are on the inside of the gathering, but you
still feel like you're on the outside, but yet you're
aware of something intangible that you can't see, you can't explain.

(03:26):
That is him, That is God himself who honors us
with his presence. He has to honor us with his presence.
Where it says, where two or more gather in his name,
he'll be in the mytst. So he's in the mitst.
He's here. But if you sense something on the outside
literally physically of your body, and you think, wow, that
feels amazing, This seems amazing. What if I could get

(03:48):
that from being on the outside to being on the
inside of my life? And that's what becoming a Christian
is all about. Where this God, who literally holds the
universe together, doesn't just live omnipresent everywhere. All of a sudden,
he takes up residence inside your life. All right, let's
read some scripture, First Samuel sixteen. First Samuel, chapter sixteen.

(04:13):
I've read this before. I'm going back to it for
a different reason today. There's at least a couple of
different categories of people in this room and maybe beyond.
There are the physically cocky and then the physically insecure.
There are some people who wake up, go into a

(04:33):
bathroom every morning, look in the mirror and go, oh
my gosh, what a disaster. They don't feel good about themselves.
You might be overweight, and maybe you can do something
about that. There's certain things though you can't do anything about,
maybe plastic surgery. Most people can't afford that. They'd have
to start from scratch. You think. With some people, you know,
that's just how they feel. So no matter what, they
look in the mirror. And oddly enough, some people look

(04:55):
in the mirror and on the outside, what we would say,
oh my gosh, that will is beautiful, And she looks
in the mirror and sees nothing. She can't compete. She
has things that she doesn't like about herself. So no
matter what anybody tells her, on the outside, you're beautiful.
But to someone else, maybe they don't see that. But
some people think because they are physically attractive, and someone

(05:19):
else may corroborate that they're set because of the way
you look. And we live in a world where if
you are the right color, you are the right size,
you are the right proportionally this or that. You kind
of have doors that open for you. It's just the
way it works. You say, well, it's not true. It's true.
People are treated differently by the way they look. So
you wake up, you look in the mirror and go,

(05:41):
I've done the best I can with what I got,
but it's not much. I actually heard a couple of
girls who had said to their mother, who these are daughters,
said Mom, why did you marry dad? He's not very cute.
Now you're hoping that doesn't get back to the dad.
So what did this man have going for him? He's
a great man. So either you have overconfidence and you're

(06:02):
just kind of gliding on what you look like, or
you have terrible insecurity and think, well, I'm on the outside.
Because the Twitter feeds the selfies, all the blogs, they
have the beautiful people, and sometimes those people are the
most screwed up insecure people in the world. So what matters?
Look at this for Samuel sixteen verse one. Now the

(06:25):
Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul?
And so Saul is this king that had died and
by the way, got picked. Partly means he got picked
because he was taller and everybody else and looked a
certain way. So you want a king, here's your first king,
and this is what he looks like. How long will
you mourn? For Saul, seeing I have rejected him from
reigning over Israel, fill your orn with oil. And he's
not dead yet. Fill your oil and go. I am

(06:47):
sending you to Jesse the bethel Mte, for I have
provided myself a king among his sons. So Saul ends
up living quite a while after this. But Samuel is
going to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next
king to Faul. And Samuel said, how can I go
If Saul here's it, He'll kill me. But the Lord said,
take a heiffer with you and say I have come
to sacrifice to the Lord. Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice,

(07:10):
and I will show you what you shall do. You
shall annoint for me the one I name to you.
So Samuel did what the Lord said and went to Bethlehem.
And by the way, those little phrases you should underline
in your bible. And Samuel did what the Lord said.
That's the stuff you underline in your bible. That's what
you need to remember. Do what the Lord says. And
the elders of the town trembled it is coming and said,

(07:31):
do you come peaceably? And he said, peaceably, I come
to sacrifice to the Lord, sanctify yourselves and come with
me to the sacrifice. Then he consecrated Jesse and his
sons and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was
when they came that he looked at Iliab and said,
surely the Lord's anointed is before me, like he looks
like the next game. Don't be picking people by the

(07:52):
way they look. Figure out who they are. You miss
a lot of people. And I will say this very
little bit parenthetically, if you know anything about my life
and Claude, the old man that changed me, he was
a physical disaster, jancty wards, nothing against ball people. He
had lost a lot of his hair. He was not

(08:14):
anything like what I expected that God would send me
to change my life. But you know what, I was
so desperate I didn't care what he looked like, because
when he opened his mouth and he spoke, he had
truth and he had time for me, and he changed
my life. Keep breathing there. Surely this is the Lord's
annoyed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel,

(08:34):
do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature,
because I have refused him. He's not it. For the
Lord does not see as man sees for man looks
at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
So you say, well, what should I focus on in
my life? Your heart? You said, But I'll never snag anybody.

