Richard Ellis Talks

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on Richard Ellis Talks. If someone has paid for
all your stuff, all your sin, you're free to go.
You are forgiven. You have a new start, a new life,
a new heart, a new mind, complete new beginning, like
being born a second time, which is what it is.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks. With Richard Ellis. We began
last week focusing on advent and what it means during
the Christmas season. Our first candle was that of hope,
and this week we're looking at peace. This Bethlehem kendle
represents a new era of reconciliation, and that's what Richard's
messages are all about, the reconciling of us to the Savior.

(00:42):
I'm also very excited to share about a huge opportunity
we have with you that I'll reveal later in the program.
But for now, let's go ahead and get things off
and running with today's talk. Here's Richard Ellis.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
The title today's message is heesus. They're actually not going
to believe this, but let me read you a little
piece from an article I read. There were those who
were taught early on after Christ came, died, buried, raised
from the dead. Those who teach that the name Jesus
means hail Zeus usually start with the name of God Ya.

(01:18):
From that name of God, they take the Messiah's name
to be Yashua, which they say means ya is salvation.
They contend that that is the name used by the
Apostles and by the Messiah himself. However, after the Apostles
were dead and gone, the Roman Church took over Christianity
in order to make their brand of religion more palatable
to the Pagans. So this is what the claim was.

(01:41):
To make their religion more palatable to the Pagans, the
Roman leaders changed the name of the Messiah into a
Greek Latin hybrid eo Zeus, which supposedly means hail Zeus.
Since Zeus or Jupiter was the chief god and the
Greco Roman pantheon, the Pagans had little trouble excepting this
new demigod. By changing the savior's name, Christianity had been

(02:05):
effectively stripped of its Hebrew roots, and the meddling with
paganism was a success. The Greek's Savior could still be Zeus.
In time, the word Jeseus was further corrupted into Jesus
in English, so that's the claim he goes on to say.
As proof for their conspiracy theory that Jesus means hail Zeus,

(02:26):
advocates point to the fact that the second syllable of
Jesus Sus, sounds similar to the name of the chief
Greek god Zeus. Especially when Jesus is pronounced in Spanish,
it becomes evident that people are actually saying, hey, Zeus.
Added to these proofs is the fact that ancient scriptures

(02:47):
of Zeus show him with a beard, just like modern
day pictures of Jesus. So if you think you can't
get off track fast, Heyesus is not about Zeus. It's
about Jesus. Now, what does the word Jesus mean? If
you look at just simply, all of our names mean something.
Usually some people have names I have never heard, so

(03:07):
we don't know what they mean yet. They just mean
they're your name. But simply put, the name Jesus means
the Lord saves or the Lord is salvation. So whether
you spell it Jesus or Jesu, or Joshua or Yeshua,
the meaning stays the same. So simply Jesus was given
that name, and it is the name above every name

(03:28):
but it simply means the Lord saves or the Lord
is salvation. Now, I'd like to start in Matthew chapter one,
and then we're going to jump left and move right.
But today we're going to start in Matthew chapter one
and deal with a little bit of this passage and
where the name is significant. Matthew chapter one, and let's

(03:51):
go down to verse eighteen. So this includes the story
of his birth. Says now, the birth of Jesus Christ
was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
before they came together, she was found with child of
the Holy Spirit, which means she was a virgin. They
had not been together and not slept together. It's a
one time occurrence in all of history, but here it is.

(04:13):
Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not
wanting to make her a public example, was minded to
put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold,
an angel the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph's,
son of David, do not be afraid to take to you.
Marry your wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth

(04:35):
a son so no sonogram needed. I'll tell you you're
gonna have a boy. She'll bring forth a son, and
you don't have to pick a name. I've already got
a name. It's a boy. And his name is what Jesus.
Why Jesus, look at what the angel says to him.
For he will save his people from their sins. So

(04:59):
built into the name of Jesus is what salvation? Salvation
from what? From sins? Now, go to Ezekiel, go hard
left Ezekiel, Chapter thirty six and verse twenty five. He says,
then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your

(05:20):
filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you
a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I will take the heart of stone out of your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statutes. And you will keep my judgments and
do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that
I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people.

