Effective Prayer and Making a Choice of Two Paths...James 5:13-18

As far as an ongoing thing, I would say it's most people's experience I've had in my life.

Me too.

COVID was bad.

Where does it get the main thing?

Well, you can say that, I don't care, but I never meant to do it.

Bad.

Some time ago, probably about, I'd say eight, maybe ten years ago, I decided I was going to make my own bread.

Anybody in here ever try to make your own bread?

It's kind of fun, isn't it?

It's kind of...

You failed miserably?

Well, that's the story I'm about to tell you, actually.

It was my first attempt at making bread.

So I dug around in the cupboard and I found some little packets of yeast.

And normally, the normal way of making bread is to use little packets of yeast to make it rise, right?

Or however you get your yeast.

There are ways to make bread rise without yeast.

That works good for gluten-free bread.

This is before we started doing gluten-free so much in my household.

My wife is gluten-free because she has an intolerance and it messes with her gut.

Before that, I was making some bread and I went in the cupboard, I dug out some yeast, and I thought, this will work.

I had a little packet of yeast and I looked on it and it said, used by...

And it was about three years, almost three years before the date that I was trying to make the bread.

So that left me in a position.

I either had to go buy more yeast or give it a try.

And so I looked it up and it said, well, if it's still active, it should be fine.

It doesn't matter what the used by date is.

And so I decided I would give it a try and make the bread.

And I put the bread all together and I put the yeast in there and I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting.

And it did not rise.

So apparently my yeast was no good.

The truth is, if you're going to make bread with yeast, you need yeast.

Now I had the alternative.

I could have looked into making bread some other way.

They use xanthan gum and some other things in gluten-free bread.

Or I could have tried to make the bread without yeast, completely without yeast.

The recipe just like normal, but without yeast.

And neither way.

One way didn't appeal to me and the other way wasn't really a possibility because it's not going to become bread, right?

Flatbread maybe.

So I want you to think today because we're going to get to a point in this scripture today where we're going to narrow down our duties as Christian to a very narrow scope.

And at that point, it's kind of like A or B. Choose one or the other.

I want you to realize that there are a lot of things that we talk about doing as Christians.

There are a lot of things we talk about our responsibilities as Christians.

But we're going to narrow at one moment in time, we're going to narrow those things down to just two things.

And so if you get wrapped up in any of the other hundreds of things, it's not that they're bad things per se.

But if they can't be connected with one of these two things, then we kind of have a problem.

And the problem might be that you're trying to make bread without yeast or you're trying to make bread by calling yourself a Christian and being a Christian,

but using other methods other than yeast without really understanding that without the original two, it doesn't work.

Okay?

So grab your Bibles if you would.

We have a relatively short passage of scripture.

We usually give an amen, a hoot or a holler or something as we go to James, Chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

Amen.

Thank you very much, those of you who participated in that.

What was the purpose of that?

That is to remind us what we are about to do is to read the scripture and from here on out it is not really about what I say or about what you say

or about what you think or what I think.

It's really what God thinks.

And so this is what James, our brother in Christ, wrote to the local church a while, some while after Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.

And so we'll start reading in verse 13.

It says, Chapter 5 of the Book of James, verse 13, it says,

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Now we're going to stop there for a second to make sure we understand what we just read.

So the first part where it says suffering, that means something's going wrong.

Okay?

Now this kind of suffering excludes illness.

Okay?

So this is a word of suffering meaning something's going wrong, logistically, relationally, financially, your job, whatever.

Some kind of problems in your life, trials and tribulations if you will.

And what does that person do?

The command is, let him pray.

Let the one, and the actual pronoun there is neuter, so it's, you could say let him or her pray.

So the point is, if you're suffering, if you're in a bad spot, you're supposed to pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

I submit to you that this cheerful basically means you're doing in your own mind pretty good.

Happy, satisfied, content with the basic circumstances.

That's what it literally means.

But, well let's say it this way first.

Let him sing praises.

So we've got one who's supposed to pray and one who's supposed to praise.

Okay?

Now I would say to you that people get wrapped up in what they think is true.

In fact, most of the time we believe what we think is true.

Anybody see the problem with that?

That's really not the order of things, is it?

You're supposed to think true what you believe.

Right?

So we believe opening a channel between us and God, grace shows up.

Ever since I've been saved, it would have been virtually impossible, almost impossible.

And I've had some people try for someone to convince me that there is no God of heaven.

Because I had a personal encounter with him.

Right?

And I know there's a lot of people who were raised without a biological dad.

You never met your biological dad or your biological dad left maybe when you were a teenager or something.

And you basically went through and became a man or became a woman without your dad.

But you know you had a dad, right?

You either met them so you know they were a real person or you understand the science behind it that says that they made a significant contribution to your beginning.

And so you know that you had a dad.

It's undeniable.

Right?

But the problem is some people think they're suffering when in reality it's not all that bad.

