James - What Have I Forgotten? w/Gary Ellis

Well, we are in our second week of a series that

we're just calling James because it is based

out of the book of James in your Bible. And this

summer, we're going to have a handful of other

people that will be preaching. And so Gary Ellis

is going to be coming up to the front. Gary is

a longtime pastor, has actually founded and begun

many ministries here in the Quad Cities as well

as doing international missions. And so I've

been so blessed. to get to know him over this

last year and a half. And I'm excited to hear,

he has not preached in a year and a half, because

that's when he retired. So he's, I guarantee

you, no rust. He's that good. So will you please

give a warm welcome to Mr. Gary Ellis as he continues

to our series. Thank you. Thank you. I get to

be a big shot on a real nice stool here. Yeah,

about a year and a half. Time flies, doesn't

it? Because we've been here about a year and

a half. And it's hard to believe that it's been

that time goes so fast. Of course, I don't understand

it. Maybe you understand it, that the older you

get, the faster time flies. And so anyway. We've

been here for a year and a half, and the reason

that we are here is that we found a home at the

house. We love Pastor Greg and Pastor Jen. We

love and are on such a same page with the practical

theology of it, of the inclusion, of the way

that they seek and see the scriptures and how

they relate the scriptures. Love the people.

Love all you. All you youngins. By youngins,

I mean anybody 60 and under. And I'm not going

to leave out the middle -agers. Those are 60

to 80. And then once you reach 80, like myself,

although I'm not sure if there's anybody else

in the house except my wife that's 80 years old,

you enter the golden age of senior weirdness.

That you know like stuff like you develop a special

relationship with a guy named Arthur last name

itis and I've forgotten a lot of stuff and don't

know what I don't even know what to remember

and why I've forgotten it but a Couple of the

things just recently and then we'll get into

today's lesson too But just letting you know

a little bit about myself and my senior weirdness

Forgotten a lot of stuff. Don't know why I forgot

it, what I even forgot. The other day, though,

I remembered that I was looking for my glasses.

Couldn't find them anywhere. Where in the world

did they go? Now, if you're jumping ahead of

me, you think, oh yeah, they're up on your head.

Nope. That's not where they were. They were on

my face. I also lost my phone the other day.

I couldn't go into all the rooms, you know, even

in the bathroom, down in the basement. Where

is my phone? So I finally said, honey, would

you call me so that I can find my phone? And

she said, sure. A few seconds later, my pocket

buzzed. So I forget things. The scripture passage

that we're talking about today out of James 1

is James 1, 13 to 27. And so we have a tradition

here at the house, our home, our home. We have

a tradition that we give honor to the word of

God by standing during the reading of the word

of God. And you can either follow, try to follow

along, or you can just simply listen. But if

you could do that, if you are able to stand,

if not, that's fine too. James 1, 13 to 27. It

says, no one when tempted should say, I am being

tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by

evil, and he himself tempts no one. But one is

tempted by one's own desire, being lured and

enticed by it. Then, when that desire is conceived,

it gives birth to sin. And that sin, when it's

fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be

deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every

generous act of giving, with every perfect gift,

is from above, coming down from the Father of

lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow

due to change. In fulfillment of his purpose,

he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that

we would become a kind of first fruits of his

creatures. You must understand this. My beloved

brothers and sisters. And I like the way he's

saying that. Gives you an idea of what the tone

is here. He's not shaking his finger, and he's

not bringing out a whip. He's talking to brothers

and, beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone

be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

For human anger does not prove God, prove God's,

or produce God's righteousness. Therefore, rid

yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth

of wickedness. And welcome with humility the

implanted word that has the power to save your

souls. But be doers of the word and not merely

hearers who deceive themselves. For if any hears

of the word and are not doers, they're like those

who look at themselves in a mirror. They look

at themselves and on the way going out, they

immediately forget what they were like. But those

who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty,

and persevere. Being not hearers who forget,

but doers who act, they will be blessed in their

doing. If any think they are religious and do

not brighten their tongues, but deceive their

own hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion

is pure and undefiled before God the Father.

And it's this, to care for the orphans and widows

in their distress and to keep oneself unstained

by the world. Heavenly Father. We thank you today.

We praise you for the precision of your word,

the inspiration that corrects without condemning.

Spirit of God, we ask you today to open our eyes

and open our ears that we might see and we might

hear what you have to say to each of us individually

today. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

Well, the title, as you might guess from the

two minutes for one question, is What Have I

Forgotten? What Have I Forgotten? The subtitle

might be What Difference Does It Make? See, this

is the difference it makes. What you remember

has a tremendous impact on how you are able to

cope with life. What you remember... We're not

talking about remember that you're rot -gut sinners

that don't have anything good about you. Religion

tells us that, but it's not true. Religion tells

us that, yeah, you're saved by grace, you're

forgiven, but you're still guilty. You're just

not charged with guiltiness. You know, so much

of the time, we point back to the sin focus.

Religious Christianity focuses on sin. Rather

than the power and gift of the cross of Christ.

And what we need to do is remember what we have

in Christ. And we need to start, I'm not downplaying

that sin is not a good thing. It takes us off

track. But it takes us away from who we really

are in Christ. Because it's remembering who we

really are in Christ forms how we think. And

how we think is ultimately how we act. And so

what we think about is how we will respond. It's

like, sister there has the t -shirt, be the change.

We can become the change as we begin to think

right. We are thinking right, righteous, as we

are thinking like Christ. That we are thinking

like Christ. has given us the victory through

him that he is indwelling us. It reminds me of

James. James reminds me of Nehemiah 8. Now, Nehemiah

8 is a story where the people had been dispersed,

just like in James. They had been dispersed and

scattered about. They hadn't been in their own

country for a while. It says that they sat by

the side of the river and cried because they

lost their... their own land. The land was really

important to them. It was their identity. And

so they were kicked out of, separated from their

identity. And so now they were beginning to rebuild,

but they had forgotten a lot. And they had been

reprogrammed by a lot. And the same thing had

happened to the dispersion or the scattering

of the Jews in the book of James. They had forgotten.

who they were. They had begun to develop a lifestyle

and a thinking pattern of the world around them.

Because, you know, that's the way it is. We are

formed by that which is around us. We are formed

by that which we allow ourselves to focus upon.

And so James is really talking about what are

you focusing on? See, this is what you've been

focusing on. You've been focusing on the old

ways of thinking. James is not saying you're

still sinners by nature. Well, you have what,

Gary? Jeremiah 9 -7 tells me that I'm a worthless

sinner. There's no good in me. Yeah, well, Paul

said, I'm a new creation. And when he uses the

word new, it's not renovated. It's new, never

before existed. So that means if what was existing

before was a sinner that was nothing but deception

in their own hearts, if you're brand new, then

that's not who you are. So then why do I still

do this? Well, Paul said the same thing, didn't

he, in Romans 7. He said, I want to do what I

want to do. I don't do what I don't want to do.

I do. do. I'm frustrated by it. But in the eighth

chapter, he says, but I found the answer. It's

discovering who I am in Christ. Discovering who

I am in Christ has given me the power to do what

the life of Christ is all about. In other words,

his will on earth as it is in heaven. Sometimes

we're looking forward to, once I get out of this

dumpster fire, then I will be able to live like

Christ. You realize that Christ, when it says

you're going to have tribulation in the world,

but be of good cheer, because I have overcome

the world, he didn't have to overcome for himself.

He overcame, Andy, for you. You are already an

overcomer. It may not feel like it. But our security

is found not on our performance or our lack of

performance, but who we are already in Christ.

And it's believing, 2 Corinthians 5 .17, that

I am a new creature. What I used to be, I am

no longer. It may look like it because I need

to re -remember. who I really am. But as I remember

who I really am, you realize that we act like

who we think we are. Interesting story. It's

a parable. It's about a eagle that was raised

by chickens. And this eagle lived in the barnyard

with the chickens. And occasionally, it would

see the eagle fly over above. And it kind of

looked like him. But he wished, I wish I could

fly. But I can't fly because I'm a chicken. Why

did he think he was a chicken? Because that's

all he saw around him. That's all he saw around

him. And we are very much, our lives are formed

by who we think we are. We get caught in this

trap so easily. Lord, I want to follow you, but

you know I'm just a failure at it. I feel so

bad. Did you know that when God convicts us of

our sin, he is not convicting us to make us feel

bad. He is convicting us and convincing us, which

is what convicting means. He is working to convince

us who we really are. Because as we begin to

believe who we really are, then that... Comes

with the power that changes things in a major

way within us. Not instantaneously, but as a

process. So what happened? Jumping back just

a moment to Nehemiah chapter. They stood and

listened like we just did. But they started to

weep because they saw everywhere where they were

sinners. Isn't that sometimes the way we respond

to verses like James 1, 13 to 27? We focus on

what we're not and think that's who we are. Say

that with me. I focus on what I'm not instead

of who I am. But God wants me to focus on who

I am. On who I'm not, not on who I am. You see,

are you still with me? Say, I'm still with you,

Gary. Okay. They were crying, and they were weeping,

and God said something very weird through the

prophet Nehemiah. It's something I didn't realize.

