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.