And some people think things are not all that bad when in reality it's pretty bad.

Right?

So we kind of fool ourselves.

Example is in mourning.

We deny.

We deny that the person is dead.

We lost our loved one.

They've gone to the Lord or worse.

And now we deny that they're dead.

That's denial.

So we think it's got to be okay because they're not actually dead.

But they actually have gone on.

And so that's denial.

So sometimes we think we're okay when we're not.

Sometimes we think we're really hurting when we're not.

Our minds are not always clear.

So let me restate it for you this way.

If anyone among you thinks he is suffering, let him pray.

Now I submit to you he is calling for you to have an open mind to really understand when you're suffering and when you're not.

That's true.

But if you assess your situation and you're like I'm not 100% sure if I'm suffering, but I think I am, then you're called to pray.

If on the other hand you look at your situation and you're pretty content, things are pretty good, things are working.

Even though I've got some suffering, I realize I'm a lot better off than some people.

I think I'm okay.

Then sing praises.

When I'm in worship, sometimes I put my hands up.

Some people are like allergic to that, right?

Like I put their hands up like, oh, like we're going to break out in dog barking or something in the next moment, right?

Like it's going to be crazy if we raise our hands.

But the scripture actually commands us in worship, in Psalms especially, to praise God with raised hands.

It's commanded.

It's not an option.

It's commanded.

And so there should be a time if you want to do it privately because you're really embarrassed or you have bad VO under your arms or something, if you want to do it privately, that's between you and God.

But it's commanded in scripture to raise your hands.

So you raise your hands.

You raise your hands like this and you recognize God is awesome.

God is so far above me like the angels in heaven crying, holy, holy, holy.

He's amazing.

You raise your hands like this.

You raise your hands like this when you're saying I need God.

I need God to do something.

I need God to affect my heart.

Right?

And there's two separate words in the Hebrew for that.

One's this and one's this.

And both are commanded.

And so that's what he's saying.

When you realize you are in need, when you realize you are suffering, you have issues, you pray to God.

Open your hands.

Listen to what are just testimony.

Right?

Listen to me and I will fix it, says the Lord.

So you say, okay, God, I am listening.

You actively open up and listen.

And then the praise is when you realize that you're doing pretty good.

You're content.

Things are okay.

So you praise him recognizing his power.

Now, what's the third alternative?

Well, you go on to 14.

What's left is this.

Is anyone among you sick?

So you remember the suffering in the first part of the previous verse was that kind of suffering rules out sickness.

Right?

It's situational suffering, not sickness.

And so that leaves only one other alternative.

If anyone among you is sick, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

So whether he or she is sick, either way, all neuter pronouns here.

And so as male or female, either one, they call upon the elders.

The elder word is interesting.

That is the presbyteros word.

Okay?

So whenever you see elder in the Bible, it's pretty much interchangeable with pastor.

Pastor, elder, bishop, all the same word, presbyteros pretty much, or a version thereof.

And so what we're talking about is someone who's been in the church longer or someone who's been in the church and is recognized by the church as someone who something has a characteristic, a certain characteristic.

Okay?

Could you say this is a position so the church altogether says, well, we recognize, right, Curtis, we're going to make you an elder.

You clearly love the Lord.

You're serving God.

You're righteous by his standards.

Best we can tell, we're going to make you an elder.

Right?

It could be that because that would be like ordaining.

That would be like the church recognizing that person.

Right?

When the Catholic Church calls people saints, they say, well, that person was definitely a saint, which is kind of comical in a way because every Christian is a saint.

We say, well, God did miracles in their life and they really serve the Lord.

So they must have been a saint.

Right?

And when they do that, that could be electing them to a position.

But the truth is they are, whether or not we recognize them.

So whoever it is in the church that fills this characteristic, and I'll get there before we're through.

I'll tell you what that characteristic, side of characteristics is.

This person calls out for those people to come to them to pray over them and to anoint their head with oil.

The anointing is an interesting thing.

So this is typically accomplished with extra virgin olive oil.

Pretty good cooking tool as well.

So you keep that on hand.

And then they will anoint them, meaning they put oil on their forehead.

Or it might be if you have pain in your hands, you might put it on their hands, more localized or whatever.

Right?

So you anoint them.

I went to the hospital.

There was a woman and she'd been a professing Christian while she was alive.

And now she was in her late 80s and she was in bed and she hadn't been conscious.

She'd been in a coma for like nine days.

And they said she was brain dead.

Said she would never live again.

And her family took her off the life support and she would not pass on.

She was laying there in the bed, brain dead.

And her body was moaning like it was inhabited by an evil spirit.

It was moaning and shaking around and violent.

And they had her strapped to the rails so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else.

And had her nails trimmed back down because that was the first attempt to keep her from hurting somebody else.

Even though she was brain dead.

So we went there.

Deacon Tony and I went there and we met with the family and we were going to pray over her.