(05:41):
I will be your God. I will deliver you from
all your uncleannesses. I will call the grain and multiply
it and bring no famine upon you. So this is
God speaking to his people. But these principles apply. Now,
where is a stony heart created from sin? Creates heart
of heart. So the world doesn't want to talk about sin.

(06:04):
You know, we have these diseases. Now, it's funny. Now
all the problems that people have are diseases. There's no
more sin. Now you have a disease of some kind.
You got to call sin what it is. Okay, So
if you have a problem, you have a challenge. Keep
digging and sin or later you'll arrive at you have
sin in your life. Now you have this messiah, this

(06:27):
Jesus who's literally named Jesus to do what to save
his people from their sins. So he did not come
to get you into more sin. He's trying to help
you get out of sin. Now you say, well, what's
wrong with sin? Look in the mirror and answer the question.
You say, well, but I'm not really sinning. I'm just
have a struggle. Your struggle is the result of some sin.

(06:52):
Go to the core of it, because until you acknowledge
that it is sin, you can't repent from anything but sin. Now,
what you may not be aware of sometimes you say, well,
I got saved, I got rescued. And there's different ways
to put this. Let's say you're lost at sea and
you're in the water. Okay, your boat has sunk. You

(07:14):
are in the water, lost at sea, and someone comes
along and rescues you, saves you from the ocean, but
they put you in a boat and then they fly
off and leave you. You have been saved from the ocean,
but you are still lost at sea. I am interested

(07:35):
in being saved from out of the ocean and from
the ocean. I would like some dry ground, please. That's
what I'm requesting, dry ground, right. So part of this
thing is you say, well, I became a Christian, I
got saved, I got rescued, so now I'm going to
die and go to heaven. There is so much more
to offer than just that. It's a package deal that
includes saving you, rescuing you from your sins. You say,

(08:00):
I got struggles, I got these problems, I got these
things that are destroying my life. You didn't just get
a ticket to heaven. You got the power to overcome
whatever those issues are. And a lot of times nobody
tells Christians that there's more, that it's a package deal
that it's it's way more as though heaven getting heaven
and the assurance of that was not enough. He provides

(08:21):
you life and life more abundantly, but you have to
get in on that. He didn't just save you to sit.
He gave you the power to move ahead, to move forward,
to live the life that he intended. But you have
to access that and let him do the work. John
Chapter one, John chapter one, verse twenty nine. And the

(08:44):
John is John the Baptist. Here Jesus cousin by six months.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world. This is he of whom I said,
after me comes a man, and who is preferred before me.
For he was before me. I did not know him,

(09:04):
but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore I
came baptizing with water. Now it's interesting he says he
was before me. John the Baptist is older than Jesus.
How could he be before him? Because he's God. So
the Lamb of God who takes away what the sin
of the world. I am more interested every day that
I live of my sin being taken away. And I

(09:26):
don't mean just the sins I've sinned being forgiven. I
mean I want this propensity, this pull, this necessity that
my flesh says, we're going to live like we want
to live the old man instead of this new man.
I'm interested in that being gone. He said, it'll never
go away. But Jesus has the power to give me
the power when that temptation comes, whatever that is to say,

(09:48):
you know what, We're not doing this anymore. You are
not going to run my life anymore. I don't have
to live this way, think this way, do any of
this anymore. Now your flesh is going wait a minute,
I don't know agree with that. You know I didn't
ask you. Stop asking your flesh for its opinion. See
what God says. Tell your flesh that, and then your

(10:09):
flesh goes, Okay, that's trump. You know. That's bigger than
what I got, more powerful than me. So I guess
we got to go with that. Acts Chapter three. Acts
Chapter three. Let's start in verse eleven. Now, as the
lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John,
all the people ran together them to the porch which
is called Solomon's greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it,

(10:30):
he responded to the people men of Israel, why do
you marvel at this, or why look so intently to us,
as though by our own power or godliness we had
made this man? What don't be looking at us? We
got no power. The only power we got is Jesus,
the real Hazus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

(10:52):
the God of our fathers, glorified his servant, Jesus, whom
you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate
when he was determined to let him go. But you
denied the Holy One and the Just and asked for
a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the
Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of
which we are witnesses, and his name, through faith in
his name has made this man strong, whom you see

(11:15):
and know. Yes, the faith which comes through him has
given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Yet, now, brethren,
I know that you did it in ignorance, as did
also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by
the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer,
he has thus fulfilled repent therefore and be converted. Why

(11:36):
that your sins may be blotted out, that's one part,
So that times of refreshing may come from the presence
of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ,
who has preached to you before, whom heaven must receive
until the times of restoration of all things which God
has spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since
the world began. Now, when you become a Christian, what happened.

(12:00):
All of your sins are blotted out. This is how
this works. You are now pure is the driven snow.
Your sins are wiped out, clean, complete, fresh start. Now
people say, well, but I did all that stuff. But
if someone has paid for all your stuff, all your sin,
you're free to go. You are forgiven. You have a

(12:22):
new start, a new life, a new heart, a new mind,
complete new beginning, like being born a second time, which
is what it is. So your sins may be blotted out.
And then this phrase I love, so that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. You
walk with Jesus long enough, and it doesn't take long

(12:43):
for this to kick in. Refreshment. And where does it
come from from the presence of the Lord. You say, well,
where's the Lord present? When you become a Christian, he
becomes present in you. It's way more than just a
ticket to heaven, as that is as amazing as that
is Verse twenty two. For Moses truly said to the

(13:06):
holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said
to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up
for you a prophet like me from your brethren, whom
you shall hear in all things whatever he says to you.
And it shall be that every soul who will not
hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. Yes,
and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow,

(13:27):
as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
You are sons of the prophets and of the covenant
which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, and
in your seed, all the families of the earth shall
be blessed to you. First, God, having raised up his
servant Jesus, sent him to bless you in what in
turning away every one of you from your iniquities. Now

(13:50):
let me tell you how you know if your relationship
with Jesus is working. He is turning you from your sins,
from your iniquities. He is not turning you to them.
Now there's some big debate about changing the prayer and
lead us not into temptation, like we're gonna need to
rewrite scripture. Let me tell you how that works for me.
You say, well, God can't be tempted and doesn't tempt anyone,

(14:13):
so it doesn't sound right. Wake up every day and
say this, Lord, I'm here. I know you live in me,
and I want you. I want your will, I want
your way. I know exactly if I give this day
over to myself and to the enemy, I know exactly
the conversation we're gonna have tonight. It's gonna be me
confessing the same old stupid sins. I've been confessing my

(14:34):
whole life in my little hamster wheel of sin. So
I don't want to do this again today. So I
am here, I already know what the enemy has mounted
against me, because he's been doing this forever, same old
fiery darts, same old sin, unless he's come up with
something new today. I know what today holds. So I'm
telling you right now you don't have to allow me

(14:55):
to be in any situation where I get tempted so
that then I get attacked and it causes me to
run to you. I'm here now, so don't lead me.
You don't have to get me in some tough situation
that causes me to run to you. I'm running to
you right now. I'm not running anywhere. I'm here. I
slept here, and I've got you in me. I want
you to live through me. You're up, then, how does

(15:16):
your day change? He doesn't have to allow these crazy
things to happen that cause you to go, Ah, Jesus,
you know, help me, help me, help me and run
back to him. Start with him. If every day you
go outside, you get in your car, get on the bus,
whatever you do, and you know the same thing happens
every day. You know that you get to a certain corner,
someone's waiting at the corner and they're throwing rocks at

(15:38):
your car and you've replaced your windshield. You know it's
every day and you wake up and you say, Lord,
I'm gonna get hit at that intersection again. He says,
thank you for having the conversation with me. I would
like you to go this way today. I never thought
of that. I thought that was the only way. No, no,
thanks for asking. We're going this way and you drive

(15:58):
to work and go. There's nobody throwing rocks at me.
What happened? You asked me which way to go? He said?
But when I still get attacked? But why these same
old stuff every day for the rest of your life?
Keep reading Where do we leave off here? Twenty six?
To you? First, God, having raised up his servant Jesus,

(16:20):
send him to bless you in turning away every one
of you from his iniquities. So get in on that.
I don't want to turn into I want to be
turned away. Now you say, well, how is that going
to work? He knows what's coming today. He knows what
the enemy's schemes are. Go to Romans chapter six. Some
of you will know this one by heart, but you're
still getting your butts kicked Romans six. And I've known

(16:45):
this one so long that I almost can't see it anymore.
And God was really kind to me. I was like, Lord,
help me see this like I've never seen it before.
And I'm going to make a run at that for you.
Romans six twenty three. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Now what does that mean? Sin is work,

(17:07):
and if you work, you expect wages. But when your
work is sin, your wages are always death. Who would
sign up for a job like this? Oh, we'd like
to hire you to work in our sin mill. Oh
that sounds very exciting. Looks very exciting. Looks like I'm
gonna have a lot of fun. Oh yeah, you're gonna
have fun. So what's my salary gonna be? Death? You

(17:29):
are going to experience death? Oh? Yes, where do I sign?
That sounds very appealing. So you wonder why I experience
death of relationships? Literally? People the wages of sin. For
some people, they work so hard they get to physically die.
Sin is hard work, forced labor, as it turns out,
because you don't run your life. You say, well, I'm

(17:52):
doing what I want to do. Really, really, you're that stupid?
You're doing that? That is what you signed your life
up for. Oh yeah, I'm in control. Then why is
it so arduous? Why is it so exhausting? Why is
it sapping the life out of you and it results
in death of everything around you? What's the contrast wages

(18:13):
of sin, death, gift of God eternal life. In Christ, Jesus,
our Lord, eternal life is a gift, you say, well,
I'm used to working for what I get. Sorry, Merry Christmas,
very hard for people. Can't be that easy. Now, I've
said this over and over and over again. You say
it can't be that easy. That I just go, Okay, God,

(18:35):
I won't do anything. I'll just confess that I'm a sinner,
repent and accept your gift of eternal life, and let
you come live in me through me, and it's all good.
And just like that, it was a gift. Well, that
was easy, easy for who, Easy for you, easy for me?
Who's it not so easy for for him? Because this
little gift that we don't value that we think, oh, no,

(18:56):
big deal. Easy. Before the foundation of the world, Jesus
made a decision, the Father made a decision, the Holy Spirit.
The three of them decided, we're going to do this anyway,
but this is how it's going to go down. We
will make a universe. We will make plants, animals, we
will create a man, we'll create a woman from that man,

(19:18):
and we will give them every opportunity to have a
perfect relationship with us in a perfect situation. But we
will also give them a will, and they will choose
against us, but we will have a plan before they
even are created to go in and rescue them. But
the plan will cost us. But we want relationship with

(19:42):
these people so bad. We already know what's going to
go down. But we will make a decision that Jesus
will go in and save them and rescue them, and
then we'll bring them back here with us and it'll
all be okay. I knew I'd love my kids before
they were ever conceived. I knew I'd love them before

(20:02):
they were ever born. I knew they'd screw up before
they were ever born. I knew they'd need love, an example,
and mercy and grace and rescue. But we had them anyway,
So God knows that all about us. So be careful
devaluing the most expensive gift ever paid for and ever offered.