I couldn't put my head around it for a long time.

In fact, if you can get your head around something,

it may be not enough God. Because he is far beyond

our understanding in so many ways. He's very,

very practical, but he doesn't think totally

like we think all the time. He is training us

to think more and more like him. But what he

said was something like what Jesus said when

he said, consider it all joy. He said, today

is holy, therefore stop crying. But I thought

holiness... was being somber about how bad I

am. Marissa? Right? But being holy is not being

somber. There's a place for somberness. There

is a somber assembly. That's true. For specific

occasions. But not the sweeping, I'm just a sinner.

Oh, I'm saved by grace, but I'm still just a

sinner. Because as we think that way, then that's

how we act. We have no power to overcome. We're

asked to remember over and over and over again

in the scriptures. Why? Because we've forgotten.

Because we've forgotten. There is a power in

remembering. There is a power in re -realizing

who we are in Christ. But once again, it is a

process. And what he says is, consider today

holy, because this didn't make sense to me. Throw

a party. Because the joy of the Lord is your

strength. They heard all the little things that

they were missing, and he tells them to stop

crying, throw a party. Because it is the joy

of the Lord that is your strength. And how do

we get the joy of the Lord? By remembering who

we are. We're constantly told to remember. One

of the last things he said to us was to remember

who he was. What was he saying to the people?

He was asking them to remember. There's several

things he was saying. But he was also saying,

remember. I am the bread of life. And as I am

giving part of this to you, I am giving my life

to you. The bread is the basics of life. I am

redeeming you from the pit of destruction. And

I am giving you myself, which is the bread of

life, so that you can have the life in every

practical area of your life. to be an overcomer,

rather than be pressed down by the sins of the

way of thinking that this world has trained you

to think. Not because by nature you're a sinner,

but because you've been retrained to think that

way. Take a $10 bill. Fold it up. Get a little

dirt on it. What's it worth? $10. It didn't lose

its value. And you haven't lost your value to

God. Say that with me. I have not lost my value

to God. No matter what. So, when he says in James

to consider it all joy, he's not saying, go hug

a cactus and be happy about it. Or, stub your

toe on the table in the dark and say, whoa, I

needed that. Or he's also not saying, pull a

rusted nail out of your tire and sing how sweet

it is. That's not what he's saying. He's not

saying, go down the grocery store aisle and sing,

while the prices are rising, hallelujah. He's

not saying that. He's saying, change your focus

from how you're not acting like Christ. how you're

not the imago Dei, the imago Dei, how you're

not acting like the new creation in Christ, and

realize what I realized, Paul said, when I discovered

it's through Christ that I am a victor over all

of this stuff. Now, because we have become used

to the old way of thinking, and that has formed

neurological paths in our thinking, looking at

it scientifically. They used to think that your

heads were like granite. Well, maybe some still

are. They used to think that the brain was like

cement. Once you got to be so old, everything's

set. Then back several years ago, they began

to discover something called neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity simply means your brain can be

reprogrammed. And yet it's reprogrammed by what

you listen to and what you say to yourself. Both

silently inside. You know, once I began to realize

that, Denise, I stopped saying, what's wrong

with you? I remember one time. You've heard this

story before, Denise. I remember one time when

I was, I can't even remember what it was anymore,

but I had done something again. You know, something,

put your old label in there. I had done something

again. And I went, and I threw, I can still see

it. I threw myself on the bed, and I said, God,

what is the matter with me? You know, he spoke

immediately. It was immediate, Marissa. That

voice, that perception of his words, it could

have been out loud, said, I don't want to talk

to you about that. I want to talk to you about

what's right with you. A lot of you have been

saying, how stupid could you be in calling yourself

names? You need to stop it. It's not getting

you any further ahead. You need to start letting

your brain be rewired because it can be. It changes

even up to the personality changes in a certain

degree. What you were before, you are no longer.

What you were just an angry person now becomes

a happy person. It's all about the power of how

we think. Wherever our focus goes, our energy

flows, somebody said. So it counted all joy.

Practical theology. Help us make this practical

by rewriting this as if James lived in our culture

in the first 2025. Because a lot of times we

listen to scripture in terms of how it was written

to the ancients. But what would it have been

like if James had been alive today? And written

to us in 2025. What it might have sounded like.

You might have said something like this. So let's

clear this up right now. God didn't send the

storm to test you. God isn't the one setting

you up to fail. Then sitting back with arms folded

to see how long you're going to last. To let

you know how disappointed he is in you. That

voice. isn't the voice of your heavenly father.