But before we did, we anointed her head with oil.

We put a little smear of oil horizontally and vertically on her.

And the moment we put that oil on her forehead and then you explained it however you wanted.

The moment we did that she stopped.

And she lay there peacefully.

And then we prayed over her.

And I was not very comfortable in the room with the family because I knew that there was a drug dealer in the room.

A very violent individual and that was his mother.

And he and I had had run ins in the past.

It wasn't a very good situation.

There was a woman in the room who had blamed me for the suffering of their family.

I wasn't very comfortable with that either.

So I wasn't very comfortable in the room.

But I went because this woman who was a present Christian, not a member of our church, needed help.

And so we did that.

And then we prayed over her.

And you could hear them murmuring along as they prayed.

There were about 13 people or so praying over her.

And then I said, okay, well, we're going to go ahead and go.

And we kind of backed out of the room and we left.

And she passed away about five minutes later.

Anointing is not anything special.

You accomplish it with extra virgin olive oil, right?

And if you don't got that, you could use something else because it really isn't the quality of the oil that matters.

It's what it represents.

It's the power of God and who is going to do the work.

And so anointing has all the way back in the Old Testament been used to represent the coming of God on a person.

They anointed kings.

They anointed priests.

They anointed prophets.

Prophets did anointing.

Priests did anointing.

And it was all to recognize the power of God coming on someone.

And so now we've got certain people in the church who have the characteristic of being able to come and pray over someone and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

And so he says in verse 15, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick.

So it's kind of interesting that he says prayer offered in faith because I submit to you that there really isn't any other kind of real prayer, right?

It's got to be offered in faith in order for it to do anything.

It's not going to do anything if it's not offered in faith.

But the people that he's writing to clearly had questions about praying, clearly had questions about how it was legit that you could heal somebody, right?

And so he qualifies it as a prayer, bless you, offered in faith.

And it says it will restore the one who is sick.

And it says the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

And I think it's interesting because what did the person do that they would be healed?

What did they do that they would be healed and have their sins forgiven?

What did they do?

Well, they were sick, but they didn't really do that, right?

Unless they somehow made themselves sick, which is certainly a possibility, I suppose.

But it really wasn't the point.

They called on the elders.

They called on somebody with the characteristic that we're going to talk about later to come.

That's all they did. They were open.

They said, OK, I am open to being healed.

Remember Jesus at the pools?

Do you want to be healed? He said.

Here's a man who had been laying there for 12 years trying to get in the pool to be healed.

And he walked up to him and said, do you want to be healed?

And the man said, well, yeah, but every time the spirit comes, stirs the water,

somebody gets in before me and I can't be healed.

He said, do you want to be healed?

And the man, of course, said yes.

And Jesus heals him.

And so what did they do?

What did they do to earn it?

What did they do to deserve it?

The answer is nothing.

What did they get?

They got their sins forgiven and their ailment healed.

Not based in what they did other than the fact that they were open to it.

They were ready and willing.

And I submit to you, there is one more thing that's wrapped up in the characteristics of the individual.

We'll go to 16 then.

It says, therefore, and out here we're going to start touching on the characteristics of those individuals.

Therefore, confess your sin to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Therefore, because this is true, because those elders can come and anoint with oil and pray,

and this person's sins will be forgiven and their ailments will be healed, because of that, because that is true,

confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

Now this phrase, one another, occurs a lot in the New Testament.

We're not going to drill heartily down on it, but I just want to say this much to you.

There's a lot of things that we're supposed to do to one another.

They're all pretty much representing God.

Jesus said, a new command I give you.

It's not really a new command, but he was making it very clear that it was a new command because the church was new,

because God's people were new, because you're new.

Here's a new command for you. Love one another.

So you're going to have to throw out financial situations, social background, cultural background, race, career choices, sin, etc.

Love one another.

So here we are. Think about the people that are in this room.

We came together today to reach new heights in Jesus. That's where we started at.

We've talked about prayer. We've worshipped God and praised Him.

We've looked now into His Word.

James writes this as much to us as he did to them.

Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

This phrase here where it says, the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much,

on the one hand sounds kind of like it's almost like oversimply stated.

So, duh, if it's effective prayer, it's going to accomplish much.

That's what effective means.

Efficient means accomplish much with the least expenditure of energy or without a lot of time involved.

And effective means it gets it done.

So he says the effective prayer.

But the word there that is used for effective prayer has an interesting personality to it.

We'll come back and talk about that a little bit in just one moment.

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

So now we need a righteous man.

How do we get a righteous man?

That's the question.

So Jesus died. He became sin for us.

So that we might become the righteousness of God.

So I understand and you understand. I hope you didn't figure it out yet.

You understand as of now. You're with me Jason?

Alright. That you get your righteousness from God, not from you.

Let's keep it real simple. You get your righteousness from God.

God does righteousness. Man doesn't.

So then we have a problem because we're basically being called here and a variety of other places to be righteous.

