May 11, 2025 • 26 mins
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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
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friend right from our website Richard Ellis Talks dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
The title today's message is Moolah. A man called the
government office where I work and requested an estimate of
his benefits upon retirement. After I gave him the information,
he went on to require about his wife's benefits. I
asked if she had ever worked. She has worked all
of her life, making me happy. He replied that was nice.
I comment and ben had she ever contributed to a
(00:59):
pension plan?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
No, he said.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
We made an agreement when we got married. I would
make the living and she would make the living. Worthwhile.
Just what an impact the economy has had on the
job market became evident to me when I ran a
help wanted ad for my business in our local paper.
Next to salary expected, seventy five percent of the applicants
had written yes.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now, the guy says.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I called two young employees into my office to inform
them of their semi.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Annual pay raise. However, I told.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Them, because business has been slow, your raise will be paltry.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You can't pay us in poultry.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Jeff's explained, No, Jeff said Chris, I think she means
chicken feed, not poultry. Turn into Proverbs chapter three, verse five.
We'll start there, speaking of poultry. I am going to
do something today that probably, if I was really honest,
I've been too chicken to do for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And I'm not afraid of much Proverbs chapter three.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
People who read the Bible any amount of time, sooner
or later, you're gonna hit this verse. You might have
memorized this verse, And we're gonna start with the one
that everybody's pretty familiar with, and then move down to
one I'd like to hit, and then we're gonna plow
through some more. Three point five says this, Trust in
the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on
your own understanding. In all your ways, Acknowledge him.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Now remember that.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Phrase, in all of your ways, Acknowledge him, and he
shall direct your paths. So you say, well, I want
God to direct my path I want him to show
me what to do with my life. Then do the
thing before that, and you might get better results in
all your ways. Acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And keep going.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the
Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to
your flesh and strength to your bones. And then look
at verse nine. Honor the Lord with your possessions and
with the first fruits of all your increase. Now people say, oh,
you go to church all these time about money. This
is I was gonna say, this is about you, But
(03:04):
when you get done, you'll hear something else. It's about
me too, Okay. Honor the Lord with your possessions. Now
think about what you own, and do you honor him
with what you own? Your possessions? And you say, well, yeah,
I think so. Then look at the next phrase. And
with the first fruits of all your increase. Now if
you would turn to Leviticus chapter twenty three, but keep
(03:26):
a hand in proverbs there. Flip over to Leviticus twenty three.
Start in the front of your bible. If you've got
Old and New Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and when you
find Leviticus, go to chapter twenty three, and then we'll
jump in at verse nine. Some of this stuff from
the Old Testament. People say, well, it's just a bunch
of technical stuff. I don't get it, you know, let
me help you with this. Leviticus twenty three, verse nine
(03:49):
says this, and the Lord's folk to Moses, saying, speak
to the children of Israel, and say to them, when
you come into the land which I give to you
and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf
of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.
He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be
accepted on your behalf. And on the day after the Sabbath,
the priest shall wave it, and you shall offer on
(04:11):
that day when you wave the sheaf a male lamb
of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering
to the Lord. Its grain offering shall be two tenths
of an epoch, and fine flour mixed with oil, and
offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet
aroma and its drink. Offering shall be of wine one
fourth of a hen. You shall eat neither bread, nor parch, grain,
(04:31):
nor fresh grain until the same day that you have
brought an offering to your God. It shall be a
statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwellings. It's
a very simple deal. You go into your vineyard, you
go into your field, and let's say you got a
thousand acres and you harvest so much grain. All you
do is say, we can count so many sheaves out there,
(04:51):
so many piles. We're gonna take ten of those. In
this case, ten of those piles. We're gonna drop them
off at the temple. It was simple. And people say,
oh my god, gosh, God wants all my money. You're
not even breathing without God, So what are you complaining about.
He didn't say one hundred percent of it. Now, he
did say, honor him with your possessions. But nobody that's
listening to me right now is starving to death. You say, well,
(05:14):
I don't have a job. We'll get to some of
these things in a minute, all right, simple deal.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
First fruits.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So you say, well, I get a check once a year, okay,
Then figure out what your check is and take a
tenth of that and don't ask.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And you say, well, is that all the Bible talks about.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Don't even go there because by the time you go
digging around on money in the Bible, you're up to
thirty and forty percent. So if you don't like ten percent,
you're not gonna like the other verses. I can whoop
out on you. Now think about this and I'll get
to me here in a minute. Someone who does this
for a living. You say, well, I don't like giving
my money to a church or to God, then keep
your money.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Let me tell you something. God may not get it,
but you won't keep it. I've been telling.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
People this for years, and I got proof of this
in my own life. You say, well, I can't afford
to give God this money. I'm not gonna go buy
the temple on the way to the to the slaughterhouse
and get rid of my livestock. The tenth of it.
