June 17, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Thanks for
allowing us to share this time with you. Honestly, it's
our favorite time of the day where we get to
hang out together and talk about how the truth of
God's word can make a huge difference in your life.
And that's what we're going to hear from Richard in
a way that only he can do, with words of hope, insight,
(00:21):
and humor. You may be stuck in traffic or stuck
in life. Either way, today's message is going to help
get you on the right track as you learn how
much God loves you right where you are. So let's
get right into today's talk. Here's Richard Ellis.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
The time of today's message is search and rescue.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I shared a story the other.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Day about a friend of mine that I met with
and we had actually helped him raise some funds to
go do some search and rescue in a disaster area.
He's a volunteer firefighter, and I mentioned that they dropped
him into these areas, he and another guy with a kid,
and told you some stories about, you know, they'd grid
(01:03):
the thing and trying to find people that were missing.
What I didn't tell you is that they would walk
through the woods, through the mountain sides, and out of
nowhere they would hear one gun shot and they would
look at each other and they knew what that meant,
and they'd go a little bit longer than another gun shot.
(01:24):
And they were trying their best because they couldn't get off.
Their job was to comb the area they were designated to.
So you know what happened someone would just be completely overwhelmed,
pull a gun and kill themselves. He said, well, and
it's horrible, like that'd be a terrible place to be in,
a situation to be in, and yet it turns out
(01:47):
that that is our situation. He said, well, I don't
know anybody who's about to kill themselves. Okay, so maybe
they're not going to kill themselves. Maybe they are, maybe
it's a step down from that. They're going to overdose,
not trying to kill themselves, but they're going to check out.
And we are surrounded by the sounds, whether it's gunshots
(02:08):
or not, of people who are desperate, and you say, well,
I'm not desperate, and that may be part of the problem.
I'm fine, he said, Well, my life's fine. I'm marry
I chose well, I got a great wife, my kids,
everybody's fine, So why would I be all wound up? Because,
as it turns out, the people who are so healthy
are the ones that should be a part of that
(02:31):
search and rescue. And I'll just kind of insert this
in here now so I don't forget it. From my observation,
some of the unhealthiest people in the world that look
like they're healthy can be the most judgmental of people
who are in trouble. Someone who loves much usually has
(02:51):
been forgiven much. So my experience several decades on the
planet dealing with Christian people, church people, unfortunately, the people
who sometimes look like they've got it the most together,
but yet they have no time for search and rescue,
they have no time for reaching out, And you go,
(03:12):
something's wrong, because if these people are really godly, mature believers,
they would be the first responders. Why am I not
the first responder? So he said, Wow, that's going to
be intense. Yeah, it's going to be intense because someone
came after you, or you wouldn't have made it. I
pray if I stop telling these stories, I'm in trouble
(03:34):
and you're in trouble, the staff had lunch of today,
and if you ever go to lunch with us, I'm
a nightmare at a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I jack with the ways.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You know, if you need backup on this, Patrick, everybody
will tell you. And I was being really hard on Ron.
He was doing a great job, but I was just
messing with him. And finally at the end, I said
to Ron, I asked him about I said, tell me
about your relationship with Jesus, and well, I believe in God.
He is my all time mind boggling world record.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I said, I said, Ron, if you died? He wasn't sure.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I said, do you understand that Jesus died on the cross,
was buried and raised from the dead for you, and
that heaven is a free gift? He said yes. He's
standing by the table. I said, would you like to
pray and become a Christian? This is in sixty seconds?
He said, I would. We sat there, He stood there,
he prayed, became a Christian, and then he said this.
(04:29):
He said, a lot of people come through the restaurant
and they will talk to me about Jesus, but no
one has ever told me how to do this. I'm
with part of my family of the night at another
restaurant and sweet girl eighteen and we went to sit
at a table. We were outside and it had benches
and I looked at the benches. I didn't want to
(04:50):
sit with no back. I said, do you mind if
we sit at this table with chairs? Said no, that's fine,
And then she later told me told us she said,
for a while now now everybody who sits at this
table talks about Jesus. So we got up to leave
and I went and found her again and I said,
you know, can I ask you some personal questions?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And my family was off praying and eighteen years old
and she prays and becomes a Christian. You go, well,
why does that happen to you? It's not happening to me.
And I'm trying to bring my voice down. I'm not
trying through anybody in the bus. If you sign up
to follow Jesus, he is going to make you a
(05:31):
fisher of men. And if you become a fisher of men,
you will find yourself fishing. You will find yourself as
a first responder part of the search and rescue, which
means you go into an area and you know that
you're assigned to that area. I am not omnipresent. You
(05:52):
are not omnipresent, but you are present where you're present
or you're not. But when you decide to be present
and deal with all your own crap and show up,
you'd be amazed at what the Holy Spirit shows you.
And I encounter people. One of my favorite scenes of
all time heart scene is Titanic. The ship's gone down,
(06:14):
the water's freezing, and you hear her crying out for help,
and the guy with the lifeboat turn about. Is anybody
out there? Is anybody out there? So this is God's heart?