And I submit to you that it's in the formula.

Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

And if you take out the so that you may be healed part for one second.

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

This is what we need to do.

We need to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.

And thereby make each other righteous.

You understand?

I don't know if you realize this or not.

But if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ you have been given a job to do.

There is a ministry of reconciliation. Paul talks about it that way.

But simply put your job is to forgive sins.

He said, well you can't forgive sins. I can't forgive sins. No one can do that. Only God can do that.

Yes. And for that purpose He has made us His representative.

Matthew 18. He gave us the keys of the kingdoms.

And all things you bind on earth shall have already been bound in heaven.

And all things you loose on earth shall have already been loosed in heaven.

Right? He gave us that purpose.

Go therefore and forgive the world their sins.

Now once they are forgiven if they believe it and they receive it and they recognize it.

They'll be like, how do you have the power and authority to do that?

I'll tell you it's through Jesus Christ who is Lord and Master of the universe who died on the cross to bestow that power.

God wants to forgive the sins of mankind.

Because God wanted to forgive the sins of mankind.

But God also is a just and holy God.

Punishment had to be paid.

And it has been through Jesus.

And now the message that we deliver is the remission of sins.

Forgiveness.

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Couple of examples here.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

By the way, what's our nature again?

Sinful nature.

I mean born again into the kingdom your sinful nature can be better.

You can start to have a godly nature.

You can start to grow in godly things and godly choices.

But the reality is we are humans.

Was Elijah a Christian?

No.

Because Elijah was born and died a long time before Christ.

But he recognized God and he said, okay God whatever way you make.

I'll give it all to you.

I surrender to you.

So Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

Like that he trusted in God even though it was tough.

And he prayed earnestly.

He just said, God please.

That it might not rain.

And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Now two interesting things in that is by the time James is writing this.

The first one is the scripture does not say that it specifically did not rain for three years and six months.

So that shows that the story is well known.

And that by the time James wrote the book of James.

He said three years and six months and everybody accepted that as a thing.

And they think it's like half of seven years.

Seven being the perfect number.

Also Elijah is attributed this trait.

That he was a man of much prayer.

But if you go in the scripture and read.

It doesn't say he was a man of much prayer.

He was a prophet but not a man of much prayer per se.

But by this time the history of the kingdom was such that God's people recognized him as a man of prayer.

An ordinary man who had become a man of prayer.

Who asked God not to let it rain.

And it had not rained for three and a half years.

And then in 18 it says.

And he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

My brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back.

So now we have a person who is supposedly saved as part of our fellowship here.

And they are straying from the truth.

And the truth is the way.

It's the path.

It's the activities that you engage in that are right based on what God says.

As he stray from the path.

It says and one turns him back.

Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way.

Will save his soul from death.

And will cover a multitude of sins.

Now I submit to you that in order for you to turn.

Know somebody is going the wrong way.

You got to know a little something about their life.

Hence the fellowship.

You're not going to save some guy in Canada named John.

Who goes and uses a prostitute this evening.

Because you won't know John.

You don't know that he's in sin.

You don't have any way to have contact with him.

But you do have this building.

You do have this people.

You do have this body.

You do have me.

You do have us.

Okay.

So that's the end of the text for today.

We'll use a couple more in support.

But there you go.

There's three things I want you to see.

Before you do that I want to have an illustration.

It is simply this.

The Myers near my house has been.

I have frequented them much.

It's pretty easy for me to walk to Myers.

It is easy for me to ride my bike to Myers.

I can take a little backpack.

I can buy half dozen, ten items.

By the way, four gallons of milk is real heavy.

It's over 30 pounds in a backpack.

It gets to be quite a bit to ride your bike.

But I've done it.

The point is this.

I've been to Myers a lot.

However, at roughly 11 o'clock I believe it is every night.

Myers closes one of its doors.

Now they do that for security purposes.

Because of less staffing.

That kind of thing.

They want people only coming in and out one door.

Now it's pretty much always been the pharmacy side.

That they've closed.

But there was a little while with the other side.

So one night I showed up and I wasn't paying any great attention.

And I had walked to Myers.

I've already walked.

I don't know what that is.

Maybe half a mile or whatever.

I've never really clocked it exactly.

And I've got my little backpack.

I go to the pharmacy side.

And the door is shut.

Locked.

Big sign.

Red print.

It says this door closed after 11 o'clock.

Please use the other door.

So I go back out.

And I walk all the way over to the produce side.

And I go inside.

And I walk all the way over to the pharmacy.

And buy the couple of things that I need.

I walk all the way back over to the store.

To the produce side.

I buy the couple of things I need.

And then I go to the register.

Now by this time I've walked a mile and a half.

Right?

And I go to the register.

And I pay.

And I go out.

And I walk home with my stuff.

And I unload it from my backpack.

Fast forward about three weeks.

I walk over to Myers.

I've got my backpack on.

I walk up to Myers.