(08:54):
Why don't you snag Jesus first? You want a husband,
let him be your husband first. Love him with all
your heart and mind, soul and body. And by the way,
body is in there, soul and strength, it's all that
you have. And he said, well, nobody believes this, Richard,
I don't care what everybody believes. What does the book
talk about? Figure out what the book says and go
out of that, and you'd be amazed at how that

(09:15):
changes your life. And if you go on and read
the story line up all the suns, and he's not
even in that group. And thank God that Samuel is
listening to God and doesn't anoint the wrong person. And
waits and then says to Jesse, have you got any
more sons? He says, well, you have some little kid
out here watching the sheep. Bring him in. David shows
up and he goes, he's the one annoying him King,
And sixteen years later I had to wait sixteen years

(09:37):
from annoying to crowning and he's the guy, but not
because he was the first son that brought up at
his stature and whatever he got picked. Be careful how
you pick people. He said, Well, all my friends are
white because I'm white. That's ridiculous in the same way
that if you say all your friends are black because
you're black, or Hispanic and Hispanic and whatever you are. Well,

(09:57):
we don't have anything in common. How is that even possible?
You're both breathing. Well, we don't agree on certain things.
You might not even know that. Well, I just don't,
you know, I don't know. They talk funny, and see
a lot of people think, oh, you're making fun of
black people. Black people think white people talk funny too.
We all talk funny to somebody. Even white people think

(10:18):
white people talk funny. Just take your accent to New
York or somewhere and see what happens to you. Well,
I don't sound like I'm from Texas. Yeah right, that's
what y'all think. Yeah, Okay, go to Second Corinthians, chapter ten,
and we're gonna jump a little. I can't keep this
left to right as I usually do, so just hang

(10:39):
with me. Sewod Corinthians chapter ten, Verse one, Now I
Paul myself and pleading with you by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ, who im presents am lowly among you,
but being absent and bold towards you. Then go down
to verse seven. Do not look at things according to
the outward appearance verse ten for his letters. This is

(11:03):
the observation they would make about Paul. For his letters.
They say are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence
is weak and his speech contemptible, like he's nothing to
look at, and even the way he talks is contemptible.
Look for reasons to succeed, not excuses to fail. Everybody
gets rejected somewhere and in some way enough excuses. Don't

(11:26):
teach your kids the excuses. Teach them the reasons why
they can succeed. You say, yeah, but there's more pushback.
Some people are more on the outside than others. But
you go as far not as you can take yourself.
Ask God how far he wants to take you, and
trust him. Part of their problem is people on the
outside are trying to go in their own strength places
they think they want to go. Maybe they shouldn't be

(11:48):
going in the first place, or they haven't bothered to say, Father,
you open the doors that no man can close, no
matter what color you are, no matter whether you can
read or write or whatever your issue is. What else
we got here? Go to First Peter Chapter three, few
pages to the right, and this is directed to women
specifically this piece of scripture and can be misunderstood First

(12:12):
Peter Chapter three, Verse one, Wives, likewise, be submissive to
your own husbands. That even if some do not obey
the word, they without a word, may be one by
the conduct of their wives when they observe your chase,
conduct accompanied by fear. So what does that mean? That
means you're a woman. You got some slug of a
husband who won't do what God says to do? How

(12:35):
are you supposed to reach him? This says that one
of the ways to reach him being submissive, even if
they don't obey the word without a word, even if
you don't say anything, they are one by what the
conduct of their wives your life when they observe your chase,
conduct accompanied by fear. So a woman can reach a
man by just living a godly life. He said, well,

(12:57):
I'm not doing that. I'm gonna get his attention. And
how is all of that methodology working out for you. Oh,
I'm gonna show him. I'm gonna withhold intimacy. I'm gonna
show him. I'm gonna scream and holler and be mean
at him, and I'm gonna show him who's the boss.
Why don't you show him who the boss is and
let Jesus be the boss of your life. You say, yeah,
but he's it's not your problem. You may be your

(13:19):
biggest problem. And God may allow this guy into your
life to teach you what he's trying to teach you.
Keep reading. They observe your chase conduct accompany by fear.
Do not let your adornment be merely outward arranging the hair,
wearing gold, putting on fine apparel rather Okay, so you say, well,
but I'm trying to be beautiful for my husband. The
point of the scripture is, then really be beautiful for

(13:41):
your husband, not that you don't pay attention on the outside,
but if all you're doing is focusing on the inside,
he may not want anything to do with you. I mean,
throughout my life I have seen some beautiful women, like
men and women in this room have. And every once
in a while you see a beautiful woman, and then
it starts to disintegrate. Something comes out of their mouth