I'm not gonna drop off. I'm gonna keep it. You
will not keep it because if you are not doing
trusting the Lord with all your heart. If you're not
honoring with your possessions, then what happens is if the
(06:17):
relationship is not working vertically and you're not talking to God,
honoring God, listening to God, going to God, then when
it comes to the rest or all that you say
you're gonna keep, you will do something stupid.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Something is gonna go wrong.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You will say, well, I'm stressed anyway, I don't know
what to do, so I'll keep it, and you'll keep it,
and then you'll be stressed. Here's where a lot of
money goes. At least that I watch Happy Hours. You
can drop seventy bucks, hundred bucks, one hundred and fifty bucks, bam,
bam bam, just Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. You
know what, you thought you were broke? Now you've got
credit card bills, you got slapping that money down. You'd
(06:55):
have been better off stopping by the temple and saying, Okay, God,
I've trusted you with this much.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
What are we doing with the rest?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And then if you're talking to him and listening to him,
what is he gonna say, Well, we sure ain't going
to get wasted tonight trying to deal with our problems.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So you say, well, I don't know what to do
with my money.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Then just say God, I don't know what to do
with my money, and he'll say, well, here's something you
canna do with the first part of it. To honor me,
I'm the one that gives you life. I'm the one
that sustains your life. I got a plan, I got
a purpose. I'm up to something, and I'd like to
use you in the process. Not in a bad way
use you, but an amazing, blessing kind of way. I
had a conversation recently with a guy who sold a company,
(07:32):
huge company, and he tied a bunch of money on
that company to his church, and he thought, there's no
way God can outdo this.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Now, this is where it gets fun.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Now, let's say you sell a company for ten million
dollars and you give a million bucks.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And by the way, if you're doing that, you got
some game.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Because if you sell a company and your profit is
ten million on it, the government's gonna take about half
of that. Right, You're down to about a half a million.
Unless you got some creative accounting, which that exists, you
got about half a million left now you gave a
million away. Now you're down to four million. You may
tell me in bucks you only got four left. You say, well, God,
(08:09):
I gave a million away. What are you going to
do now? I put seed in the ground. I did
what you said to do. Can God trump that? Can
God do that? It's almost fun at some point, because
what are you going to buy?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Seriously, what is it you don't have? What are you missing?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You got food, you got clothing, That's what the Bible promises.
Everything beyond that, including shelter, is an absolute blessing. Now
let me swing to the rich. You look at people
and I don't know what they're doing or not doing.
But you know what, it is none of your business
because for all you know, you say, well, somebody's got
these cars and these houses and all that, and they're
not doing the right thing. How do you know that?
(08:48):
There's a good chance if you're judging them for not
doing the right thing, you're the one with the problem,
or you wouldn't be judging them in the first place.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
You don't know what people do.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Quietly story two days ago, a guy told me about
a in a church. He said he told the bookkeeper
at his church he says, if you ever reveal where
this large sum of money is coming from along the way,
I will stop giving to this church. I don't want
anyone knowing where this comes from. I want it to
be from God.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Period.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I don't want a stained glass window. I don't want
anybody ringing my bell. I want it to go to God.
It's from me. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
Just let that be enough. So some people do this
very discreetly. All right, So here's some just simple basic
stuff here. Let's go back to Proverbs three, verse nine again,
on the Lord of your possessions, and with the first
fruits of all your increase. Why so your barns will
(09:41):
be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with
new wine. There is a reaping and sewing principle, and
this is so no brainer. You can't imagine Farmers get
this now. If you're just starting out, you've never done
it before, then maybe it's hard.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
If you got one thousand acres of.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Land and somebody says, we've got all these bags of sea,
you got to figure out a way to pull your.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Ros here plow up these fields.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
And if you'll take these seeds and distribute them correctly
in these holes and bury them there, row by row.
In a few months, you'll have corn, you'll have wheat,
whatever it is. And the guy goes, but dude, how
much are those bags of seed worth? Well, I don't know,
a few thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Let's go sell those.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I need money right now. No, don't do that because
it'll multiply on you. If you stick those seeds in
the ground and wait, invest in the ground, let it
do its thing.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
It'll happen. Now.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Please, don't think you got some slot machine going. This
is always that you have to interject here. Well, I
gave God a hundred bucks last week, where's my thousand dollars?
Or if you get some crazy TV show saying send
us one thousand dollars and then we'll send you a
you know all that mess. Don't get sucked up into
that when you're in debt. The st Vegas, you know,
God's Vegas. This is a lifetime thing. It's a process,
(10:55):
and it works. I have had things happen to me
miraculous out of nowhere, people out of nowhere in a
completely overwhelming way where I say, Okay, God, I'm gonna
trust you. You say, well, Richard, you know, maybe you
should go do something else, you can make more money.
I don't want to make more money. It's not about that.
This is what God made me to do. So I'm
(11:15):
gonna do what God made me to do. But you
know what he said he'd take care of me, and
he does. So do you believe he'll take care of you?
You either do or you don't. He feeds the birds,
takes care of the flowers, all these things Jesus said.
And then why don't you believe he'll take care of you?
Let's read another verse. First Corinthians, chapter nine, New Testament.
(11:36):
Now if just the first fruits, and there's tons of scriptures,
don't think I just jerked a couple of verses and
that's it. There's tons of scripture about this. This is
so simple. It's just part of the system. First Corinthians,
chapter nine. And by the way, you say, well, I
don't have a problem with this, then pay attention, take
notes and help someone who does. Part of discipleship, part
of helping people follow Christ is helping them manage their money.
(11:59):
Because this is one of the top three stress makers
in a marriage of just not life itself. You sit
down with couples, they'll tell you it's sex, communication, and money.