I walk up to the pharmacy side.

And it opens.

And I get right in.

I mean it's three weeks ago.

I was here this time of night.

Couldn't get in this way.

Now I can.

I go inside.

I didn't have to buy anything from the pharmacy that night coincidentally.

I go into the produce side.

Buy what I need.

Walk around the store.

Can't go out the produce side.

Even though I bought the produce right over there.

And then I go all the way back to the pharmacy.

I go outside.

I walk home.

I walked less that night.

But I still walked quite a bit.

Go another time.

You know walking up there.

And I'm thinking to myself.

I don't know which door is going to be closed.

Right.

So I walk up to Myers.

I get where I can see the pharmacy side door.

And I'm like a hundred yards away.

And I'm looking to see is there a big red sign in the window.

And lo and behold there was.

And so I didn't even walk up to the pharmacy side.

I walked all the way over to the grocery side.

And went in.

And walked all around.

Got everything I needed.

And walked home.

One door closes after 11 o'clock.

You can only get in through the open door.

There is only one open door.

And you can only get in that way.

And you can only get out that way.

Unless there's a fire.

Or if you want to get yelled at.

Alright.

So we must choose.

We are not going to choose who we serve.

But we are going to choose by which discipline we will relate to Him.

These verses say to us that if you are in suffering.

You pray.

And if you perceive yourself to be basically blessed and doing pretty well.

You praise.

And if you're sick and that's your one kind of oddball out.

Right?

And you need.

Then you get somebody else of certain character to come and pray for you.

That's interesting isn't it?

So now I'm a Christian and I'm in the church.

And I should pray for myself if I'm sick.

And I think I probably already have by that moment in time.

And I realize hey I'm praying for myself and nothing's happening.

I need to call upon the elders and let them come and pray for me.

When's the last time you've seen that done?

Now I do it.

I've been called.

Right?

But it isn't you call me and say hey I'm sick can you pray for me?

And I say yeah I'll pray for you.

Whatever.

That's not what it says.

It's a call upon the elders and have them come and pray for you.

Right?

So I'll spread the word.

I'm happy to do that.

But if you want somebody from the church to come and pray for you and anoint you with oil because you're sick.

Then you need to ask for it.

If you don't ask for it you miss step A of the formula.

Right?

So it's not like oh well you're sick.

Oh can we come and pray for you?

Oh sure why not?

That's not the same thing.

Right?

So it happens sometimes that we think that we're suffering and sometimes that we think that we're okay.

And in both of those cases you're down to just two things.

I submit to you that even the person who summons the elders to pray when they're sick.

That's a specific kind of suffering.

They do pray for themselves while the elders are praying for them.

Probably.

Right?

It would be kind of dumb to say I'm letting the elders pray for me but I'm just thinking about pizza.

Right?

Or I'm just watching TV.

I can't turn the TV off but you're welcome to anoint me with oil and pray for me.

Okay?

No?

You're probably praying right along.

So it happens when we figure out that we have one kind of suffering and another that either A we're supposed to pray for ourselves.

Including if the suffering is sickness and then include the elders of the church.

Certain characteristic individuals.

Right?

And the other possibility is that you're supposed to praise.

1 John says it this way.

These things have been written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This is the confidence which we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

And that is the connection between I have suffering and I ask and I have received and I praise.

I have suffering and I ask and I have received and I praise.

Now what lies outside that?

I don't have suffering and I don't praise.

I have suffering and I praise.

What lies beyond that?

I have blessings and I'm content and I praise.

What lies? I have blessings and I'm content and I don't praise.

Those are what lie outside of it.

You live somewhere between having suffering and not having suffering.

Everybody lives there.

There's nowhere, you either have suffering or you don't.

It's like a door or like a letter.

One side has it right and one side doesn't.

So either you have suffering or you don't.

And if you have suffering you pray.

And if you don't have suffering you ought to be content.

Or if you think you're not content, I'm not content.

I don't have suffering but yeah I'm not content.

Then you have suffering.

That's the kind of suffering.

You're thinking yourself into suffering.

And so the bottom line is one or the other.

So do you pray or do you praise?

Ask yourself.

My day. Day in, day out.

Do I pray or do I praise?

It's probably both most of the time I would think.

But if you don't, if you're living some other kind of Christianity,

right now I just give.

I don't really pray.

I just serve.

I don't really ask for much.

I just serve.

I don't need anything.

I don't pray to God and ask.

I just serve.

No, those are all other forms of living.

But they're not Christian living.

It's praise and prayer.

Those are the only two that are given.

And notice that the illness wraps up under the prayer.

And it needs more.

It needs more than just you praying.

The bottom line is this.

You've got a choice to make.

With today, will you pray or will you praise?

And if your day does not include one of those two things as its primary direction,

you say, well, I have 50% pray and I have 50% praise.

I submit to you, if you are praising God for illness,

you're probably going to keep it.

Right?

God, thank you so much for making me sick, God.

I know this is good for me.

Thank you so much I'm hurting, God.

Thank you so much for breaking up my relationships.

Thank you so much for letting my job fall out from under me.

Thank you, God, for that.

What do you think God's going to do?

Well, he's going to keep right on you.

What do you do?

A little kid does something to you and you say thank you.

What do they do?

They do it again.

Right?

So you say to God, God, thank you so much for this suffering.

I'm sure.

You know better than I do.

No, that's not what it says.

It says if you're suffering, pray.

Ask God to fix it.

We're enduring a lot of things because we think, well, just the way it is.

Now, that's a worldly teaching.

You can test and approve what is the good and perfect will of God.

Romans 12.

You can know that God does not want you to be stuck in suffering for your life.

Is there suffering on the highway of holiness?

Yes.

But demons, evil spirits, and all the bad things can't come on the highway of holiness.

The worst things cannot come on this highway that is the highway of holiness.

It is not God's.

Jesus did not die.

So you can have life and have it more sufferingly.

Now, am I saying that you have to be wealthy?

I'm saying all your relationships are going to work perfectly?

No.

In fact, I submit to you, you'd be in a really bad place if everything went right.

Because you'd be given no good reason to pray.

Right?

Now, can you pray in praise?

Sure.

Can you go in your closet and all you feel is just thanks and praise for God and tell him how good he is and what he's done and all that?

Sure.

But if in so doing you discover something that is wrong, something that you don't care for.

Oh, and by the way, if you can't find any of that stuff, check the news.

Check social media.

Ask a friend what they're going through.

Right?

I feel the weight of some of the things that people go through so heavy sometimes.

Just day before yesterday we just found out, or was it yesterday morning?

I'm getting my days confused now.

We just found out that there was a family, there was a regular client of the life station that was regularly abusing their children.

And they had their children taken from them into custody and they both went to jail.

You know what I felt like in that moment?

I felt horrible.

It wasn't my kids.

It wasn't my people.

They're not part of my church.

They're not close to me.

But I didn't like knowing that the world is like that.

And I had to say, you know, look, we've made attempts.

We've given them opportunities.

We have prayed for them.

We have delivered their emergency groceries.

We've offered them the podcast.

We've offered them the Facebook online.

We've offered them a ride to church.

We've offered them all of these things.

And if they're going to keep on being wicked, then they probably didn't get what they deserve.

And so I didn't pray, Lord, don't give them what they deserve.

They didn't do nothing to me.

I didn't really have anything to forgive.

I prayed, Lord, help me, because I am battered.

I am hurting.

I am suffering right now in this moment.

That's where I started at.

So this word says to us that we live between praise and prayer.

And if you are ever anywhere and have neither one of those things, then you're not in community with God.

That's the bottom line.

If you're ever mediocre enough that you don't need to pray and you don't need to praise, you're not in community with God.

Second thing to see in here, now is where we're going to drill down on it, is you see the prayers of the elder and the prayers of the righteous as displayed here.

Elders, this could be an early position connected like they were sort of the pastors of the church or they were the leaders, they were recognized as leaders.

But notice the formula here.

Community, request, response.

They were in community, the request was remade, the elders responded.

God does the healing, not the people.

This is not about whether or not you can heal somebody.

It's about whether or not God wants you to pray for somebody to be healed and then whether or not God wants to heal that person.

So the question is what makes an elder?

Is it the one who has stood longer?

That's what the word presbyteros means in a very generic sense, is the longest living or the oldest person.

So that means you go to the church whenever you're in real sickness and you call the three 70 year olds.

They got to be the ones to come and pray and anoint the head with.

Is that what it means? No, it's not what it means.

So we're talking about people who have a certain description.

And then he goes on to say that that description includes that they are righteous.

And how did they get righteousness?

They confessed the sins to one another and prayed.

So what we're talking about is people who have regularly, unendingly, faithfully confessed their sins to one another and prayed for each other so that they might be forgiven.

For that you're going to need a church community.

For that you're going to need a local body of believers.

For that you're going to need transparency.

You got to come in here and stop lying about who you are, what you've been doing.

Stop making yourself look good.

Stop trying to cover up the fact that you're hurting.

Right? Stop telling the lies that I'm okay.

By the way, okay wasn't even on the list.

Okay is not even in the story.

Okay is not in the chapter and it's not in the church.

If you're saved and blessed and following the Lord God, you're not okay.

You are a child of the King.

You are an heir to all creation.

You're far better than that.

And if on the other hand you're lost and don't know the Lord, you're not okay.

You're on the way to hell for eternity and you will not be with God and you will not reign with God and you will not have a crown to lay down when the time comes.

And so the bottom line is you must be together in community with God confessing your sins.

We know what 1 John 1 9 says right that when we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

And you are cleansed of all unrighteousness.

The result is righteousness.

And when the result is righteousness repeatedly over and over again, you become the person that they call to pray.

How many times do you have to sin and be cleansed of unrighteousness before you can be the person that they call to pray when they're sick and they need a miracle?

Well, at least once.

That's for sure.

A minimum of one time.

One time you've got to be transparent about who you are.

One time you've got to be real.

One time you've got to walk in the light.

One time you've got to say I need this salvation.

This thing that only God can provide because I am a liar, because I am a thief, because I lost after members of the office of sex, because I watched this I shouldn't watch, because I said this I shouldn't say, because my mouth is filthy, because my body is messed up because of the choices that I made.

One time you have to recognize that you are not God and you cannot save you.

A minimum of one time.

Otherwise you're not only not righteous, you're not saved.

And if you're saved and you've done that, then regularly faithfully assessing.

Now should you be going, oh I'm so bad I must be unsaved because I lied yesterday, because I used foul language when I shouldn't have or I lost my temper.

Should you be doing that regularly?

No, that's not up to you.

That's up to God.

If you've been saved, now it's up to God to determine when what you do disqualifies you to do the work of God.

That's up to God.

Are you unclean?

You repent and turn to the Lord.

Now if the Lord brings to your attention, he says hey my servant doesn't do that.

Hey my child doesn't behave that way.

And you're convicted in the spirit, then you confess and repent.

And everybody wants to say right there, we're going to confess.

I'm going to confess to God.

And you really only need to confess to God.

To go to heaven, to be His child.

You really only need to confess to God.

That's all you really need.

But if you want to be forgiven in this lifetime, the word says you confess to one another.

And you pray for one another and God forgives.

That's tough stuff.

Because it requires a body.

It requires a church.

You cannot do it for yourself.

Here's what you can't do.

Oh Dan?

Yeah Dan, what's up?

I'm feeling bad today because I lost my temper yesterday.

I shouldn't have done that.

It's okay Dan.

I forgive you.

I know but it seems like you were there and did it too.

No, it's okay.

I forgive you.

But who forgives you?

Oh you forgive me.

Oh okay I forgive you.

Thank you.

Oh good.

You can't do that.

You're one person.

There's nobody to pronounce you forgiven when you sit against the God of heaven.

And you quietly confess to Him your need for a Savior and the ability to go to heaven.

And He sets it up.

You're going.

It's good.

It gives you to take off the ramifications of the action in this lifetime.

Who forgives a sin and washes it away in this lifetime?

You need a representative of God.

You need somebody who was created in God's image.

And by the way, what does that look like?

It looks like somebody who confessed their sin to God and was forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness.

And there are people in this room who have done that.

And some of us have done it a dozen times.

Am I saying be saved a dozen times?

No, I'm saying come back to God after screwing up and confess it openly.

Carrie did it today.

She said, I openly admit I have trouble getting back into it and doing what I'm supposed to.

What do you think that was?

That was public confession of weakness.

I, for one, pronounce you as forgiven.

And now you can know for sure you are.

And somebody else in this room could have done the same thing.

That's what we do.

And when we do it ongoing and we continue to do it for each other,

we become the elders that are talked about in here.

And then any one of us, any one of us who has regularly continued to repent,

turn back to God, confess and be forgiven,

any one of those people could be part of a group of people that goes and prays.

And what does it say?

It says that if a few of us go and anoint that person with oil,

not we might see a miraculous healing.

It says we will see a miraculous healing.

It will happen.

God will do it.

And that person will also be forgiven of their sins.

There could be a limitation because they could be doing it reluctantly.

Remember the formula was they ask, they make a request,

and then the body responds and God does the healing.

So there could be a limitation of that if they're not truly on board.

But otherwise, God basically said, I will do this.

But we have to realize that confession leads us to righteousness

because righteousness is not provided by us.

Rightness in a moment, in an instant, in a time can be.

You should have just gave in and not argued with him.

I know, but he was wrong.

I was right.

So in an instant, you can have an instant of rightness.

But righteousness, the trait or characteristic of righteousness is provided by God.

Every time it's provided, it's provided by God.

It is still true what Isaiah says where he says we are all as an unclean thing

and all our righteousnesses, there we go, are as filthy rags.

And we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.

But in Christ, it does not have to be that way.

We can go to heaven when we die.

So that means that eternal problem is resolved.

But for the time between when we get saved and the time when we go to heaven

and the eternal problem is resolved, there is a period of time

when we're supposed to be living in righteousness.

And that righteousness is accomplished this way.

We confess our sins to one another and we pray and each other forgives each other.

You can forgive somebody even when you yourself are struggling with a secret sin

and indeed you then say, okay, well, I've got this secret sin and I'm ready now.

And you come out and say, okay, well, I hear you.

You need forgiveness for this.

But I got to tell you, I need forgiveness for this.

And you can forgive each other.

We can forgive one another just the same as we can confess to one another.

This is confession in community.

This is one of the things that we provide for each other.