(20:24):
When you hear of this Jesus and this gift and
you realize that you cannot work for it, and you
have to humbly stand back and say, what is this thing?
You can't be serious, because if you're God, and you are,
you know me, you know everything, I've done, everything, I've thought,
everything I'm gonna do, and yet you're coming after me anyway.

(20:47):
How could you reject or neglect so great a salvation?
So you say, well, I got in on the gift
of salvation from Hell. I'll go to Heaven. The gift
keeps on giving if you'll let it. And what does
God do. He lets you come to the end of yourself,
even as a Christian, and you say, well, I'm just
determined to make my way work no matter what, and

(21:09):
God says, okay, I'll ride with you. It's not going
to be fun, it's going to be painful because you're
now you're working, and the wages are death. And then
one day you wake up and go, you know, Lord,
I'm tired. I'm tired of my life. I'm tired of
my sin, I'm tired of me. I'm tired of my ways,
and I'm thinking, there's got to be a better way

(21:30):
than this. I don't think you saved me to leave
me like this. And then you start reading the scripture
and find out he didn't. That there are times of
refreshing in the presence of the Lord. Go to Jude
chapter one. There's only one but they still call it
one seventeen. But you, beloved, so written to Christians, remember

(21:52):
the words which were spoken before by the apostles of
our Lord Jesus Christ. How they told you that there
would be mockers in the last time who would walk
according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons
who cause divisions, not having the spirit. But you, beloved,
building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in

(22:15):
the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ under
eternal life. And on. Some have compassion, making a distinction,
but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,
hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. And then
he closes with this now to him, Look at this, now,

(22:37):
to him who is able to keep you from stumbling
and to present you faultless before the presence of His
glory with exceeding joy, to God, our Savior, who alone
is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both
now and forever. Amen, This Jesus is able to keep

(23:03):
you from stumbling and to present you faultless. If you've
ever walked to the little child on a treacherous path
or terrain. Then something instinctively happens. You realize they might
be in a little danger of falling. And what do
you do. You reach down and grab their little hand,
and you walk with them, and they go to stumble,

(23:27):
and what happens. You literally lift them off the ground
and keep them from stumbling. And every once in a
while it gets so treacherous, you just reach down and
pick them up and you carry them because they can't
make it on their own. Why are you living your
life without Jesus when you've bet your eternity on him?

(23:49):
Why wouldn't you give him your life, not just your
eternal life, your life heesus, sweet name in any language,
powerful name, the only name, the only name.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Thank you for listening to Richard Ellis Talks. We deeply
appreciate you taking the time to be encouraged by Richard's
unique way of challenging us to become more like Jesus.
Every day we're doing something different the entire month of December,
where we're focusing on the advent of the Christmas season
and what it means to us. Each week builds up

(24:26):
to the big reveal of the Birth of Jesus. The
event candles we usually see inside a wreath of evergreens
consists of four colored candles along with the center white one.
The second candle this week is called the Bethlehem candle
that represents peace and a new era of reconciliation. Ever
since the fall, mankind has been eagerly looking for a

(24:49):
way back to peace and redemption with God, and Richard
has been sharing about that same peace through Christ in
every program. So to help us at accompli that mission,
we have a very unique and powerful opportunity to expand
that reach to so many more people because of a
very generous donor, we have a matching gift challenge that

(25:11):
will double every dollar you give to support Richard in
sharing the hope of Jesus to people who need to
hear Yes, you heard me right. Every single dollar you
give in support of this mission will be doubled.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Christmas is a season.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Of reflection and giving, so we're asking you to help
us by giving to this ministry. To double your gift,
go to Richard Ellis dot com and click on the
link to share your much appreciated donation.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Again, go to.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Richard Ellis dot com and support this mission today, that's
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next time, thank.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
You for listening.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
We look forward to coming alongside you again. For more
Richard Ellis Talks, ye