You get one of those things upside down, and you
got problems in that. Marriage and money can create problems
in the other two.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
We'll just leave that there. First Corinthians, Chapter nine, Verse one.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Now this is Paul riding to the Corinthians, and he
goes at this pretty hard. He says, am I not
an apostle? And the answer to that is yes? Am
I not free?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Yes?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
And this is after Jesus has been raised from the dead,
he had an encounter with him.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Are you not my work in the Lord?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
In other words, proof that I am who I am,
is what's happened in your own lives?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
If I am not.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
An apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you,
for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
In other words, proof that I am an apostle and
that this is working. Is you he's telling us, as
he writes to the Corinthians. Then verse three, defense to
those who examine me in this do we have no
right to eat and drink? Do we have no right
(13:06):
to take along a believing wife, as do also the
other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and cephas. Or
is it only Barnabas and I who have no right
to refrain from working? In other words, he's full time
in this ministry that he's got. And he's saying, these
other guys have wives, and they are provided for. It'll
make more sense in a minute. And then he gives
these examples. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat
(13:28):
of its fruit, it's absurd. You own the vineyard, of
course you're gonna eat the fruit of that vineyard. Or
who tends a flock and does not drink of the
milk of the flock? Do I say these things as
a mere man? Or does not the law say the same?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Also?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
So he says, now, I'm telling you, and this is
new Testament here. But he says, let's go back to
the old Testament, for it is written in the Law
of Moses you shall not muzzle an ox while it
treads out the grain?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Is it oxen?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
God is concerned about using this example, or does he
say it altogether?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
For our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt that it.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Is written that he who plows should plow in hope,
and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of
his hope. Okay, very simple examples. If you want to
read this thing, he's talk about the muzzle of the oxyen.
It's over in Deuteronomy twenty five to four, by the way.
And there's another now region a second in the New Testament,
verse eleven. Now listen to this. If we have sown
(14:25):
spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if
we reap your material things. If you are part of
a church and you are being fed by that church,
and let me put some conditions in here. You say, well,
I don't like my church, I don't like my preacher.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I'm mad. You know what.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You don't stop giving because you're mad anymore. You stop
paying your rent because you don't like your house. You
don't get all upset and take your marbles and go home.
You can do that. But how's that working out for you?
It's not gonna work. That reveals you got an attitude,
probably about something else.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I used to be in the diamond business. When I
was in.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Business, i'd have guys come in. They'd get engaged, and
the guys would come in and they'd sit down, and
what they did not know. They thought they were coming
in to buy a ring and then they were going
to go get engaged. But little did they know that
when we landed on a diamond and I said, is
this the stone you'd like to buy?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And they said yes, and they produced.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
A credit card or a check book, they got engaged
right then, because when you write the check, you were committed.
And I had to talk guys out of leaving with
a stone. I said, dude, do not leave here with
that ring unless you know what you're doing. And one
of my best friends on the planet left one day
of the ring he had in a paper bag. They
were installing a ceiling fan. It took him two weeks
(15:43):
to get her back down because he handed to her
and putting the ceiling fan up and said, will you
marry me?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I'm like, dude, that's not how you do this. He
couldn't stand it. He was already.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Engaged, and so he just had to give it to her.
When you write a check, you take ownership. Now, if
the first frus thing and all that hadn't worked for you,
then let me just give you what he's saying here,
Paul says to them. If we verse eleven again one
Corinthians nine. If we have sown spiritual things for you,
(16:11):
is it a great thing that we reap your material things?
If others are partakers of this rite over you, are
we not? Even more? He's saying, I'm taking care of
you spiritually. I'm trying to feed you, protect you. Do
what we're supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's okay to benefit from that.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all
things lest we hinder the Gospel of Christ. Do you
not know that those who minister the holy things eat
of the things of the temple, and those who serve
at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar.
Even so, the Lord has commanded that those now look
at this and this is what I am too chicken
to read a long time ago. Even so, the Lord
(16:50):
has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live
from the gospel. You know why you pay me, because
I'm doing my job. That's why you pay me. And
you go to your work and you do your job
and you say, well, I want to check for this.
I've worked here. Unless you're volunteering. You know what, It's
the same way this way. Now, I don't know if
I'm gonna read all these or not. Go to Leviticus
chapter six, chapter seven. Go over there really quick. I'll
(17:14):
try to read them fast. Leviticus chapter six, Genesis Exos,
Leviticus again Old Testament Leviticus six. Jump in at verse
fourteen and he goes through. You think, well, this is
just a bunch of minutia. Who cares about all this?
Verse fourteen says this, this is the law of the
grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it on
the altar before the Lord. He shall take from it
his handful of the fine flower of the grain offering,
(17:36):
with its oil, and all the frankincense which is on
the grain offering, and shall burn it on the altar
for a sweet aroma as a memorial.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
To the Lord.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And the remainder of it Aaron and his son shall eat.
How do you think they made a living? And if
you go back and study when the twelve tribes went
into the Promised Land, the Levites didn't get any property.
They didn't get a big chunk of land. They ministered
in the temple.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So everybody gets divided up.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
But the way they were provided for is that these
other tribes would contribute primarily at the temple with these
first fruits, and that's what took.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Care of the Levites.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
The remainder of it, Air and his son shall eat
with unleavened bread. It shall be eaten in a holy
place in the court of the tabernacle of meeting. They
shall eat it. Go down verse eighteen. All the males
among the children of Aaron may eat it. Talking the
same thing, verse twenty six. The priest who offers it
for sins shall eat it in a holy place. That
shall be eaten in the court of the Tabernacle of meeting.
(18:29):
To go over to Leviticus, chapter seven, verse six, every
male among the priests may eat it. Verse seven. The
priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. There's
another one over numbers, which I think you get the point,
and I go back to one Corinthians chapter nine. Then
he says here in verse fifteen, but I have used
none of these things, nor have I written these things
(18:50):
that it should be done so to me. So he's
saying I'm writing it, and what I'm saying is right.
But he's saying I'm not saying you should do what
I'm saying to me, for it would be better for
me to die then that anyone should make my boasting void.
In other words, if anyone says, well, you're just doing
it for the money, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
If I am in this for the money, I have
lost my mind.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Anybody who goes in the ministry and if you're like
a big time TV something, you got cash cow going
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I don't know how. You know there's millions of dollars
to go to that.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
And I'm not saying it all goes to bad things,
but you know there are ways to manipulate the system
and get money at it. This is not a get
rich quick scheme. You know, if I didn't love you,
I wouldn't be doing this. No, not even that. That's
not true. If I wasn't willing to obey God, I
wouldn't be doing this. I'm not doing this for you.
I'm doing it for Him primarily, for if we preach
the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity
(19:39):
is laid on me.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yes, woe is me if I do.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Not preach the gospel, and I'm gonna telly something that
may be one of my life versus God have mercy
on me.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
If I do not preach the gospel, I can no
more not do this.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
If someone told me that you could not preach anymore
and proclaim the Gospel in this way. There is something
about this. I'm telling you. It is what I am
on the planet for I do believe that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I also believe that there are people who have the
gift of giving. I'm not talking about everybody can give,
but there are people out there who go, you know what, God,
I get it somehow.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I am a conduit. I am a pipeline.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
And if they figure this thing out, the right hand
doesn't know what the left hand is doing. They are
machines at giving money away. I've known people who set
up got attorneys in New York and they got trust accounts,
and they'll tell the bank in New York to fire
a cashier's check to some ministry and help it. And
it's untraceable. You can't figure out who's doing what because
they're not doing it. For that reason, and you hear
(20:33):
about some ministry getting blessed and it just happened out
of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It didn't happen to nowhere. God prompted somebody.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I got one friend I'm thinking of right now, and
this guy, if the Holy Spirit tells him.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
To write a check, he writes a check. Period. I
got more than one friend like that.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And see, for me, that is very encouraging, not just
if I'm on the other end of that receiving a
salary from a church where some of those funds go.
But I see, I watch it really working, and you think, well,
everybody just greedy. And the Bible says, the love of
money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money
is not the root of all evil. The love of
money is what the Bible says. And so people are
(21:11):
blessed and they say, God, use me. And it's so
encouraging because I say, Okay, this really works. I can
preach about this because there's people actually doing this. Woe
is me, says if I preach not the gospel. For
if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But
if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What is my reward?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Then?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That when I preach the Gospel, I may present the
Gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse
my authority in the Gospel. I already told you this
one out of Matthew chapter six. But if you want
to go look at it. Matthew chapter six, Verse twenty
one says this where your treasure is there, your heart
will be also.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
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.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others
to see. 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 connect with us at our website,
Richard ellis talks dot com. You can even put in
(22:17):
your prayer request right there.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
On the prayer wall.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Call us at eight five five six Richard or online
at Richard Ellistalks dot com. And now let's get back
to Richard with a final word on today's show.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
All right, Lord, thank you so much for your word.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
You of all people know what it means to give
or Jesus, you gave everything.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You gave your very life.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You made us, You know us, you live in us
and through us when we enter into a relationship with
you through Christ, and maybe that's where someone needs to
start today. They say, Lord, I know I'm a sinner.
I need your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died on
that cross, was buried and raised from the dead to
give me not just eternal life, but abundant life. I
do not want to do this any more without you, God.
(23:01):
I'm messing up my life. I'm messing up my money,
my finances, my relationships. It's completely jacked up. God, and
I cannot do this without you. So teach me, show me,
even if I don't completely understand it, give me the
faith to take some steps that are necessary to see
things done your way for a change, Lord, because clearly
my way.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Is a disaster.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Father, scary stuff for some people, But there's only one
thing scarier than stepping up and giving the way you
want us to give, and that's not doing it and
continue the behavior that we have been practicing for so
long and expecting some different result.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Father.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
There'll be some people here today they'll take a big
old step of faith and things will change, not only
in their life, but some things may change in our
little church here. Lord, where we can do some things
and reach out in some ways that maybe otherwise we
would never be able to. It isn't all about money,
but God, you do certain things through that.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
You are truly amazing, And if nothing else.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Lord, it would be really cool for some people who
don't know what this feels like to experience it in
a financial way, in a personal way where they start
out by giving you what's yours and it's all yours, really, Lord,
but just symbolically even saying, Lord, here's a little bit
of all that is yours. And now I'm asking you
to give me wisdom on the rest, to know how
(24:17):
to save, invest, not spend, be careful what I do,
and protect me, Lord, because I trust in you. May
we honor you with our possessions and the first fruits of.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
All that we have.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Because the results are pretty sweet. You're the best Father.
It's still hard doing it this way by faith, because
we talk to you and we really can't see you,
and we hear you, but I've never heard an audible voice,
but I know what you talking in my heart and
through your word.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Father.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
It will be amazing one day to see you in person,
to shake that nail pierced hand and thank you personally
in person and our prayers even so, Come Lord Jesus,
but use us in the meantime, and it is meantime sometimes,
but use this word we pray in Jesus name Ay.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thanks for listening today to Richard Ellis Talks. We're confident
that the program blessed you and we want to hear
about it. One way is to give us a call
and let us know. The number is eight five five
six Richard. On other ways to drop us an email,
jump on over to our website Richard Ellis Talks dot
com and click on the connect tab at the top.
We'd love to hear from you. And while you're there
(25:24):
at the website, there's a ton of great stuff there
just for you, things like all of the talks from Richard,
a prayer wall where you can leave your prayer request,
and a whole lot more. Check it out Richard Ellis
Talks dot com. Finally, we love doing this program for you,
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five six Richard, or you can contribute through the website.
(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.
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 almost listen,
to download and even share this entire message with a
friend right from our website Richard Ellis Talks dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So with today's talk, here's Richard Ellis.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
The title today's message is Moolah. A man called the
government office where I work and requested an estimate of
his benefits upon retirement. After I gave him the information,
he went on to require about his wife's benefits. I
asked if she had ever worked. She has worked all
of her life, making me happy. He replied that was nice.
I comment and ben had she ever contributed to a
(00:59):
pension plan?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
No, he said.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
We made an agreement when we got married. I would
make the living and she would make the living. Worthwhile.
Just what an impact the economy has had on the
job market became evident to me when I ran a
help wanted ad for my business in our local paper.
Next to salary expected, seventy five percent of the applicants
had written yes.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now, the guy says.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I called two young employees into my office to inform
them of their semi.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Annual pay raise. However, I told.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Them, because business has been slow, your raise will be paltry.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
You can't pay us in poultry.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Jeff's explained, No, Jeff said Chris, I think she means
chicken feed, not poultry. Turn into Proverbs chapter three, verse five.
We'll start there, speaking of poultry. I am going to
do something today that probably, if I was really honest,
I've been too chicken to do for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And I'm not afraid of much Proverbs chapter three.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
People who read the Bible any amount of time, sooner
or later, you're gonna hit this verse. You might have
memorized this verse, And we're gonna start with the one
that everybody's pretty familiar with, and then move down to
one I'd like to hit, and then we're gonna plow
through some more. Three point five says this, Trust in
the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on
your own understanding. In all your ways, Acknowledge him.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Now remember that.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Phrase, in all of your ways, Acknowledge him, and he
shall direct your paths. So you say, well, I want
God to direct my path I want him to show
me what to do with my life. Then do the
thing before that, and you might get better results in
all your ways. Acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And keep going.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the
Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to
your flesh and strength to your bones. And then look
at verse nine. Honor the Lord with your possessions and
with the first fruits of all your increase. Now people say, oh,
you go to church all these time about money. This
is I was gonna say, this is about you, But
(03:04):
when you get done, you'll hear something else. It's about
me too, Okay. Honor the Lord with your possessions. Now
think about what you own, and do you honor him
with what you own? Your possessions? And you say, well, yeah,
I think so. Then look at the next phrase. And
with the first fruits of all your increase. Now if
you would turn to Leviticus chapter twenty three, but keep
(03:26):
a hand in proverbs there. Flip over to Leviticus twenty three.
Start in the front of your bible. If you've got
Old and New Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and when you
find Leviticus, go to chapter twenty three, and then we'll
jump in at verse nine. Some of this stuff from
the Old Testament. People say, well, it's just a bunch
of technical stuff. I don't get it, you know, let
me help you with this. Leviticus twenty three, verse nine
(03:49):
says this, and the Lord's folk to Moses, saying, speak
to the children of Israel, and say to them, when
you come into the land which I give to you
and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf
of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.
He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be
accepted on your behalf. And on the day after the Sabbath,
the priest shall wave it, and you shall offer on
(04:11):
that day when you wave the sheaf a male lamb
of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering
to the Lord. Its grain offering shall be two tenths
of an epoch, and fine flour mixed with oil, and
offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet
aroma and its drink. Offering shall be of wine one
fourth of a hen. You shall eat neither bread, nor parch, grain,
(04:31):
nor fresh grain until the same day that you have
brought an offering to your God. It shall be a
statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwellings. It's
a very simple deal. You go into your vineyard, you
go into your field, and let's say you got a
thousand acres and you harvest so much grain. All you
do is say, we can count so many sheaves out there,
(04:51):
so many piles. We're gonna take ten of those. In
this case, ten of those piles. We're gonna drop them
off at the temple. It was simple. And people say,
oh my god, gosh, God wants all my money. You're
not even breathing without God, So what are you complaining about.
He didn't say one hundred percent of it. Now, he
did say, honor him with your possessions. But nobody that's
listening to me right now is starving to death. You say, well,
(05:14):
I don't have a job. We'll get to some of
these things in a minute, all right, simple deal.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
First fruits.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
So you say, well, I get a check once a year, okay,
Then figure out what your check is and take a
tenth of that and don't ask.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And you say, well, is that all the Bible talks about.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Don't even go there because by the time you go
digging around on money in the Bible, you're up to
thirty and forty percent. So if you don't like ten percent,
you're not gonna like the other verses. I can whoop
out on you. Now think about this and I'll get
to me here in a minute. Someone who does this
for a living. You say, well, I don't like giving
my money to a church or to God, then keep
your money.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Let me tell you something. God may not get it,
but you won't keep it. I've been telling.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
People this for years, and I got proof of this
in my own life. You say, well, I can't afford
to give God this money. I'm not gonna go buy
the temple on the way to the to the slaughterhouse
and get rid of my livestock. The tenth of it.
I'm not gonna drop off. I'm gonna keep it. You
will not keep it because if you are not doing
trusting the Lord with all your heart. If you're not
honoring with your possessions, then what happens is if the
(06:17):
relationship is not working vertically and you're not talking to God,
honoring God, listening to God, going to God, then when
it comes to the rest or all that you say
you're gonna keep, you will do something stupid.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Something is gonna go wrong.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You will say, well, I'm stressed anyway, I don't know
what to do, so I'll keep it, and you'll keep it,
and then you'll be stressed. Here's where a lot of
money goes. At least that I watch Happy Hours. You
can drop seventy bucks, hundred bucks, one hundred and fifty bucks, bam,
bam bam, just Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night. You
know what, you thought you were broke? Now you've got
credit card bills, you got slapping that money down. You'd
(06:55):
have been better off stopping by the temple and saying, Okay, God,
I've trusted you with this much.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
What are we doing with the rest?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
And then if you're talking to him and listening to him,
what is he gonna say, Well, we sure ain't going
to get wasted tonight trying to deal with our problems.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
So you say, well, I don't know what to do
with my money.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Then just say God, I don't know what to do
with my money, and he'll say, well, here's something you
canna do with the first part of it. To honor me,
I'm the one that gives you life. I'm the one
that sustains your life. I got a plan, I got
a purpose. I'm up to something, and I'd like to
use you in the process. Not in a bad way
use you, but an amazing, blessing kind of way. I
had a conversation recently with a guy who sold a company,
(07:32):
huge company, and he tied a bunch of money on
that company to his church, and he thought, there's no
way God can outdo this.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Now, this is where it gets fun.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Now, let's say you sell a company for ten million
dollars and you give a million bucks.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And by the way, if you're doing that, you got
some game.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
Because if you sell a company and your profit is
ten million on it, the government's gonna take about half
of that. Right, You're down to about a half a million.
Unless you got some creative accounting, which that exists, you
got about half a million left now you gave a
million away. Now you're down to four million. You may
tell me in bucks you only got four left. You say, well, God,
(08:09):
I gave a million away. What are you going to
do now? I put seed in the ground. I did
what you said to do. Can God trump that? Can
God do that? It's almost fun at some point, because
what are you going to buy?
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Seriously, what is it you don't have? What are you missing?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You got food, you got clothing, That's what the Bible promises.
Everything beyond that, including shelter, is an absolute blessing. Now
let me swing to the rich. You look at people
and I don't know what they're doing or not doing.
But you know what, it is none of your business
because for all you know, you say, well, somebody's got
these cars and these houses and all that, and they're
not doing the right thing. How do you know that?
(08:48):
There's a good chance if you're judging them for not
doing the right thing, you're the one with the problem,
or you wouldn't be judging them in the first place.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
You don't know what people do.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Quietly story two days ago, a guy told me about
a in a church. He said he told the bookkeeper
at his church he says, if you ever reveal where
this large sum of money is coming from along the way,
I will stop giving to this church. I don't want
anyone knowing where this comes from. I want it to
be from God.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Period.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
I don't want a stained glass window. I don't want
anybody ringing my bell. I want it to go to God.
It's from me. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
Just let that be enough. So some people do this
very discreetly. All right, So here's some just simple basic
stuff here. Let's go back to Proverbs three, verse nine again,
on the Lord of your possessions, and with the first
fruits of all your increase. Why so your barns will
(09:41):
be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with
new wine. There is a reaping and sewing principle, and
this is so no brainer. You can't imagine Farmers get
this now. If you're just starting out, you've never done
it before, then maybe it's hard.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
If you got one thousand acres of.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Land and somebody says, we've got all these bags of sea,
you got to figure out a way to pull your.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Ros here plow up these fields.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
And if you'll take these seeds and distribute them correctly
in these holes and bury them there, row by row.
In a few months, you'll have corn, you'll have wheat,
whatever it is. And the guy goes, but dude, how
much are those bags of seed worth? Well, I don't know,
a few thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Let's go sell those.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I need money right now. No, don't do that because
it'll multiply on you. If you stick those seeds in
the ground and wait, invest in the ground, let it
do its thing.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
It'll happen. Now.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Please, don't think you got some slot machine going. This
is always that you have to interject here. Well, I
gave God a hundred bucks last week, where's my thousand dollars?
Or if you get some crazy TV show saying send
us one thousand dollars and then we'll send you a
you know all that mess. Don't get sucked up into
that when you're in debt. The st Vegas, you know,
God's Vegas. This is a lifetime thing. It's a process,
(10:55):
and it works. I have had things happen to me
miraculous out of nowhere, people out of nowhere in a
completely overwhelming way where I say, Okay, God, I'm gonna
trust you. You say, well, Richard, you know, maybe you
should go do something else, you can make more money.
I don't want to make more money. It's not about that.
This is what God made me to do. So I'm
(11:15):
gonna do what God made me to do. But you
know what he said he'd take care of me, and
he does. So do you believe he'll take care of you?
You either do or you don't. He feeds the birds,
takes care of the flowers, all these things Jesus said.
And then why don't you believe he'll take care of you?
Let's read another verse. First Corinthians, chapter nine, New Testament.
(11:36):
Now if just the first fruits, and there's tons of scriptures,
don't think I just jerked a couple of verses and
that's it. There's tons of scripture about this. This is
so simple. It's just part of the system. First Corinthians,
chapter nine. And by the way, you say, well, I
don't have a problem with this, then pay attention, take
notes and help someone who does. Part of discipleship, part
of helping people follow Christ is helping them manage their money.
(11:59):
Because this is one of the top three stress makers
in a marriage of just not life itself. You sit
down with couples, they'll tell you it's sex, communication, and money.
You get one of those things upside down, and you
got problems in that. Marriage and money can create problems
in the other two.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
We'll just leave that there. First Corinthians, Chapter nine, Verse one.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Now this is Paul riding to the Corinthians, and he
goes at this pretty hard. He says, am I not
an apostle? And the answer to that is yes? Am
I not free?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yes? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Yes?
Speaker 3 (12:34):
And this is after Jesus has been raised from the dead,
he had an encounter with him.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Are you not my work in the Lord?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
In other words, proof that I am who I am,
is what's happened in your own lives?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
If I am not.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
An apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you,
for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
In other words, proof that I am an apostle and
that this is working. Is you he's telling us, as
he writes to the Corinthians. Then verse three, defense to
those who examine me in this do we have no
right to eat and drink? Do we have no right
(13:06):
to take along a believing wife, as do also the
other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and cephas. Or
is it only Barnabas and I who have no right
to refrain from working? In other words, he's full time
in this ministry that he's got. And he's saying, these
other guys have wives, and they are provided for. It'll
make more sense in a minute. And then he gives
these examples. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat
(13:28):
of its fruit, it's absurd. You own the vineyard, of
course you're gonna eat the fruit of that vineyard. Or
who tends a flock and does not drink of the
milk of the flock? Do I say these things as
a mere man? Or does not the law say the same?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Also?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
So he says, now, I'm telling you, and this is
new Testament here. But he says, let's go back to
the old Testament, for it is written in the Law
of Moses you shall not muzzle an ox while it
treads out the grain?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Is it oxen?
Speaker 3 (13:54):
God is concerned about using this example, or does he
say it altogether?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
For our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt that it.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Is written that he who plows should plow in hope,
and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of
his hope. Okay, very simple examples. If you want to
read this thing, he's talk about the muzzle of the oxyen.
It's over in Deuteronomy twenty five to four, by the way.
And there's another now region a second in the New Testament,
verse eleven. Now listen to this. If we have sown
(14:25):
spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if
we reap your material things. If you are part of
a church and you are being fed by that church,
and let me put some conditions in here. You say, well,
I don't like my church, I don't like my preacher.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
I'm mad. You know what.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You don't stop giving because you're mad anymore. You stop
paying your rent because you don't like your house. You
don't get all upset and take your marbles and go home.
You can do that. But how's that working out for you?
It's not gonna work. That reveals you got an attitude,
probably about something else.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I used to be in the diamond business. When I
was in.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Business, i'd have guys come in. They'd get engaged, and
the guys would come in and they'd sit down, and
what they did not know. They thought they were coming
in to buy a ring and then they were going
to go get engaged. But little did they know that
when we landed on a diamond and I said, is
this the stone you'd like to buy?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And they said yes, and they produced.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
A credit card or a check book, they got engaged
right then, because when you write the check, you were committed.
And I had to talk guys out of leaving with
a stone. I said, dude, do not leave here with
that ring unless you know what you're doing. And one
of my best friends on the planet left one day
of the ring he had in a paper bag. They
were installing a ceiling fan. It took him two weeks
(15:43):
to get her back down because he handed to her
and putting the ceiling fan up and said, will you
marry me?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I'm like, dude, that's not how you do this. He
couldn't stand it. He was already.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Engaged, and so he just had to give it to her.
When you write a check, you take ownership. Now, if
the first frus thing and all that hadn't worked for you,
then let me just give you what he's saying here,
Paul says to them. If we verse eleven again one
Corinthians nine. If we have sown spiritual things for you,
(16:11):
is it a great thing that we reap your material things?
If others are partakers of this rite over you, are
we not? Even more? He's saying, I'm taking care of
you spiritually. I'm trying to feed you, protect you. Do
what we're supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
It's okay to benefit from that.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all
things lest we hinder the Gospel of Christ. Do you
not know that those who minister the holy things eat
of the things of the temple, and those who serve
at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar.
Even so, the Lord has commanded that those now look
at this and this is what I am too chicken
to read a long time ago. Even so, the Lord
(16:50):
has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live
from the gospel. You know why you pay me, because
I'm doing my job. That's why you pay me. And
you go to your work and you do your job
and you say, well, I want to check for this.
I've worked here. Unless you're volunteering. You know what, It's
the same way this way. Now, I don't know if
I'm gonna read all these or not. Go to Leviticus
chapter six, chapter seven. Go over there really quick. I'll
(17:14):
try to read them fast. Leviticus chapter six, Genesis Exos,
Leviticus again Old Testament Leviticus six. Jump in at verse
fourteen and he goes through. You think, well, this is
just a bunch of minutia. Who cares about all this?
Verse fourteen says this, this is the law of the
grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it on
the altar before the Lord. He shall take from it
his handful of the fine flower of the grain offering,
(17:36):
with its oil, and all the frankincense which is on
the grain offering, and shall burn it on the altar
for a sweet aroma as a memorial.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
To the Lord.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
And the remainder of it Aaron and his son shall eat.
How do you think they made a living? And if
you go back and study when the twelve tribes went
into the Promised Land, the Levites didn't get any property.
They didn't get a big chunk of land. They ministered
in the temple.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
So everybody gets divided up.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
But the way they were provided for is that these
other tribes would contribute primarily at the temple with these
first fruits, and that's what took.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Care of the Levites.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
The remainder of it, Air and his son shall eat
with unleavened bread. It shall be eaten in a holy
place in the court of the tabernacle of meeting. They
shall eat it. Go down verse eighteen. All the males
among the children of Aaron may eat it. Talking the
same thing, verse twenty six. The priest who offers it
for sins shall eat it in a holy place. That
shall be eaten in the court of the Tabernacle of meeting.
(18:29):
To go over to Leviticus, chapter seven, verse six, every
male among the priests may eat it. Verse seven. The
priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. There's
another one over numbers, which I think you get the point,
and I go back to one Corinthians chapter nine. Then
he says here in verse fifteen, but I have used
none of these things, nor have I written these things
(18:50):
that it should be done so to me. So he's
saying I'm writing it, and what I'm saying is right.
But he's saying I'm not saying you should do what
I'm saying to me, for it would be better for
me to die then that anyone should make my boasting void.