(14:02):
just to wave. They go, oh my gosh, it gets
ugly quick, you see. Yeah, but she's beautiful. Yeah, But
it's more than just what's on the outside. Who is
she as a person? And a beautiful woman can open
a foul mouth and kill it all in milliseconds. So
don't let it be merely on the outside. Rather, let

(14:22):
it be the hidden person of the heart, with the
incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is
very precious in the sight of God. So now it's
not just how it affects your husband, it's what God
even looks at and values. Time and gravity's going to
get all of you girls, if you live, it's coming
your way. You know at some point surgery does not

(14:44):
fix it. Some of the most beautiful women I have
ever seen in the world are godly old, just decrepit,
women who have just their bodies have collapsed on them,
and yet they're the most beautiful because from the inside
out they radian the stuff that matters. Go to John
chapter nine. Our marriages, our lives, even our churches ought

(15:08):
to be so powerful in terms of our relationship with
God and him manifesting himself in these relationships that the
world who sits on the outside observes it and goes,
I gotta get on the inside. I want to be
a part of that. I don't even know what that is.
I don't even know how they do it. I got
to be a part of that. I want some of
that on my inside now. Sometimes people are left on

(15:31):
the outside because they're afraid. And in John chapter nine,
verse eighteen, a blind guy has been healed. You'll have
to go read this whole story to get it. But
the Jews are pushing back, and even the parents of
this guy are being interrogated verse twenty. His parents answered
them and said, we know that this is our son
and that he was born blind, but by what means

(15:53):
he now sees we do not know, or who opened
his eyes. We do not know. He is of age,
ask him, he will for himself. So they're trying to like, well,
look look where his parents. We know we were there.
He was born blind, but how this happened we don't know.
His parents look at verse twenty two. His parents said
these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews
had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ,

(16:18):
he would be put out of the synagogue. Are you
so afraid of ending up on the outside of whatever
it is you value that you will not confess Christ,
even if it's your family. And there are cultures in
the world. If you confess Christ, you are on the outside.
They'll have a funeral for you. In some cultures you
are dead because you've denounced that religion and you follow Christ.

(16:43):
So what is your hurdle? You say, well, if I
accept Christ, if I say yes to Jesus, I feel
like I'm on the outside because I don't have Jesus
on the inside. But this is gonna cost me something.
I'm gonna lose family, I'm gonna lose synagogue, I'm gonna
lose whatever it may be. If you're a Muslim, it's
catastrophe for you. It could lead to death. You say, well,
those are easy things for you to throw out and say,

(17:03):
but you've got to make a decision. And are you
more afraid of these cultural or societal or filial type
things that you're saying, Well, I just can't risk it,
so literally, you will hold on to that and end
up in hell to not be rejected and be left
on the outside. Think about the decisions you're making, you say,
but it could cost me everything if you reject Christ.

(17:27):
It's going to cost you everything already, your very life,
in this life and in the life to come. Because
when you reject him, you miss out on his family,
his church, You miss out on his plans for your life.
You miss out on having him in your life. You
miss out on heaven. That's missing everything. One more of those.
Go to John chapter twelve and John chapter twelve, go

(17:48):
down to verse thirty nine. Therefore they could not believe,
because Isaiah said again he has blinded their eyes and
hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes,
lest they should understand with their hearts and turns, so
that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when
he saw his glory and spoke of him. Nevertheless, even
among the rulers many believed in him. But because of
the fair days, they did not confess him, lest they

(18:12):
should be put out of the synagogue. For they love
the praise of men more than the praise of God,
love the praise of men more than the praise of God.
They thought, well, if we not only believe in our hearts,
but we confess with our mouths we come out, then
we're going to be put out of the synagogue, and
then we won't be reverenced and revered in hell in
high esteem. I mean, what is it your believing that's

(18:34):
worth receiving the praise of men and losing the praises
of God. You've got to think about these things. You
can't go, Oh, it'll be too hard. And that's that.
It's your life you're messing with. And if you're a Christian,
it's not your life, it's his life. And if you're
not a Christian, it's the only life you're ever going
to get. And your eternal destiny is literally at stake
based on these decisions. All right, few more and then

(18:55):
we're out of here. Go to One John chapter four.
One John chapter four, Verse four. You are of God
little children and have overcome them. Why because he who
is in you is greater than he who is in
the world. So this is very simple but very profound.