That's the echo of fear, shame, and bad religion

still lodged in your bones. Temptation doesn't

come from God. It comes from the ache inside

of you, the desire to be loved. See, we've been

told it comes from we have an evil nature. That

is not true. Not according to Paul. Not according

to the scripture. Not even according to Nehemiah.

I mean, it's so ridiculous. Is it through a party?

Temptation doesn't come from God. It comes from

the ache inside, the desire to be loved, seen,

wanted. But when we don't believe we're already

loved, we start grabbing at shadows. And shadows

never satisfy. It starts small. It starts subtle.

Just a tiny compromise to feel safe. The desire

then turns to distraction. Now this is James

writing to a 21st century audience. Or I mean

the year 2025. Distraction grows into disconnection.

And before you know it, your soul is starving

in a room full of noise. And here's the dangerous

part. We start calling the ache. God's will,

our old nature. But it's not. It's just a soul

fretting and forgetting who he and she is. So

don't be fooled, beloved. God is not chaotic

like the algorithms. He doesn't shift with the

stock market, political cycles, or trending hashtags.

Every good thing, the kind that heals you instead

of hooks you, comes from him. He's not the flicker.

He's the father full of full light. And here's

where it gets real. We weren't saved just to

be safe. We were born again to become whole.

You carry his DNA now. Say that with me. I carry

his DNA now. So act like it. well, how am I going

to act like it? Because I'm learning to think

like it. Not because you're learning, trying

to earn something, but because your new nature

is rising like spring transitioning from winter.

Don't just binge sermons and scroll verses. Let

the word undo you. Let it get into your bones

and rearrange the parts of you that forgot how

to hope. God's not looking for hearers. He's

looking for mirrors, people who reflect what

they've received. Not perfectly, but honestly.

When it's messy, faithfully, daily. Because here's

the danger in 2025. We've gotten so good at curating

a persona, we forgot how to cultivate a soul.

We've gotten so good at looking spiritual online

that we forget to look strangers in the eye with

compassion. And remember this, real faith shows

up in the small unseen places. Like caring for

the overlooked and keeping your heart soft in

a world built on performance and pretense. Refuse

to let the world's chaos become your compass.

Not because you're focused on falling apart.

It's because you're intimately known and know

the one who holds you together. True religion

is this. Care for the people the world overlooks.

Widows, orphans, people with no platform, no

protection, no voice. It's showing up when no

one's watching. Loving the forgotten, feeding

the hungry, visiting the isolated, and keeping

your soul clean in a dirty world. Not by escaping

it. but by staying rooted in the better way who

you are in Christ. So the title of the sermon,

What Have I Forgotten? Yes, what have I forgotten?

I've forgotten who I am in Christ. And when the

old ways of thinking start creeping in and we

start becoming fearful and angry, ask yourself

this question. And when you wake up in the morning

worried about the day ahead is going to be, Ask

yourself this question. Wait a minute. What have

I forgotten? What have I forgotten? I am carrying

his DNA. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.

This old stuff is gone. I don't have to act like

it. And then you begin. This neuroplasticity

starts changing the way you think. And the way

you think. Little by little starts changing the

way you act. Jonathan Martin, and I'm getting

ready to have the plane come in for a landing.

Jonathan Martin, who's a pastor and author and

a practical theologian, said this. When you know

your beloved, the lies lose their grip. When

you know your beloved, the lies... lose their

grip. Here's another one that he said. The power

to overcome doesn't come from trying harder.

It comes from remembering who you are. Let me

finish with this. It's about the joy that comes

from waking up more and more to what it really

means to be a new creation, even while everything

around you feels like a dumpster fire. How many

of you would remember the song that's been out

a few years by Lauren Daigle called You Say?

That's what I'd like to end with today. I keep

finding voices in my mind. that say I'm not enough.

You're enough. You are enough. I keep fighting

voices in my mind that say I'm not enough. Every

single lie that tells me I will never measure

up. Am I more than just the sum of every high

and every low? Remind me once again just who

I am because I need to know. You say I'm loved

when I can't feel a thing. You say I am strong

when I think that I am weak. And you say I am

held when I'm falling apart. And when I don't

belong, oh, you say I am yours. And I believe.

I believe. I am enough. I do measure up. I am

relearning who I am in Christ. And as James reminds

me what the old thinking looks like, I remember

that, wait a minute, I'm not that anymore. I'm

a new creation. In the era of politics, where

everything feels cracked, politics, churches,

friendships, even your own faith, James is still

whispering, don't give up. Remember who you are.

Pray with me. Lord, we commit these words to

the work of your spirit to produce your harvest

of life, your bread of life within us that we

then can become the bread of life in this world.

Help us to learn how to... nourish ourselves

from the living bread that is part of who we

are. Through Christ we pray.