It cannot not be his heart. And I don't say
(06:35):
this casually. God knew going into this whole thing create
the universe, because the decision had been made before the
universe was created, before the foundation of the world. They
already knew what was going to happen and decided he
was the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of
the world. I don't understand why if he knows it's
going to be a catastrophe, why would he let it
(06:55):
roll Because he's gonna get me out of the deal.
He's gonna get you out of the deal. So would
you have been fine in heaven? Father son, Holy Spirit,
all the angels, to hell with the devil, to hell
with the demons, and just shut her down. But no,
he's after you, he's after me, But he's also after
(07:17):
some other people. So why are we not in this mode?
Why do we not see people? Why do we see
people and reject them. Let's read some verses Matthew eleven,
verse nineteen. The son of Man came eating and drinking,
and they say, look, a glutton and a winebibber, a
(07:38):
friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is justified
by her children. Now, when is the last time I
got accused of being this a friend of tax collectors
and sinners. That is my reputation? Is that your reputation?
You say, yeah, party a lot, I got a bunch
(07:59):
of friends. I'm not telling me that reputation. I'm talking
about Jesus changes your life. But you didn't say, to
hell with all my friends literally, and go on and
just say I'm gonna huddle up with only Christians and
wait till Jesus comes.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
You got no verses for that. Jesus didn't come.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
If that was the deal, he would have come and
just stayed in the temple got himself a throne.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Come see me, I'll give you wisdom.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And he's out there, and he's so far out there
it made the religious people crazy. If your life is
not making religious people crazy, you're not following Jesus, because
religious people want to start from the outside and work in.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Jesus always starts on the inside.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
You get a new life, you get a new heart,
you get a new mind, you get a new everything.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
And he starts from the inside and works out.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Religious people don't have patience for people who take too
long to change. He say, well, that guy go that's
saved last month, he's still drinking, he's still smoking weed,
He's still whatever he's doing, she's doing. It's a possible
that they're brand new Christians. You said, well, they shouldn't
be smoking weed. Why don't you let the Holy Spirit
decide the sequencing of what sins are going to be
(09:16):
dealt with. Because if your heart changes, your lifestyle changes,
everything changes, you said, But it's not having fast.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Enough for me. You're not God.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Leave them alone and see And I don't have an
X ray machine for this, but I know me well
enough to know this is a reality. The problem is
that people who are pounding on. These new believers are
people who are struggling, are struggling themselves. But it's easier
to deflect on you than deal with their own problems.
Now you may not know that, but they got their
own stuff, but they don't want to deal with their stuff.
(09:47):
They'd rather point at you and why you're the problem?
Luke five. After these things, he went out and saw
a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office,
and he said to him, follow me. So he left,
all he gets up, leaves it all rose up and
followed him. Then Levi gave him a great feast in
(10:09):
his own house. He throws a party for the man
that said follow me, and he followed him. Come to
my hostile party. Then Levi gave him a great feast
in his own house, and there were a great number
of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
So he throws a party and invites a ton of people.
(10:30):
And he said, for what purpose. When's the last time
you threw a party with all the screwed up people
you know in the world to present them to Jesus.
That's the only reason for the party. He said, Well,
if they come to that party and figure out what happened.
They'll never come back or they might get saved. And
their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples. So
(10:51):
Jesus is trying to save people and they're trying to
shut it down. And what did they say, why do
you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Enough
already this eating and drinking with the wrong people. Jesus
answered and said to them, those who are well have
no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. So if you follow Jesus, he turns you
(11:13):
into a fisher of men. You're all of a sudden
going to be surrounded with sick people, with sinners. What
if we had to be like a party ministry and
you just make a list and you pray of your
list and say, oh, come and invite everybody to my
house for a party, and you get him there, you
have great food, whatever you're gonna do, and you say, hey,
can I have your attention? I need explain to you
why I invited you to my house. You're my friends,
(11:36):
You're people I pray for and to care about. And
I have not done what I'm about to do, but
I'm going to tell you what changed my life. And
if that's something you think you need, I'd love to
talk to you, or we pray right now and offer
him Jesus. You're like, well, who would do that?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know. Looks like somebody in the Bible did it.
Throw Jesus a party.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Now.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I get people will come out of the world, right,
You come out of the world, so I don't want
to go back into the world. But you can't hide
out and afford somewhere and wait for Jesus to show up.
It's not It's like it's my salt schicker thing I
have in my head, brand new salt chicker. It's clean,
it's pure, but it's not doing anybody any goods sitting
there on the counter. You got to open it and
dump it in a mess where it does what it
(12:21):
was made to do.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
We are salt. We are the light of the world.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You've got to get out there where the darkness is
to be effective. But some people are huddled up so
much they don't know any lost people. Oh, those are
evil people. Of course they're evil people. They don't know Jesus.
That's all they got. Stop blaming people for smoking weed,
doing drugs, screwing everything that moves, drinking whatever they're doing,
(12:45):
they shouldn't be doing that. We'll give them an option.
Where were we before we got saved? Where would we
be if we were not well? I wouldn't be that
kind of person. Oh, I get it, you're some pure
person even without Jesus blaming people.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
They're trying. They're trying to find a life, and that's
what they.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Found and it works temporarily, but then they go it
doesn't work, and then we show up, but we don't
say anything. And sometimes all you gotta say is I
once was lost and now I'm found.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Once I was blind, Now I see. Would you be
interested in seeing?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
And you're not pounding on them, you're not judging them,
you're not telling them. You know, you can mention to
somebody they're going to hell, but they already feel like hell.