(19:16):
Is who is in you greater than he who's in
the world. In other words, the enemy, the one that's
after you, trying to destroy your life, get you to
do things that will lead to terrible consequences. Is the
person in you greater than who is in the world
pushing against you? Now listen, if the only person that's
home in your body is you. The answer to this

(19:38):
is no, the person in you is not greater than
he who's in the world in the negative sense, in
terms of Satan himself being against you. So you say, well,
then I'm on the outside. Why are you on the outside?
Because he's on the outside of your life, he's not
in your life. And this for some people, we say, well,
I believe in God. You know that's great. It's not enough.

(20:00):
He said, well, I thought that's what it took. I
believe there's a God. The scripture says the demons in
hell believe in God and tremble at his name. So
now you and the demons agree there's a God. It
is about believing that he died on a cross, was buried,
raised from the dead, and allowing him to come live
in you and through you, where he's not on the
outside looking into your life. He's on the inside of

(20:23):
your life, looking out and pushing out. Then greater is
he who is in you than he is in the world.
It's a fact and then you've got somebody, not you
by yourself, to push back. And when sin comes at you,
you have the power to say no, I have the authority.
I have the power to say I'm not living that
way anymore. You're not by yourself. One more Revelation chapter three.

(20:46):
I mean, there's tons of scripture comes to my mind.
Even keep going to Revelation three. You know, as many
as received him to them, he gave the power to
become the children of God, the sons of God. So
it's a receiving, it's accepting, it's letting him move in
the picture. This is written to Christians. Revelations chapter three.
Very interesting. These churches are written to verse fourteen and
to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans. Right,

(21:08):
these things say the Amen, the faithful, the true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. I know your
works that you are neither hot nor cold. I could
wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you
are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit
you out of my mouth. Because you say I'm rich,
have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do
not know that you are wretched miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

(21:30):
And notice the things that they cite. I'm rich, become wealthy,
you know all external things on the outside. I have
all this, not who they are, what they have, But
you don't know that you are a wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold or fined
in the fire, that you may be rich, and white
garments that you may be clothed and the shame of
your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes

(21:53):
with eyesav that you may see as many as I love,
I rebuke and chas and therefore be zealous and repent.
And then verse twenty. Behold, I stand at the door
and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come into him and dine with him, and
he with me. Pretty simple picture. And this is written

(22:14):
to Christians. But the picture similar picture can apply to
you if you're not even a Christian. He said, well,
what is this thing? I sens something going on. I
sense it's like God trying to talk to me. I
don't know what to do about this, though you have
to accept. A gift is not completely given until it
is completely received. To offer a gift does not complete

(22:34):
the process. The gift must be offered and the understanding
of the terms met, and then you receive it as
a gift. You cannot pay for it, and you accept
it and let him move in. And if you do
not have him living in you, he is still on
the outside. You are not a Christian. There were thousands
of people who literally touched, bumped into Jesus, near Jesus,

(22:55):
got around Jesus, but miss Jesus. So even if you
have him, it is not enough. You must receive him.
You must trust in him in what he did for you,
or he stays on the outside and you end up
on the outside in this life and forever.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Before Richard comes back to wrap things up for us today,
I'd like to share a couple important things with you.
Let me encourage you to take a minute and check
out our website, Richard Ellis talks dot com. You'll find
today's talk right there in 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

(23:33):
find the prayer wall to add your prayer requests, a
link to connect with us the contribute page for you
to be able to give to this ministry, a radio
station finder, all our social media links, and much more so.
Check it out. Richard Ellis Talks dot com and Richard's
back now to wrap up today's talk.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
You know, the interesting thing about being a preacher, one
of the interesting things. Sometimes I feel like I keep
telling you this same thing over and over and over again.
You know, people say, well, he keeps talking about Jesus
all the time, why don't you talk about something else.
I got nothing else, I got no one else. I
can tell you a different ways. It's all gonna end
up to Jesus loving you, dying on a cross, being buried,

(24:16):
raising to dead. You're a sinner. You need to be forgiven.
You need to receive him. You need him in your life.
Getting from the outside on the inside. That will change everything.
Will it be persecution possibly? Will you be rejected? Possibly?
Will you be left on the outside culturally, financially in
some way? Possibly? But what if you make heaven? What
if you fulfill His plan his purpose for your life

(24:38):
here and now and you find some reasons as opposed
to excuses why you can live and move on and
see what God can do with your life no matter
where you're from or what you even look like on
the outside. Get off of this thing about what you
look like, because even the best looking of you is
gonna look scary given time, that won't be the issue.

(24:58):
Who are you? Who is he? Who are you? Let
him man?

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thanks for tuning in today to Richard Ellis Talks. With
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Let us know how it has touched your heart by
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One last thing, Richard Ellis Talks is a daily program

(25:25):
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(25:46):
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Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah.