Richard Ellis Talks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on Richard Ellis Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
I believe in most people's cases we are saying no
to God way more than God is saying no to us.
And if we said yes more to God, we would
get yes from God in more instances because we want
what He wants for us, not what we want for us,
and then he can say yes.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Richard's going
to take the next few minutes to share some words
of hope and insight for you, and in today's broken world,
that's something everyone is desperate to hear. And speaking of that,
we have some very exciting news to share with you
about the program. We have a goal that's going to
reach the world, and we're going to need your help.

(00:41):
Richard will share more about it a little later, but
you can check it out right now and get on
board at Richard Ellis dot com. But right now, let's
go ahead and get things off and running with today's talk.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Here is Richard Ellis.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
The toime of today's message is no. That's it, one word.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
We have a thing in our house where we get
out of things. The kids would get out of things.
They said I'd asked my mom, and she said no.
So if they didn't want to do something, that's how
they got out of it. Some people won't take no
for an answer, but sometimes no is the answer. Some
people say this, I don't care what God says. I'm
going to do what I want to do. So God

(01:21):
says no, and you say, I don't care God, I'm
going to do what I want to do. So when
the answer is no, you're going to go do something,
get involved with something in a relationship, an investment, a job, moving,
whatever you're doing. And you say, well, how do I
know if it's the right thing or the wrong thing
to do? Now, there's a difference in a believer and
a non believer in terms of what you have going on.

(01:44):
When you become a Christian, then you get a new heart,
you get a new life. You're a new creation. But
that new creation has ears, and you can hear him
not from the outside but from the inside because he
lives inside you. So if you ask God, okay, I
need direction show him, he will show you. But a
lot of people say, well, I don't hear him like
you claim to hear him. And my observation there usually

(02:07):
is it's not that you don't hear him. You probably
don't like what he's saying, and so you say, well,
that wasn't the answer I was looking for. I'm going
to move on and do what I want to do anyway,
and violate any anxiety or whatever unrest or lack of peace.
You have a non believer. If you're not a Christian,
you have no relationship with God. It's not that God

(02:28):
doesn't care about you. Of course he cares about you.
He sent his son down here to rescue you. But
you don't have that internal mechanism. He can bring people
along and do things to kind of redirect your life.
But here kind of some phrases that you'll hear people say.
I had a bad gut feeling, a red flag. Something
felt off and not in my stomach. A chill ran
down my spine. I had a sinking feeling. It just

(02:50):
didn't sit right with me, an unshakable sense of dread.
My instincts were screaming. I felt a check in my spirit.
That's more in a Christian sense. Warning bell went off,
something gnawed at me. I felt an invisible hand pulling
me back. He said, well, who would violate all that stuff? Well,
everybody was doing it, so they jumped. I jumped, or

(03:13):
it just seems like a good idea, and I didn't
want to get left behind. Fomo, whatever your mo is,
and you just you sense it. You have other people
say this is never going to work out, and we
violate it, and God himself may be trying to say, dude,
this is never going to work. This is not the answer.
A few quotes An LaMonte said, no is a complete sentence.

(03:35):
Aw Tozer said, and this is I put this in
here and had to kind of chew on this a while.
It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly
until he has hurt him deeply. Oswald Chambers, A lot
of people read my utmost for his highest. He said.
Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God, whose
ways you may not understand at the time, but you

(03:58):
believe in, you trust him, and you follow him anyway.
And for me, the contention is, Okay, you're gonna double
barrel f you God, and go do your way. Okay
where you're gonna go. Who are you gonna trust, Who
are you gonna follow, Who's gonna take better care of you?
Even if you don't understand what he's doing than he is.
And so people do that. They walk away, go I'm
not doing this anymore, screw this, screw God's your shirt,

(04:18):
you know everything, screw everything, and then go back to
their ways, and then it just starts collapsing on them.
It never gets better. Emmanuel Kant said, we are not
rich by what we possess, but by what we can
do without. Love that quote, you say, well, I don't
want to live without things that I want. I'm gonna
do this, I'm gonna take this, I'm gonna buy this.

(04:39):
How many people can't say no to their credit cards?
And it doesn't turn out well for people who can't
say no to things they can't afford. So think about
the situation in your life, or a situation in your
life where you knew the answer was no, but you
pushed ahead anyway. You look back through your life and

(05:00):
you knew, I am about to do the wrong thing. Relationships,
I mean, I got you know, I can think of
girls that I dated and I just I'm going to
marry this girl. One of them I got engaged to,
had to call it off a month before the wedding.
You know, she could sing, she could do her she
was beautiful all these things, but she would my wife,
and I knew I had no peace about it, but

(05:20):
I kept moving forward. I bought her ring, proposed all
these things, and then I was so miserable. It wasn't
that she was a bad person, It's just she wasn't
my wife. And God was like, look, you're pushing ahead
and you're about to marry this person, but you're about
to screw your whole life up. I did not say
yes to this. I said no, and you're saying yes
to my no, and it's not going to work. And

(05:40):
finally I was so anxious. I was so churned up.
I've got on a plane, flew down, talked to her
and dad and said I can't do this and didn't
marry her. And my girls were very grateful that didn't
work out, because they would not be here if I
had not married their mother. So he's think, well, yeah,
I've had that experience and it didn't go well, But
I'm all good now and now I always say yes

(06:01):
most people I talk to, That's not true. They still
get in situations. They still have temptations, they have things
the enemy offers and go wow, but it looks kind
of shiny and beautiful, and maybe God's offering this to me,
And the Holy Spirit says, dude, no, no, no, no,
a thousand times no, this is not my plan for you.
And sometimes it could be in the form of an

(06:22):
investment or you'll make a bunch of money. You say, well,
God told me don't invest in it, and if I
had invested in it, everybody who invested made a bunch
of money, and so I missed out. No, you didn't
miss out. You obeyed. He said, well, how does that
even make sense. I would have made a bunch of money. Well,
what if God smart enough to know that if you
had made a bunch of money, you destroyed your whole family.
And it's more than just a bunch of money. Go

(06:43):
to Deuteronomy chapter three. Now I'm gonna read you a
bunch of scripture. Deuteronomy three. Go down to verse twenty three,
and these are situations where God says no, and people
either went with her or they didn't. Then I pleaded
with the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord God,
you have begun to show your your greatness in your
mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or

(07:04):
on earth? Who can do anything like your works and
your mighty deeds. So he's kind of buttering God up
a little bit here, Moses, I pray, let me cross
over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those
pleasant mountains in Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with
me on your account and would not listen to me.
So the Lord said to me, enough of that, speak

(07:24):
no more to me of this matter. I'm not going
to talk about this anymore. Go up to the top
of Pisgah and lift your eyes towards the west, the north,
the south, and the east. Behold it with your eyes.
But you shall not cross over this Jordan. But command
Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall
go over before this people, and he shall cause them
to inherit the land which you will see. So we

(07:46):
stayed in the valley opposite beth Pure. And you say, well,
why would God not let Moses take the people that
he had let out of Egypt? Why wouldn't he take
him in the Promised Land? Because he told Moses to
speak to a rock, and he hit the rock. He say, well,
that's really harsh. The margins come in. What you can
get away with as a two year old you can't
get away with As a sixty year old, you say, well,

(08:07):
God's too harsh. No, he expects obedience first time, obedience
the longer you live. And when he gives you specific
directions and you don't follow him, you say, well, well,
I thought there was mercy and grace. I said no
to what God said. And now what is all this?
How about consequence? If he's your father, he's going to
discipline you. Why is he discipline you because he's trying
to get you in a mode to say yes to

(08:28):
what he says and saying no. By the way, I
believe in most people's cases we are saying no to
God way more than God is saying no to us.
And if we said yes more to God, we would
get yes from God in more instances because we want
what He wants for us, not what we want for us,
and then he can say yes. Go to the next one.
Psalm eighty four eleven very encouraging verses. For the Lord

(08:53):
God is a son and shield. The Lord will give
grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from
those who walk uprightly. So you say, well, I think
God has this for me I'm gonna take it. You
can't go around taking things if you walk up rightly,
He's not gonna withhold anything. You say, Well, I want
better for me, it seems than God wants for me.

(09:13):
That's not true. How can I want better for me
than God wants for me and that be better Sewod
Corinthians twelve. Now you say, what if God says no,
and he doesn't change his mind ever, and the answer
stays no, you're better off with his no. Then you're
yes if it's his will. Second Corinthians twelve, verse seven.
And this is Paul writing about his personal situation. And

(09:35):
he said, unless I should be exalted above measure by
the abundance of the revelations. So he's got God revealing
stuff to him so fast and furious that he could go, Wow,
I'm somebody get all puffed up that a thorn in
the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan
to buffet me lest I be exalted above measure. So
this is a messenger of Satan that is on Paul

(10:00):
all the time. That's his thorn in the flesh. It
doesn't say exactly what it is, but we know that
God allowed Satan to buffer him. So about the time
he thinks he's all that boom, he allows the enemy
to hit him. You know who wants to live that way?
Paul didn't want to live that way either. Concerning this thing,
I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might
depart from me. Lord, I don't want to live this way.

(10:20):
You're the one revealing all this stuff to me, and
I'm processing it the best I can. And He's like, yeah,
but it's gonna you could get the big head. We're
not gonna have that. So here's the messenger of Satan.
Could you please remove him? What do you think? God
said no. He wouldn't ask three times if they answer
had been yes on the first time. So he asked again, Lord,
I'm asking you, can this be gone? No? Well, at

(10:42):
least Paul's persevering goes back again, and after three times
he got a know. And what did he do when
he finally got his final no? He let it go.
When God tells you no, stop asking God for stuff
he's already said no to. He said, well, no, I'm
a very persevering person. There's a difference and foolishness and perseverance.

(11:02):
And if you walk with him, and you know it's
a no. And I'm about to read you another example
of this with Jesus himself. Paul had precedent that Jesus
had tried three times to get something to pass, and
he's God in the flesh, and he got no three times.
So maybe Paul thought, Okay, I'll try Jesus away and
see what I get. Well, I still got no. No, no,
The answer must be no. But look how this rolls out.

(11:24):
And he said to me when he finally realized the
answer was no, I'm not taking this thorn away. My
grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made
perfect in weakness. So you say, well, I want to
be strong, and God's kind of strong, then it's going
to be in your weakness. I don't want to be weak.
I want to be strong. If he's going to be strong,
it's going to be in your weakness or it's not

(11:46):
going to work. So you say, well, God told me no,
and I'm gonna have to live with this. But what
was his reason for saying no? My grace is sufficient
for you. Now you say, well, I don't just want
his grace. I want this to go away. I want
more than God's grace to be sufficient. Now you're in
some what what is that? My grace is sufficient for you?

(12:07):
For my strength is made perfect in weakness. So once
he heard that answer, then look what he says. Therefore,
most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. So you're like, wait,
so you're telling me that if when I'm weak, that's
when I'm strong, and this isn't going away, your grace
is sufficient. Then now I'm going to be excited about

(12:29):
this challenge. Now to get to verse ten, you got
to get through the nose and then you get to
verse ten. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities. Is that me?
Is that you? We usually try to find pleasure by
not saying yes to God and doing what we want
to do. Once you decide you're going to do what
God wants you to do, now your pleasure is infirmities,

(12:51):
not your pleasure. I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches,
in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For
when I am weak, then I am strong. So he says,
no to taking away the thorn in the flesh, You're
gonna have it. You go, Okay, your grace is sufficient.

(13:11):
Let's move ahead this way. Who would pick this? I
don't know. You only pick it unless God says this
is the best way. I have become a fool in boasting,
you have compelled me, for I ought to have been
commended by you, for in nothing was I behind the
most eminent apostibles, though I am nothing. Truly, the signs
of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance,
in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. So you say, well,

(13:34):
I don't want anything to do with that. I think
about this. God allows something in your life, and you say,
I don't like this. He says, I get it. But
I've allowed this for a reason. Well, I don't like
what you've allowed. Okay, will you trust me?

Speaker 1 (13:46):
No?

Speaker 2 (13:46):
I will not trust you. I'm going to complain till
I die. And how's that going to work out for you?
What if I've got a purpose in this? I don't
want to know your purpose. I want what I want
and I'm yet to meet someone that that goes well
for You say, but what if God allows something that's horrible,
a health issue, some kind of physical challenge, whatever it
may be. He said, I don't want this. God says,

(14:07):
I got you. My grace is sufficient. Be careful when
you say I want more than your grace, because there
is no more. There is nothing greater than that. Ifhesians
chapter four, and I've got this in here just to
kind of help you understand where this can go poorly.
If Phesians four seventeen says this, I say, therefore and
testifying the Lord, that you should no longer walk as

(14:28):
the rest of the gentiles walk in the futility of
their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the
life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling,
have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all in
cleanness with greediness. You say, well, it's not me. You

(14:50):
better hope that's not you. But that's where Christians go
back to when they're not walking with Jesus. When you
say no to God, you're going to land right back here,
walk in the way you used to walk. I spend
most of my week with people struggling with this. They
got saved. They know they're going to heaven. They're trying
to walk obey trust him. Something goes wrong. They make
a poor choice, get tempted, can't say no. They choose

(15:13):
not to say no to the temptation. They get sucked
back in the undertoes too strong, and they find themselves
back where they were before they got saved. Yes, they
got Jesus, but it's not working out. You say, well,
that's not possible for a Christian. Anybody want to dispute
this is all of us. We all have capacity to
get rolled right back into that old way of life, Matthew,

(15:35):
chapter twenty six. So I referenced this the last one
will do. And I'm not saying that three is some
magic number. Jesus, the number was three, Paul, The number
was three. The problem with you say, well, I'm going
to try three times and ask God to change his
answer from no to yes. If the answer is no,
three times is a good chance the answer is no. Matthew,

(15:57):
twenty six, thirty six. Then Jesus came with them to
a place called gthsemone and said to the disciples, sit
here while I go and pray over there. And he
took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee,
and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then
he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even
to death. Stay here and watch with me. He went

(16:17):
a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying,
so this is God in the flesh, Man, God, God, Man.
He's talking to his father, who, by the way, for
his entire life, from birth to this point and beyond
everything that he saw the Father do, that's what he did.
Whatever the Father said, that's what he said. He lived
this seamless life of obedience. So now he's having a conversation.

(16:39):
And by the way, Jesus knew why he had come
to the earth. His mother knew had some understanding of this.
Jesus knew. He told him, we got to go to Jerusalem,
son of Man, will suffer many things, be crucified, buried, raised,
and that he knew this is what was coming. So
if that's why he came, and he knew it was coming,
what's he having this conversation about. Because he's also aware

(17:01):
that to go through this and to go down this path,
he was not just going to suffer physically. The scripture
describes that he who knew no sin would become, would
be made sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. So he's about to
have all the sin in the world from Adam on
to the end of time dumped on him. He became it.

(17:21):
So he's saying, Oh, my Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from me. Okay, So that's his request.
Anyway around this. I know what I'm about to have
to drink here. This is poison, this is sin, this
is a disaster. I know it's necessary. But if there's
a way, but then look at the caveat Nevertheless, not
as I will, but as you will. Your life will

(17:45):
never kick in the way it's supposed to kick in
until you can pray that. You say, Lord, if there's
a way around this, great, but bigger than what I want.
I want your will to be done. So maybe my
life would be easier if you did what I'm asking
you to do. But I don't want that. I want
your will to be done.

Speaker 3 (18:01):
Do that.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
He said, well, oh, you you know, maybe I'll trick
God and say yeah, I'm willing to not I'm willing
to suffer. Are you going to throw me a bone.
He's got no bones to throw. It's not about that.
Then he came to the disciples, found them sleeping, and
said to Peter, specifically to Peter, what could you not
watch with me? One hour? Like? What are we doing?
You're my friends? So, by the way, how long had
Jesus been over there talking to his dad by himself?

(18:24):
Probably about an hour? You say, how long does it
take to say, if it's possible, let this cup passed
for me? Ever been in a prayer and said it
and waited and waited and waited, and you knew the
inch was no. And now you're trying to wrap your
head around this is not going away. So he goes
back to his buddies. They're asleep, Watch and pray unless
you enter into temptation. The spirit, indeed is willing, but

(18:45):
the flesh is weak. Again a second time he went
away and prayed, Oh, my father, if this cup cannot
pass away from me unless I drink it, your will
be done. Look at how it changes a little bit
the request. If this cup cannot pass it's away from me.
I begin to understand the answer is no. To me
wanting to not drink it, your will be done, and

(19:07):
he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes
were heavy. So he left them, went away again and
prayed the third time, saying the same words, one more shot.
He knows it's not going to change. The answer is
going to be no, you gotta go to the cross.
You hold the hours at hand, and the son of
man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise,
let us be going see my betrayers at hand, and

(19:29):
they're off. Now. I don't think there's anything wrong. Apparently
scripturally God allows something. In Jesus' case, there's no way
around it. And you go and you pray, and you say, Lord,
this can't possibly be your best, your will for my life,
And he says, I know you'd understand, but you got
to trust me. You're making it hard for me to
trust you, Lord, because this is painful, it's suffering, it's

(19:50):
costing me. Now stay with me for a second. You say, well,
what if God is not going to change it. What
if he decides that is his will for your life?
And you can either think thanking and trust him and
proceed following him, or you say I can't trust you anymore.
Your problem may never change your situation may never change.
But look at what your life is going to look

(20:11):
like if you continue to follow him and trust him
even not understanding, or if you just say I'm out
and you go live your life hard in your heart
and get back to what you were doing. It would
be better if you trust him even if you don't understand,
then ditch on him. This trusting Jesus thing. Now, I
can tell you, well, you drop dead, one day, Jesus
comes back and we're in heaven for eternity, and the

(20:31):
things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light
of his glory and grace. I think it says. But
right now, time moving slow. Suffering is slow, pain is slow.
You don't understand what he's up to, But you'd be
better off thanking him for it, trusting him and yielding
to it, then trying to turn a no into a yes,
and then just blow your whole life up even more so.

(20:52):
He said, well, I don't like getting I asked God
for something I want to yes and he gives me
a no. What if you're getting nos from him because
he's getting knows from you? And the ultimate example of
this is God comes along and read Romans one you're
without excuse. I mean, I keep coming up with these
different things I see and like big explosion and this

(21:14):
a bird fruit, like people are nuts. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. There's a God.
And if you say there's a God, then he apparently
is reaching out to us. He's coming after us. And
Jesus is the proof of that. Jesus comes down here,
born of a virgin, lives a sinless life. They string
him up on a cross, sheds, his blood becomes sin
for us, buried, raised from the dead, and God says, look,

(21:35):
if you didn't think I cared about you, I didn't
come down there as the father. I sent my only son,
and the only reason he died was so that I
could rescue you. And so I'm offering you eternal life.
What's your answer. It's a free gift, eternal life, forgiveness, sins,
package deal. You'll have a new life here. You'll spend
these turns with me in heaven. What do you say?
And what do we say? Too many people say no,

(21:58):
I'm out. I'll do it my way. I'm going to
live my life. I'm going to do what I want
to do the way I want to do it. I
don't want you meddling in my life. How is not
having him meddling in your life working out for you?
You got no peace, you got no joy, you got
no real happiness. You can only buy so much crap.
You can only go so many places, you only sleep
with so many people, you only do so many drugs,
You only get so high. Is I working? Give him

(22:19):
a shot? Turn your no into a yes? He said, Well,
what's it going to cost me? If I say yes?
To God, he's going to screw my whole life up. No,
you've already done that. How could he make your life
worse than you've already made it. Sure, there's challenges, but
there's challenge with or without him. I'd rather have the
challenges I have and I'm going to have. I don't
even know the challenges I'm going to have, But I'm

(22:39):
trying to gear up in a relationship with him so
that when they come, I have packed for the journey.
I got him. I have a relationship with him so
that when he allows something, if he allows something, I'm
not thrown by it. I go, oh Lord, this is
not good. Like no, it's not good. But you want
to know me the power of my resurrection. Well, this
is the fellowship of my sufferings being made conformable to
my death and death. And you're like, well, I don't

(23:01):
want this, Yeah, you do, because you won't know him
the way you say you want to know him without
going through that whole process. Now, in general, if you're
a believer, I am highly recommending that you stop turning
his no into a yes, stop forcing it, Stop making
things happen that he does not intend, because then that's
going to have to unravel, and then you end up

(23:22):
right where you were and you have to start all
over and say, Okay, I'll do what you want me
to do. Just do it today. And if you're not
a believer, man, for Christ's sake, for your sake, for
everybody's sake, stop saying no to God and his mercy
and his grace. Just say yes. You say, well, how
do I do that? It goes something like this, God,
I'm a sinner, you know it, I know it. I
need your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died on that cross,

(23:44):
was buried, raise from the dead, shed his blood to
pay for my sin and to offer me eternal life
as a free gift. I receive you, I receive that payment,
I receive all of it into my life. Save me.
And as you've heard me say too many times, how
many people say, it can't be that easy, And the
answer always is easy for who, Easy for you you

(24:05):
accepted a gift. Not so easy for God, not so
easy for Jesus. It cost him his life, it cost
him his son to make this so easy. And then
he moves in and you start figuring out how to
live life the way he intended for you to, not
the way you've come up with that does not work
in the long run. Hey, this is Richard Ellis coming

(24:25):
to you from a football field about one foot from
the goal line. And that's about how we feel at
Richard Ellis dot com. We have some exciting stuff going on.
Kind of blows my mind. Actually, AI has changed the world,
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(24:47):
the team in place, the technology in place, the systems
in place. It's not as easy as just feeding the
message into a computer and it spits it out. It
takes a lot of work, which means it takes a
lot of funding to pull this off. That's where you
come in. We needs you to step up if you
haven't already, and be a part of this team and
help us get this thing over the goal line. So

(25:07):
let us hear from you, Richard Ellis dot com, and
we thank you in advance for your health, love you
and look forward to hearing from you.

Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yes, this is truly an exciting time for us to
be able to share the messages from Richard in other
languages to accomplish our mission, and that's to take the
planet with the gospel. If you believe in this program
and Richard's unique ability to share the good news in
a fresh, relevant way, this is your chance to join
us in this mission.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Jump over to our website Richard.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Ellis dot com or call us at eight five five
six Richard.

Speaker 1 (25:38):
We're ready, are you?

Speaker 3 (25:40):
It's time Richard Ellis dot com or call eight five
five six Richard.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
We can all do this, but it's going to take
all of us.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Go to Richard Ellis dot com to support this incredible
mission or call eight five five six Richard. Until next time,
Thanks for listening to Richard Ellis talks, Yeah,