They're just not there yet because it doesn't work. Luke
eighteen Luke eighteen nine. Also he spoke this parable to
some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and
(13:39):
despised others, and the word despised me in contempt, consider
someone as nothing or worthless. To look down on someone
with disdain. Two men went to the temple to pray,
one a pharisee and the other a tax collector. They
did not like tax collectors back then, by the way,
the pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I
(14:00):
thank you that I am amusing license here to say
how he said it. God, I thank you that I'm
not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as
this tax collector he's praying where he's praying and pointing
out someone he has disdained for, And the tax collector,
standing afar off, wouldn't even getting near the pharisee, would
(14:21):
not so much as raise his eyes to Heaven, couldn't
even get his head up.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
He's so beat.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Down, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me,
a sinner.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
He got it.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
We all have what I call sin prejudices.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Somebody, well, we find out, Well, this guy's single and
he's sleeping with everything that moves, and well, that happens.
He's a guy, and that can happen. And then you
escalate it. Well, he got married and now he's cheating
on his wife. Oh oh, that's a but you know
that stuff happens.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
But then we.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Find out he's hooking up with other men. It's an abomination.
Oh I see, so now abomination. Go to Proverbs, A
lying tongue, a proud look. You want to chase abominations,
I can put us all under the ground. Don't be
chasing abominations. You'll get yourself in a lot of trouble.
You're picking your abominations. You have sin prejudices. You can
(15:27):
tolerate these because that's your problem.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Be careful. What makes you.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Nervous about someone else's sin? Because all of my sin
probably makes him a little upset. Why don't we start
with that, Luke nineteen we're almost done, tremendous story.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I'll read it fast. Nineteen one. Then Jesus entered and
passed through Jericho.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Now behold, there was a man named Zachias who was
guess what he wasn't just a tax collector. He was
the chief tax collector de most hated, and he was rich,
and everybody knew why he was rich because he was
a tax collector. He was cheap and everybody and he
sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because
of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So
(16:09):
this rich guy is so desperate to see Jesus. Look
at verse four. So he ran ahead and climbed up
into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
To pass that way.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up
and saw him and said to him, Zachius, make haste
and come down, for today I'm a stay at your house.
I'm going to your house. I'm just going to infuriate
everybody in town by going to your house.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
You're looking for me.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Guess what I'm looking for you and I've seen you,
and I'm going to your house. So he made haste
and came down and received him joyfully. Think about this,
people looking for Jesus, and we received them. Then they
receive us joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying,
he has gone to be a guest with a man
(16:54):
who is a sinner.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Why are we not accused of this?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Then Zachius stood and said to the Lord, Lord, Lord,
I give half of my goods to the poor. Boom
whatever I'm worth, half of it to the poor. And
if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation,
I restore it fourfold. He knew exactly who he had cheated.
Make a list, here's four times what I took. And
(17:19):
Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this
house because he also is a son of Abraham. For
the son of Man has come to seek and to
save that which was lost. He said, well, I'd just
rather be with Christians all the time, and fellowship with Christians,
and we'll sing songs. I get all that. That's all great.
For what Well, we're just hold up here til Jesus comes.
(17:40):
There's no verses for you doing just that. You have
to engage the culture, one Timothy one. So before I
read this, let me just say this out loud. I
will fight my way to the finish line into Jesus arms.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I've been alive long enough now to know.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And Paul act. He said this toward the end of
his life. The thing I don't want to do. That's
what I do. The thing I want to do, that's
what I don't do. Who will deliver me from the
body of this death right? So you think, oh, I'm
gonna arrive. It's not in there, because the second you
graduate from one sin, the Lord says, oh, I guess
what's behind that? And behind that there's no He keeps
(18:20):
fire dross, fire dross, fire dross, And you think, oh,
it's all good now, and he goes, yeah, but your attitude,
it's not that you've done wrong, you just are wrong. Really, Lord,
And we say we want to be sharp. He says, great,
that's heat friction. That's going to be somebody else coming along.
(18:42):
Heat friction. That's how you're gonna get sharp.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I want my life to be pure, be pure and
holy before you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Oh, that's back to fire dross, fire dross. I didn't
mean it.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I don't want I don't want that after all, I
want to follow you. Oh, that's take up your cross daily,
deny yourself. Okay, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I didn't mean that. I want to do what you
want me to do. Okay, lose your life, you'll find it.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I didn't mean that either.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I don't know. I don't want to do all that
one Timothy one point fifteen. This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptance. In other words, whatever it.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Is about to say, it's good to go.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. Zach Heus was a chief
tax collector. Paul says, I am the chief of sinners.
He's not saying he didn't have struggles. And by the way,
sometimes that helps people if you lead with that. Look,
(19:40):
I'm not here to judge you and tell you how
screwed up you are. Let me start. Here's my struggles,
here's where the enemy comes from. Me. Sometimes I can
be really, really really friendly, a waiter whatever. And this
happened to me too recently to even tell you how recently.
I was somewhere and I kind of started observing myself.
I'm like, I'm not being very nice, I'm withdrawing, I'm
(20:04):
being kind of rude, and like, what are you doing?
Because that's not me letting Jesus be himself. That's just
me being some old me. They say, well, why don't
you grow up? I'm working on it, but part of
me working on it is telling you that happens to me.
I'm not telling you I've arrived, and neither have you.
(20:24):
So that helps people that you're trying to help. Like, look,
I got Jesus, he changed my life. I must spend
eternity in heaven, but I'm still in process and I'm
making progress, but I have setbacks. So if you give
your life to Jesus, it's not like all your problems
will go away. It's just you'll end up in heaven
forever and you'll have all the stuff you're really looking for. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
long as every all that life you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
It's in him.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
But the enemy will come for you, but we're out
of here sooner later it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
That's real, Right, that's real.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Not Oh, come to Jesus, and if you give a
little money to this church, you'll be rich and you'll
never be sick again. And all this bull that's been
disseminated out there, it's not in the book. And then
people start to suffer and go, well, maybe I didn't
get saved in the first place, because it's not happened.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Like they told me.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
That's probably good So here's my challenge. If you're not
a Christian, meaning you know you believe there's a God.
You know that's good. The demon's believe there's a God,
tremble at his name. So you're in the demon's believe
there's a God. That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking
about receiving. I'm talking about where you say, God, I got.
I feel like you're all around me. You've been after me,
but you're not in me. So I want you in me.
(21:32):
So if it's that simple, God, I'm a sinner, I
need your forgiveness. You know everything about me, and I
believe you died on that cross, shed your blood to
pay for my sin and offer me eternal life is
a gift. So I'm receiving that gift. Come live in me,
Come fill me with your spirit, save me, save me, Jesus,
(21:53):
give me a new heart, a new life, a new everything,
and he will just like that. You say, well, I'm
already a Christian, then follow Jesus. But I'm telling you,
if you follow Jesus, you're gonna end up with sinners.
Wait a minute, I forgot a verse First Corinthians, Thank
you Lord, Go to first Corinthians five, First Corinthians five,
(22:13):
verse nine. And this is for Christians who argue we
shouldn't be spending time with these sinful people. There's a
difference in not spending time with a Christian for biblical
reasons and not spending time with a non believer for
biblical reasons.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
It's right here I.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Wrote to you and my epistle not to keep company
with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean
with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with
the covetches or extortioners or idolators, since then you would
need to go out of the world. So you say, well,
I'm not supposed to spend time with people like that. No,
the Bible says, don't spend time with people like that
(22:50):
who claim to be Christians.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
But if they're not Christians.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
You're gonna have to leave the planet to get away
from these people, because.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
That's all there are.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
But now I've read to you not to keep company
with anyone named a brother who is sexually moral or covetous,
or an idolatry, or a reviler, or a drunkard or
an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person.
So we're talking about eating with sinners. You're not supposed
to eat with those sinners. Well, I thought we were
supposed to help them. Seeking to say that, which is
lost the lost sheet, the lost coin, the lost son,
(23:19):
the lost son. Nobody went looking for him. He had
decided to come home, and sometimes you gotta wait for
him to come home. So technical clarification, little ps to that.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
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 3 (23:36):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others
to see. Most people have deep hurts, questions and struggles. Well,
we get it, and we want to help you in
any way we can. So let's keep this conversation going.
You can give us a call anytime at eight five
five six Richard, or connect with us at our website,
Richard Ellis Talks dot com. You can even put in
(23:58):
your prayer request right there are on the prayer wall.
Call us at eight five five six Richard or online
at Richard Ellis talks dot com. And now let's get
back to Richard with a final word on today's show.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So if you got Jesus, great.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
If you got Jesus and now you're having troubles, you
need to sift all that through the scriptures and decide.
Are you on the planet just to huddle up and
judge all the people going to Hell? Are you supposed
to be out there engaged with them, reaching them? Throw
a party at your house? You go, well, nobody come
to my party. That's probably because you're a little bit
like the older brother in Luke fifteen. He didn't have
(24:33):
any friends. That's why his dad never threw him a party.
He didn't have any friends. Get you some lost friends,
hand out imitations to your party and ask him up front,
are you a Christian?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
No, Oh, you can come to my party. Oh you're
a Christian. You can't come to my party. Okay, I
gotta do better on this.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I got too many Christian friends, so wrong. But I'm
about to get me some lost friends because we're going fishing.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
We are going fish.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
This has been Richard Ellis talks with Richard Ellis. There's
only one reason we do this program, to take the
planet with the good news of Jesus Christ. That's our
message and our mission. And you have a vital part
of doing that along with us. If you've been encouraged
by these talks with Richard, be sure to share with
someone about the change they've made in your life. And
we'd love to hear your story as to how the
(25:25):
talks have made a difference to you. Give us a call,
we'd love to talk with you eight five five six Richard.
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on the contribute tab at the top to send your
(25:47):
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next time, thanks so much for listening to Richard Ellis Talks.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yah
Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Thanks for
allowing us to share this time with you. Honestly, it's
our favorite time of the day where we get to
hang out together and talk about how the truth of
God's word can make a huge difference in your life.
And that's what we're going to hear from Richard in
a way that only he can do, with words of hope, insight,
(00:21):
and humor. You may be stuck in traffic or stuck
in life. Either way, today's message is going to help
get you on the right track as you learn how
much God loves you right where you are. So let's
get right into today's talk. Here's Richard Ellis.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
The time of today's message is search and rescue.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I shared a story the other.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Day about a friend of mine that I met with
and we had actually helped him raise some funds to
go do some search and rescue in a disaster area.
He's a volunteer firefighter, and I mentioned that they dropped
him into these areas, he and another guy with a kid,
and told you some stories about, you know, they'd grid
(01:03):
the thing and trying to find people that were missing.
What I didn't tell you is that they would walk
through the woods, through the mountain sides, and out of
nowhere they would hear one gun shot and they would
look at each other and they knew what that meant,
and they'd go a little bit longer than another gun shot.
(01:24):
And they were trying their best because they couldn't get off.
Their job was to comb the area they were designated to.
So you know what happened someone would just be completely overwhelmed,
pull a gun and kill themselves. He said, well, and
it's horrible, like that'd be a terrible place to be in,
a situation to be in, and yet it turns out
(01:47):
that that is our situation. He said, well, I don't
know anybody who's about to kill themselves. Okay, so maybe
they're not going to kill themselves. Maybe they are, maybe
it's a step down from that. They're going to overdose,
not trying to kill themselves, but they're going to check out.
And we are surrounded by the sounds, whether it's gunshots
(02:08):
or not, of people who are desperate, and you say, well,
I'm not desperate, and that may be part of the problem.
I'm fine, he said, Well, my life's fine. I'm marry
I chose well, I got a great wife, my kids,
everybody's fine, So why would I be all wound up? Because,
as it turns out, the people who are so healthy
are the ones that should be a part of that
(02:31):
search and rescue. And I'll just kind of insert this
in here now so I don't forget it. From my observation,
some of the unhealthiest people in the world that look
like they're healthy can be the most judgmental of people
who are in trouble. Someone who loves much usually has
(02:51):
been forgiven much. So my experience several decades on the
planet dealing with Christian people, church people, unfortunately, the people
who sometimes look like they've got it the most together,
but yet they have no time for search and rescue,
they have no time for reaching out, And you go,
(03:12):
something's wrong, because if these people are really godly, mature believers,
they would be the first responders. Why am I not
the first responder? So he said, Wow, that's going to
be intense. Yeah, it's going to be intense because someone
came after you, or you wouldn't have made it. I
pray if I stop telling these stories, I'm in trouble
(03:34):
and you're in trouble, the staff had lunch of today,
and if you ever go to lunch with us, I'm
a nightmare at a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I jack with the ways.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
You know, if you need backup on this, Patrick, everybody
will tell you. And I was being really hard on Ron.
He was doing a great job, but I was just
messing with him. And finally at the end, I said
to Ron, I asked him about I said, tell me
about your relationship with Jesus, and well, I believe in God.
He is my all time mind boggling world record.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
I said, I said, Ron, if you died? He wasn't sure.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I said, do you understand that Jesus died on the cross,
was buried and raised from the dead for you, and
that heaven is a free gift? He said yes. He's
standing by the table. I said, would you like to
pray and become a Christian? This is in sixty seconds?
He said, I would. We sat there, He stood there,
he prayed, became a Christian, and then he said this.
(04:29):
He said, a lot of people come through the restaurant
and they will talk to me about Jesus, but no
one has ever told me how to do this. I'm
with part of my family of the night at another
restaurant and sweet girl eighteen and we went to sit
at a table. We were outside and it had benches
and I looked at the benches. I didn't want to
(04:50):
sit with no back. I said, do you mind if
we sit at this table with chairs? Said no, that's fine,
And then she later told me told us she said,
for a while now now everybody who sits at this
table talks about Jesus. So we got up to leave
and I went and found her again and I said,
you know, can I ask you some personal questions?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
And my family was off praying and eighteen years old
and she prays and becomes a Christian. You go, well,
why does that happen to you? It's not happening to me.
And I'm trying to bring my voice down. I'm not
trying through anybody in the bus. If you sign up
to follow Jesus, he is going to make you a
(05:31):
fisher of men. And if you become a fisher of men,
you will find yourself fishing. You will find yourself as
a first responder part of the search and rescue, which
means you go into an area and you know that
you're assigned to that area. I am not omnipresent. You
(05:52):
are not omnipresent, but you are present where you're present
or you're not. But when you decide to be present
and deal with all your own crap and show up,
you'd be amazed at what the Holy Spirit shows you.
And I encounter people. One of my favorite scenes of
all time heart scene is Titanic. The ship's gone down,
(06:14):
the water's freezing, and you hear her crying out for help,
and the guy with the lifeboat turn about. Is anybody
out there? Is anybody out there? So this is God's heart?
It cannot not be his heart. And I don't say
(06:35):
this casually. God knew going into this whole thing create
the universe, because the decision had been made before the
universe was created, before the foundation of the world. They
already knew what was going to happen and decided he
was the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of
the world. I don't understand why if he knows it's
going to be a catastrophe, why would he let it
(06:55):
roll Because he's gonna get me out of the deal.
He's gonna get you out of the deal. So would
you have been fine in heaven? Father son, Holy Spirit,
all the angels, to hell with the devil, to hell
with the demons, and just shut her down. But no,
he's after you, he's after me, But he's also after
(07:17):
some other people. So why are we not in this mode?
Why do we not see people? Why do we see
people and reject them. Let's read some verses Matthew eleven,
verse nineteen. The son of Man came eating and drinking,
and they say, look, a glutton and a winebibber, a
(07:38):
friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is justified
by her children. Now, when is the last time I
got accused of being this a friend of tax collectors
and sinners. That is my reputation? Is that your reputation?
You say, yeah, party a lot, I got a bunch
(07:59):
of friends. I'm not telling me that reputation. I'm talking
about Jesus changes your life. But you didn't say, to
hell with all my friends literally, and go on and
just say I'm gonna huddle up with only Christians and
wait till Jesus comes.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
You got no verses for that. Jesus didn't come.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
If that was the deal, he would have come and
just stayed in the temple got himself a throne.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Come see me, I'll give you wisdom.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And he's out there, and he's so far out there
it made the religious people crazy. If your life is
not making religious people crazy, you're not following Jesus, because
religious people want to start from the outside and work in.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Jesus always starts on the inside.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
You get a new life, you get a new heart,
you get a new mind, you get a new everything.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
And he starts from the inside and works out.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Religious people don't have patience for people who take too
long to change. He say, well, that guy go that's
saved last month, he's still drinking, he's still smoking weed,
He's still whatever he's doing, she's doing. It's a possible
that they're brand new Christians. You said, well, they shouldn't
be smoking weed. Why don't you let the Holy Spirit
decide the sequencing of what sins are going to be
(09:16):
dealt with. Because if your heart changes, your lifestyle changes,
everything changes, you said, But it's not having fast.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Enough for me. You're not God.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Leave them alone and see And I don't have an
X ray machine for this, but I know me well
enough to know this is a reality. The problem is
that people who are pounding on. These new believers are
people who are struggling, are struggling themselves. But it's easier
to deflect on you than deal with their own problems.
Now you may not know that, but they got their
own stuff, but they don't want to deal with their stuff.
(09:47):
They'd rather point at you and why you're the problem?
Luke five. After these things, he went out and saw
a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office,
and he said to him, follow me. So he left,
all he gets up, leaves it all rose up and
followed him. Then Levi gave him a great feast in
(10:09):
his own house. He throws a party for the man
that said follow me, and he followed him. Come to
my hostile party. Then Levi gave him a great feast
in his own house, and there were a great number
of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
So he throws a party and invites a ton of people.
(10:30):
And he said, for what purpose. When's the last time
you threw a party with all the screwed up people
you know in the world to present them to Jesus.
That's the only reason for the party. He said, Well,
if they come to that party and figure out what happened.
They'll never come back or they might get saved. And
their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples. So
(10:51):
Jesus is trying to save people and they're trying to
shut it down. And what did they say, why do
you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Enough
already this eating and drinking with the wrong people. Jesus
answered and said to them, those who are well have
no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. So if you follow Jesus, he turns you
(11:13):
into a fisher of men. You're all of a sudden
going to be surrounded with sick people, with sinners. What
if we had to be like a party ministry and
you just make a list and you pray of your
list and say, oh, come and invite everybody to my
house for a party, and you get him there, you
have great food, whatever you're gonna do, and you say, hey,
can I have your attention? I need explain to you
why I invited you to my house. You're my friends,
(11:36):
You're people I pray for and to care about. And
I have not done what I'm about to do, but
I'm going to tell you what changed my life. And
if that's something you think you need, I'd love to
talk to you, or we pray right now and offer
him Jesus. You're like, well, who would do that?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know. Looks like somebody in the Bible did it.
Throw Jesus a party.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Now.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I get people will come out of the world, right,
You come out of the world, so I don't want
to go back into the world. But you can't hide
out and afford somewhere and wait for Jesus to show up.
It's not It's like it's my salt schicker thing I
have in my head, brand new salt chicker. It's clean,
it's pure, but it's not doing anybody any goods sitting
there on the counter. You got to open it and
dump it in a mess where it does what it
(12:21):
was made to do.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
We are salt. We are the light of the world.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You've got to get out there where the darkness is
to be effective. But some people are huddled up so
much they don't know any lost people. Oh, those are
evil people. Of course they're evil people. They don't know Jesus.
That's all they got. Stop blaming people for smoking weed,
doing drugs, screwing everything that moves, drinking whatever they're doing,
(12:45):
they shouldn't be doing that. We'll give them an option.
Where were we before we got saved? Where would we
be if we were not well? I wouldn't be that
kind of person. Oh, I get it, you're some pure
person even without Jesus blaming people.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
They're trying. They're trying to find a life, and that's
what they.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Found and it works temporarily, but then they go it
doesn't work, and then we show up, but we don't
say anything. And sometimes all you gotta say is I
once was lost and now I'm found.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Once I was blind, Now I see. Would you be
interested in seeing?
Speaker 2 (13:18):
And you're not pounding on them, you're not judging them,
you're not telling them. You know, you can mention to
somebody they're going to hell, but they already feel like hell.
They're just not there yet because it doesn't work. Luke
eighteen Luke eighteen nine. Also he spoke this parable to
some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and
(13:39):
despised others, and the word despised me in contempt, consider
someone as nothing or worthless. To look down on someone
with disdain. Two men went to the temple to pray,
one a pharisee and the other a tax collector. They
did not like tax collectors back then, by the way,
the pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I
(14:00):
thank you that I am amusing license here to say
how he said it. God, I thank you that I'm
not like other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as
this tax collector he's praying where he's praying and pointing
out someone he has disdained for, And the tax collector,
standing afar off, wouldn't even getting near the pharisee, would
(14:21):
not so much as raise his eyes to Heaven, couldn't
even get his head up.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
He's so beat.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Down, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me,
a sinner.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
He got it.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
We all have what I call sin prejudices.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Somebody, well, we find out, Well, this guy's single and
he's sleeping with everything that moves, and well, that happens.
He's a guy, and that can happen. And then you
escalate it. Well, he got married and now he's cheating
on his wife. Oh oh, that's a but you know
that stuff happens.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
But then we.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Find out he's hooking up with other men. It's an abomination.
Oh I see, so now abomination. Go to Proverbs, A
lying tongue, a proud look. You want to chase abominations,
I can put us all under the ground. Don't be
chasing abominations. You'll get yourself in a lot of trouble.
You're picking your abominations. You have sin prejudices. You can
(15:27):
tolerate these because that's your problem.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Be careful. What makes you.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Nervous about someone else's sin? Because all of my sin
probably makes him a little upset. Why don't we start
with that, Luke nineteen we're almost done, tremendous story.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I'll read it fast. Nineteen one. Then Jesus entered and
passed through Jericho.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Now behold, there was a man named Zachias who was
guess what he wasn't just a tax collector. He was
the chief tax collector de most hated, and he was rich,
and everybody knew why he was rich because he was
a tax collector. He was cheap and everybody and he
sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because
of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So
(16:09):
this rich guy is so desperate to see Jesus. Look
at verse four. So he ran ahead and climbed up
into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
To pass that way.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up
and saw him and said to him, Zachius, make haste
and come down, for today I'm a stay at your house.
I'm going to your house. I'm just going to infuriate
everybody in town by going to your house.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
You're looking for me.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Guess what I'm looking for you and I've seen you,
and I'm going to your house. So he made haste
and came down and received him joyfully. Think about this,
people looking for Jesus, and we received them. Then they
receive us joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying,
he has gone to be a guest with a man
(16:54):
who is a sinner.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Why are we not accused of this?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Then Zachius stood and said to the Lord, Lord, Lord,
I give half of my goods to the poor. Boom
whatever I'm worth, half of it to the poor. And
if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation,
I restore it fourfold. He knew exactly who he had cheated.
Make a list, here's four times what I took. And
(17:19):
Jesus said to him today salvation has come to this
house because he also is a son of Abraham. For
the son of Man has come to seek and to
save that which was lost. He said, well, I'd just
rather be with Christians all the time, and fellowship with Christians,
and we'll sing songs. I get all that. That's all great.
For what Well, we're just hold up here til Jesus comes.
(17:40):
There's no verses for you doing just that. You have
to engage the culture, one Timothy one. So before I
read this, let me just say this out loud. I
will fight my way to the finish line into Jesus arms.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I've been alive long enough now to know.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
And Paul act. He said this toward the end of
his life. The thing I don't want to do. That's
what I do. The thing I want to do, that's
what I don't do. Who will deliver me from the
body of this death right? So you think, oh, I'm
gonna arrive. It's not in there, because the second you
graduate from one sin, the Lord says, oh, I guess
what's behind that? And behind that there's no He keeps
(18:20):
fire dross, fire dross, fire dross, And you think, oh,
it's all good now, and he goes, yeah, but your attitude,
it's not that you've done wrong, you just are wrong. Really, Lord,
And we say we want to be sharp. He says, great,
that's heat friction. That's going to be somebody else coming along.
(18:42):
Heat friction. That's how you're gonna get sharp.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I want my life to be pure, be pure and
holy before you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Oh, that's back to fire dross, fire dross. I didn't
mean it.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
I don't want I don't want that after all, I
want to follow you. Oh, that's take up your cross daily,
deny yourself. Okay, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I didn't mean that. I want to do what you
want me to do. Okay, lose your life, you'll find it.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
I didn't mean that either.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
I don't know. I don't want to do all that
one Timothy one point fifteen. This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptance. In other words, whatever it.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Is about to say, it's good to go.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. Zach Heus was a chief
tax collector. Paul says, I am the chief of sinners.
He's not saying he didn't have struggles. And by the way,
sometimes that helps people if you lead with that. Look,
(19:40):
I'm not here to judge you and tell you how
screwed up you are. Let me start. Here's my struggles,
here's where the enemy comes from. Me. Sometimes I can
be really, really really friendly, a waiter whatever. And this
happened to me too recently to even tell you how recently.
I was somewhere and I kind of started observing myself.
I'm like, I'm not being very nice, I'm withdrawing, I'm
(20:04):
being kind of rude, and like, what are you doing?