In other words, if anyone says, well, you're just doing
it for the money, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
If I am in this for the money, I have
lost my mind.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Anybody who goes in the ministry and if you're like
a big time TV something, you got cash cow going
or whatever.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I don't know how. You know there's millions of dollars
to go to that.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
And I'm not saying it all goes to bad things,
but you know there are ways to manipulate the system
and get money at it. This is not a get
rich quick scheme. You know, if I didn't love you,
I wouldn't be doing this. No, not even that. That's
not true. If I wasn't willing to obey God, I
wouldn't be doing this. I'm not doing this for you.
I'm doing it for Him primarily, for if we preach
the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity
(19:39):
is laid on me.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yes, woe is me if I do.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Not preach the gospel, and I'm gonna telly something that
may be one of my life versus God have mercy
on me.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
If I do not preach the gospel, I can no
more not do this.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
If someone told me that you could not preach anymore
and proclaim the Gospel in this way. There is something
about this. I'm telling you. It is what I am
on the planet for I do believe that.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I also believe that there are people who have the
gift of giving. I'm not talking about everybody can give,
but there are people out there who go, you know what, God,
I get it somehow.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I am a conduit. I am a pipeline.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
And if they figure this thing out, the right hand
doesn't know what the left hand is doing. They are
machines at giving money away. I've known people who set
up got attorneys in New York and they got trust accounts,
and they'll tell the bank in New York to fire
a cashier's check to some ministry and help it. And
it's untraceable. You can't figure out who's doing what because
they're not doing it. For that reason, and you hear
(20:33):
about some ministry getting blessed and it just happened out
of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It didn't happen to nowhere. God prompted somebody.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I got one friend I'm thinking of right now, and
this guy, if the Holy Spirit tells him.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
To write a check, he writes a check. Period. I
got more than one friend like that.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And see, for me, that is very encouraging, not just
if I'm on the other end of that receiving a
salary from a church where some of those funds go.
But I see, I watch it really working, and you think, well,
everybody just greedy. And the Bible says, the love of
money is the root of all kinds of evil. Money
is not the root of all evil. The love of
money is what the Bible says. And so people are
(21:11):
blessed and they say, God, use me. And it's so
encouraging because I say, Okay, this really works. I can
preach about this because there's people actually doing this. Woe
is me, says if I preach not the gospel. For
if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But
if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What is my reward?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Then?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
That when I preach the Gospel, I may present the
Gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse
my authority in the Gospel. I already told you this
one out of Matthew chapter six. But if you want
to go look at it. Matthew chapter six, Verse twenty
one says this where your treasure is there, your heart
will be also.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
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.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others
to see. 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 connect with us at our website,
Richard ellis talks dot com. You can even put in
(22:17):
your prayer request right there.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
On the prayer wall.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Call us at eight five five six Richard or online
at Richard Ellistalks dot com. And now let's get back
to Richard with a final word on today's show.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
All right, Lord, thank you so much for your word.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
You of all people know what it means to give
or Jesus, you gave everything.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
You gave your very life.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
You made us, You know us, you live in us
and through us when we enter into a relationship with
you through Christ, and maybe that's where someone needs to
start today. They say, Lord, I know I'm a sinner.
I need your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died on
that cross, was buried and raised from the dead to
give me not just eternal life, but abundant life. I
do not want to do this any more without you, God.
(23:01):
I'm messing up my life. I'm messing up my money,
my finances, my relationships. It's completely jacked up. God, and
I cannot do this without you. So teach me, show me,
even if I don't completely understand it, give me the
faith to take some steps that are necessary to see
things done your way for a change, Lord, because clearly
my way.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Is a disaster.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Father, scary stuff for some people, But there's only one
thing scarier than stepping up and giving the way you
want us to give, and that's not doing it and
continue the behavior that we have been practicing for so
long and expecting some different result.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Father.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
There'll be some people here today they'll take a big
old step of faith and things will change, not only
in their life, but some things may change in our
little church here. Lord, where we can do some things
and reach out in some ways that maybe otherwise we
would never be able to. It isn't all about money,
but God, you do certain things through that.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
You are truly amazing, And if nothing else.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Lord, it would be really cool for some people who
don't know what this feels like to experience it in
a financial way, in a personal way where they start
out by giving you what's yours and it's all yours, really, Lord,
but just symbolically even saying, Lord, here's a little bit
of all that is yours. And now I'm asking you
to give me wisdom on the rest, to know how
(24:17):
to save, invest, not spend, be careful what I do,
and protect me, Lord, because I trust in you. May
we honor you with our possessions and the first fruits of.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
All that we have.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Because the results are pretty sweet. You're the best Father.
It's still hard doing it this way by faith, because
we talk to you and we really can't see you,
and we hear you, but I've never heard an audible voice,
but I know what you talking in my heart and
through your word.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Father.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
It will be amazing one day to see you in person,
to shake that nail pierced hand and thank you personally
in person and our prayers even so, Come Lord Jesus,
but use us in the meantime, and it is meantime sometimes,
but use this word we pray in Jesus name Ay.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Thanks for listening today to Richard Ellis Talks. We're confident
that the program blessed you and we want to hear
about it. One way is to give us a call
and let us know. The number is eight five five
six Richard. On other ways to drop us an email,
jump on over to our website Richard Ellis Talks dot
com and click on the connect tab at the top.
We'd love to hear from you. And while you're there
(25:24):
at the website, there's a ton of great stuff there
just for you, things like all of the talks from Richard,
a prayer wall where you can leave your prayer request,
and a whole lot more. Check it out Richard Ellis
Talks dot com. Finally, we love doing this program for you,
but we're so grateful when you hop on board to
help us with the cost. Call us at eight five
five six Richard, or you can contribute through the website.
(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.
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