Richard Ellis Talks

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them free reign in what you'd consider "paradise on earth": the Garden of Eden. They had just one command to follow -- and as we all know, they blew it. Their decision to sin in that moment set the stage for every generation of humanity since, and our imperfect, sinful nature has caused our separation from a perfect, holy God. We needed a flawless sacrifice to cover our sin and bridge the gap between us and God. That sacrifice came in the form of a baby boy who would grow up to pay the ultimate price on our behalf, taking our sins to the cross and dying for us, all so we could be made right with God.

What's in a name? In God's case: everything! Some of the world's most famous people -- athletes, actors, historical figures -- are remembered by just their first name. But the most notable is the name that was given to a baby boy by His earthly father, who was told by an angel to name that baby boy "Jesus". And it wasn't just a name for a child -- it was the name for the Child who was born to save the world.

Did you know that the scientific probability of someone fulfilling 8 different Old Testament prophecies is 1 in 100 quadrillion? The Bible contains more than 300 prophecies about the coming Messiah -- and Jesus fulfilled all of them. Statistics prove that Jesus really is the Messiah, but at some point, each of us has to decide whether we're going to continue arguing the facts and ignoring the evidence, or whether we're going to trust Scripture, have faith, and share the Gospel with others.

Jesus was a lover of people -- but more specifically, He was a lover of strangers. Jesus demonstrated His love for all humanity by dying for every single one of us without preference or prejudice. Not only that, He lived out His earthly life by showing kindness to each person that He met. When we become part of His family, we're called to adopt the same mindset of hospitality -- by opening our arms, our homes, and our hearts, even to strangers.

When it comes to letting Jesus into our lives, many of us are more likely to put up a "No Vacancy" sign than we are to roll out the welcome mat. But when we finally turn off the "No" and make room for Him, Jesus changes our hearts and our lives from the inside out.

Mary wasn't perfect. And yet, God used her to bring His Son into the world. After Mary gave birth to Jesus, she continued to be faithful and followed Old Testament law by bringing fowls to the temple to be sacrificed. But she also brought something of far greater importance: she brought the Lamb of God, who would become the ultimate sacrifice and take away the sins of the world.

If we ever doubt God's reason, purpose, and perfect timing for our lives, we only need to look at the hundreds of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled to realize that He's always had His hand in each and every detail! There's nothing that happens in your life or mine that's outside the plan and the will of God. He sees the bigger picture -- even when we don't.

There are too many different elements of the Gospel story that line up perfectly for it to be dismissed as coincidence. It's not bad to question why we believe what we believe, but at some point we have to have faith in what the Bible says or pass it off as nothing more than a hoax. If it's a hoax, there's no "Christ" in Christmas...and if there's no "Christ" in Christmas, then we're still waiting for a Messiah who will come and save us from our sins.

The Christmas story is about Jesus giving Himself for us. He came to earth as a baby who would grow up to die for our sins. And in response, He asks us to love Him with our whole selves and hold nothing back. When we give Him all of us, it's amazing how He uses that commitment to change the world around us.

In the book of Exodus, we read how the Israelites needed the blood of a spotless lamb to save themselves from physical death. Today, we need the blood of God's spotless Lamb -- Jesus -- to save us from spiritual death. And when we understand there's nothing else that can save us but the blood of Christ, we realize how important it is to share that news with others.

The Israelites wasted 20 long years because they chose not to repent and follow the Lord. They only brought more consequence on themselves in the end. Often, we're like the Israelites: we procrastinate on our repentance, and God allows consequences to come our way in order to draw us back to Him.

How amazing is it that God wants to use you and me to reach people?! But in order to do that, we have to be willing to see past the "impossible" and believe in Him to make all things possible. There's no better time and no greater opportunity than Christmas to step out in obedience and boldly proclaim the Gospel - let's trust God to give us the words and the courage we need.

God gave up His one and only Son so that we could be offered the gift of eternal life. All He asks is that we offer ourselves to Him in return. Scripture teaches us to surrender our whole lives to the Lord, and then to stand back and watch the amazing things He can do with us.

In a time when people have never owned more stuff, we've never been more owned by our stuff. So we tend to get uncomfortable when we read Jesus' charge to us to care for the poor, particularly when it requires self-sacrifice. It might not sound appealing to part with our things, but things should always take a backseat to people -- especially when those people have the potential to become brothers or sisters in Christ as a consequence of the love, compassion, and generosity we extend to them.

God called Mary to bear His Son -- a task so monumental and "impossible" that there's no way she could have followed through unless she had faith. She trusted God to do what He said, and to equip her with everything she'd need to fulfill His purpose for her. God calls us to that same kind of obedience -- the kind that requires our dependence on Him -- and when we rely on Him, our faith not only grows, but we become a living, breathing showcase to the amazing things that only He can do.