Because that's not me letting Jesus be himself. That's just
me being some old me. They say, well, why don't
you grow up? I'm working on it, but part of
me working on it is telling you that happens to me.
I'm not telling you I've arrived, and neither have you.
(20:24):
So that helps people that you're trying to help. Like, look,
I got Jesus, he changed my life. I must spend
eternity in heaven, but I'm still in process and I'm
making progress, but I have setbacks. So if you give
your life to Jesus, it's not like all your problems
will go away. It's just you'll end up in heaven
forever and you'll have all the stuff you're really looking for. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
long as every all that life you're looking for.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
It's in him.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
But the enemy will come for you, but we're out
of here sooner later it's gonna be okay.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
That's real, Right, that's real.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Not Oh, come to Jesus, and if you give a
little money to this church, you'll be rich and you'll
never be sick again. And all this bull that's been
disseminated out there, it's not in the book. And then
people start to suffer and go, well, maybe I didn't
get saved in the first place, because it's not happened.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Like they told me.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
That's probably good So here's my challenge. If you're not
a Christian, meaning you know you believe there's a God.
You know that's good. The demon's believe there's a God,
tremble at his name. So you're in the demon's believe
there's a God. That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking
about receiving. I'm talking about where you say, God, I got.
I feel like you're all around me. You've been after me,
but you're not in me. So I want you in me.
(21:32):
So if it's that simple, God, I'm a sinner, I
need your forgiveness. You know everything about me, and I
believe you died on that cross, shed your blood to
pay for my sin and offer me eternal life is
a gift. So I'm receiving that gift. Come live in me,
Come fill me with your spirit, save me, save me, Jesus,
(21:53):
give me a new heart, a new life, a new everything,
and he will just like that. You say, well, I'm
already a Christian, then follow Jesus. But I'm telling you,
if you follow Jesus, you're gonna end up with sinners.
Wait a minute, I forgot a verse First Corinthians, Thank
you Lord, Go to first Corinthians five, First Corinthians five,
(22:13):
verse nine. And this is for Christians who argue we
shouldn't be spending time with these sinful people. There's a
difference in not spending time with a Christian for biblical
reasons and not spending time with a non believer for
biblical reasons.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
It's right here I.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Wrote to you and my epistle not to keep company
with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean
with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with
the covetches or extortioners or idolators, since then you would
need to go out of the world. So you say, well,
I'm not supposed to spend time with people like that. No,
the Bible says, don't spend time with people like that
(22:50):
who claim to be Christians.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
But if they're not Christians.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
You're gonna have to leave the planet to get away
from these people, because.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
That's all there are.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
But now I've read to you not to keep company
with anyone named a brother who is sexually moral or covetous,
or an idolatry, or a reviler, or a drunkard or
an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person.
So we're talking about eating with sinners. You're not supposed
to eat with those sinners. Well, I thought we were
supposed to help them. Seeking to say that, which is
lost the lost sheet, the lost coin, the lost son,
(23:19):
the lost son. Nobody went looking for him. He had
decided to come home, and sometimes you gotta wait for
him to come home. So technical clarification, little ps to that.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
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 3 (23:36):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Real life isn't about living some highlight reel for others
to see. Most people have deep hurts, questions and struggles. Well,
we get it, and we want to help you in
any way we can. So let's keep this conversation going.
You can give us a call anytime at eight five
five six Richard, or connect with us at our website,
Richard Ellis Talks dot com. You can even put in
(23:58):
your prayer request right there are on the prayer wall.
Call us at eight five five six Richard or online
at Richard Ellis talks dot com. And now let's get
back to Richard with a final word on today's show.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
So if you got Jesus, great.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
If you got Jesus and now you're having troubles, you
need to sift all that through the scriptures and decide.
Are you on the planet just to huddle up and
judge all the people going to Hell? Are you supposed
to be out there engaged with them, reaching them? Throw
a party at your house? You go, well, nobody come
to my party. That's probably because you're a little bit
like the older brother in Luke fifteen. He didn't have
(24:33):
any friends. That's why his dad never threw him a party.
He didn't have any friends. Get you some lost friends,
hand out imitations to your party and ask him up front,
are you a Christian?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
No, Oh, you can come to my party. Oh you're
a Christian. You can't come to my party. Okay, I
gotta do better on this.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I got too many Christian friends, so wrong. But I'm
about to get me some lost friends because we're going fishing.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
We are going fish.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
This has been Richard Ellis talks with Richard Ellis. There's
only one reason we do this program, to take the
planet with the good news of Jesus Christ. That's our
message and our mission. And you have a vital part
of doing that along with us. If you've been encouraged
by these talks with Richard, be sure to share with
someone about the change they've made in your life. And
we'd love to hear your story as to how the
(25:25):
talks have made a difference to you. Give us a call,
we'd love to talk with you eight five five six Richard.
You can also reach us through our website, Richard ellistalks
dot com, and while you're there, check out all the
fun and informative pages we put together for you Richard
ellistalks dot com. While you're there, be sure to click
on the contribute tab at the top to send your
(25:47):
generous gift. If the program is making a difference to you,
your gift will make a big difference to us. Until
next time, thanks so much for listening to Richard Ellis Talks.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yah
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