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Richard Ellis delves into the vital role of discipline, drawing parallels between parental and divine correction. He distinguishes discipline from punishment, highlighting that God's "spoon" is used not out of anger but love, to teach and guide His children toward obedience and holiness. The episode uses various biblical passages to illustrate how loving correction, though often painful, yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, encouraging listeners to embrace God's discipline as a sign of His care.
Richard Ellis discusses God's intention for humans to live in community, rather than isolation, drawing on biblical examples from Genesis and the Lord's Prayer. He stresses the necessity of establishing a vertical relationship with God before horizontal relationships can truly thrive. The episode concludes with a call to listeners to embody a shepherd's heart by reaching out to others and supporting the program's mission to spread the gospel globally.
Richard Ellis discusses alcohol from a Christian perspective, emphasizing that the issue isn't alcohol itself but its misuse and the consequences of drunkenness. He challenges religious judgment, advocating for a life lived to the glory of God, whether eating or drinking. The episode delves into biblical warnings from Proverbs and New Testament instructions to be filled with the Spirit instead of wine, offering a better way to live free from addiction's grip.
Since the Church is made up of human beings it is inevitable to be messy because sin is involved. We need to understand for ourselves and for others that change is a process and God works on His people in His own timing and we must extend grace while He works.
God wants a relationship with us more than He wants to give us whatever we ask for. Rather than letting our prayers be all about asking for whatever we want, we must first seek a relationship with Him and then He will change our hearts to ask for what lines up with His will for us.
It’s never wrong to ask God for something, whether it be a way to make our lives easier or a way to avoid suffering that is coming. But when we choose to ignore the answer He gives us because we don’t like it, we set ourselves up for more suffering in the long run. We must first be willing to say “Yes” to God in anything He asks, and that is when we will learn to be content with Him when His answer is “No.”
There are many examples in the New Testament where the apostles were persecuted for preaching the Gospel, yet they responded by rejoicing in the Lord and He blessed them for it. When we follow their example, we may not receive the blessing here on earth but He gives us peace to endure the suffering and promises to bless us in Heaven.
When we find ourselves in difficult circumstances we need to call out to God and ask for His help, then keep our eyes open to recognize how He chooses to help us. We never need to fix ourselves before approaching God because only He can fix us anyway.
The Bible tells us that Jesus took on our sin so as to heal us from it, but that doesn’t mean we won’t face suffering in this life. It is better that we suffer for obeying Him than for choosing sin.
There are many women who have lost a child, either by their own sin of choosing to give up that life or by other causes. Though it should not be the reasoning for becoming a Christian so as to see a child who has passed from this world to be with God, there is hope for mothers who follow Christ that they will once again be reunited with their children who have gone to be with the Lord.
We all face moments in our lives where we feel under pressure, sometimes more than others. That pressure can either cause us to run to sin or run to God. We need to make sure that we are running to God because He promises to bring us through it.
The Bible tells us that as a child may not always understand the reasons of a parent, we may not always understand God’s reasoning for things, however we are still called to trust Him even if we don’t get it. God’s Word may not always make sense but we know that He can be trusted, and so when He makes promises that declare His love for us we can cling to those promises in the midst of trials and pain.
There are times in our lives when we face suffering and pain, and we may pray fervently that God would just take it all away. Sometimes it is His purpose that we face those things in order to bring us closer to Him, and we know that we never face them alone.
The world offers all sorts of pleasures, falsely promising to be satisfying but always finding to be leaving you more empty than before. God offers us a full and abundant life through Jesus Christ. Because of His death and resurrection, we can live a life where our soul is satisfied in the Most High.
Mother’s Day can be a difficult day for many women, as well as men, as it can bring up painful topics of loss. God addressed problems of motherhood in many places in Scripture, and He proved His ability and power to perform miracles. When we are in His family, He looks after us and discipline our disobedience because He requires obedience from all His children.
The sin of prejudice in all of us keeps us from being the unified Body of Christ that God calls His Church to be. We need to let go of our differences and love each other equally so that the world looks at us and sees that there is no way we could be unified like this unless God is at work. When we love each other and worship together, it is as if we are practicing for the way it will be in Heaven.
There is a difference between humble confidence and fake humility, and confidence is rightly available to us in Christ. There is nothing wrong with seeing ourselves how God sees us, and once we realize He loves us and we grow to love Him, we can then love others just as we love ourselves.
Instead of being intimidated by the Bible we need to open it up and read it, allowing God to use it in our lives to speak to us and change us. If there is something we don’t understand then we need to find someone who can teach it to us. The Bible is full of treasures that God has given to us to reveal Himself and His love for us.
If there are things about ourselves that we are displeased with but can change, we should change those things. But for the things we cannot change we must learn to accept them and ask God how He can use those things for His glory. We can’t spend our whole lives complaining about the things that feel unfair.
We all try to portray a certain image through the way we look, the things we have and the careers we choose. When God made us He put His own image inside each of us and the only way we can reflect who He is in us is if Christ is working and changing us from the inside out.
The Bible says that the only way we can get into Heaven is through Jesus alone, not our good works. Jesus paid the full cost for all of our sin, forgiving us completely and providing us with the free gift of salvation.
Just as going without food for a length of time can make us hungry, we can feel the spiritual need we have for God the more we go without Him. The problem is that we try to fill that need with other things. Jesus is the only one who can truly satisfy us and so we need to go to Him and allow Him to wine and dine.
Proverbs 31 describes a virtuous woman that every woman should strive to become. No matter how difficult or easy our circumstances, we cannot achieve this without Christ who gives us strength and who works in us and through us to make us more like Himself.
There are plenty of things about Scripture and the Gospel story that could bring a person to question its truth. If we are truly seeking God, He will reveal Himself to us. Then we must choose to put our faith in Him, follow Him, and love Him, ourselves and others as He calls us to.
When Jesus lives and is working in us, we can’t help but to speak up and tell others about it. God will bring opportunities our way to tell others about Him and we need to have the boldness to step out of our comfort zones and say something.
The way God designed the family to work is for the man to be the head and take the responsibility. The only way this can work in the greatest way is if that man is following God as his head. God is good and full of grace to help pick the man up when he has stumbled so that he can continue moving forward, following after God’s model of perfect love.
Encouragement, like dessert, is something that we can all live without but is wonderful when it happens. God can use things in our own lives to encourage us out of the blue, and when we are fulfilled by His encouragement then He can use us to help encourage others, too.
There is a difference between reading the Bible and applying what it says to our lives. We only start growing spiritually when we allow what we are reading to be applied to our lives. Once Scripture starts making a difference in us, we can begin to seek out other people to help them learn to do the same.
Once we become Christians we are only supposed to act like babies for so long until we begin to grow and mature. Too often Christians allow malice, envy and anger in their hearts that prevent them from growing. Baby Christians need to find someone to feed them pure milk, and then, letting go of certain sins in their heart, grow from there.
The Old Testament spoke of multiple temples that were built over different time periods used to worship the Lord and hold His presence. Now that through Christ we are offered salvation and relationship with God, our bodies become the temple of God where His Spirit resides. We must now walk through this dark world to bring light and rescue the lost.