There is room for private confession where you confess only to Christ.

But here, the invested by God communal ability is being emphasized.

Do not understand that God set it up this way.

When Brother Tim pushes a certain key on the keyboard,

he expects it to produce a certain note.

And if he pushes a different key, it's a different note.

And a different key is a different note.

And if he pushes any one of three keys and does not get the note that he expects,

he realizes something is wrong.

God set this up way.

When God looks at the church and he sees people unwilling to confess their weaknesses to one another,

unwilling to forgive one another,

if somebody comes up to you and says, I'm confessing to you, I did this,

and I understand that hurts you.

I understand that was wrong.

I understand I betrayed the community.

I betrayed the fellowship.

I betrayed God in doing this.

And you can't immediately forgive them.

You can't go, okay, I pronounce you forgiven in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I personally forgive you and I pronounce you forgiven on behalf of Jesus and on behalf of the church.

And I enlist you back into the community.

I say, let's go be the church together.

And if you can't do that, then you don't think God is pushing the key and getting the wrong note.

God is investing his Holy Spirit in this church.

And the notes that are being played are, she said, he said.

Stop it.

That's not the note.

Or, yeah, he wants me to do that, but he really just wants me to do it because that's what's good for him,

not because it's what God says, even though I know in the back of my mind it is indeed what God says.

That's not the right note.

The right note is here I recognize I'm not doing what God wants me to do.

I'm repenting, turning to the Lord, and I'm confessing to you, my brother or sister in Christ,

and I'm asking you to forgive me yourself and for the church and for the Lord.

And in that instant, that community of forgiveness, that community of confession,

God does what God has promised to do.

He forgives.

Aaron and I decided to go golfing.

We were playing in a golf scramble for the Association coming up here toward the end of the month,

and basically neither one of us are very good golfers, and we thought maybe we'll brush up a little bit.

So we decided to go golfing.

So we got up in the morning, we set a time to meet at the golf course.

We picked the name of the golf course, where we were going to go.

Now he was going from his house, and I was going from my house.

As I'm driving there, I'm wondering if he's going to be late.

How late is he going to be? Is he going to make it on time?

And then I started thinking to myself, I wonder what route he took.

If he took this route, this would be easily quicker than that, even though Google might say go the other way.

And so I'm thinking to myself, I wonder what route he took.

But the fact is the route didn't matter, but that we both had to know where we were going in order to meet there.

That's what mattered.

He was going from his house.

I don't matter what route he takes, as long as he knows where he's going.

I'm going from my house. It doesn't matter what route I take, as long as I know where I'm going.

And we both got there, and we both played golf.

And that's it.

You're a screw up. I'm a screw up.

We're all screw ups. We all make mistakes.

We all do things that maybe we shouldn't do.

And when you recognize that you've done something you shouldn't do, what do you do?

You confess to one another.

You get somebody on the phone, preferably actually in the community meeting, in the inspirational moment time, at the invitation.

You say, hey, I screwed up this way.

This is the way I screwed up. I just did it yesterday. I just did it Wednesday.

I've done it seven times since the last time I said anything about it.

I'm still doing it.

And you confess openly.

And you ask for forgiveness.

And God forgives you and prays for forgiveness from the Lord.

And you receive forgiveness.

Accordingly, we need some sins overcome.

There are some things that we're wrapped up in, some things that we're part of, that we need to overcome.

We have sins.

To say that we do not have sins is to make God out to be a liar.

So we have some sins so that we should have some confession and some forgiveness.

Confession results in overcoming.

And those who do this and commit themselves to live transformed lives are the very ones that James is referring to as having their prayers filled with effectiveness.

You catch that?

We want what we want to the point that sometimes we're even willing to pray for it.

But the real question is, are you willing to confess and forgive,

to one another, to the church, to the group, to the people that are in your community,

and forgive one another in order to see your prayers filled with that very same effectiveness?

That brings us to effective prayer.

The word there is energeo.

It's a Greek word from where we get our word energy.

But the truth is, it does not translate well in this usage.

It doesn't fit here exactly right.

So you can do what you want.

You can say, our brother James wrote this book and he screwed up and he put the wrong word there.

Or you can say, our brother James meant something that wasn't customary for the day.

Prayer is whatever this says it is, clearly when God has invested in it.

So whatever it means to say that it has power, that it is effective, that it has energy, that it can do something.

What that is, is that thing when God has invested in the prayer.

This is because it's God's accomplishment, not ours, hence the oil.

Watch the model.

Elijah called a prophet, I get that, but the bottom line, he was a man like us.

He needed God's help and he prayed.

The elders, they had lasted a while persevering in confessing their sins to one another and forgiving one another.

When God was recognized, they were requested, God was honored, they prayed.

In both examples, God's the acting agent.

We are at best making the request.

Righteous people call on the right God.

Yeast is not the only way to make bread rise.

But if you don't make it rise that way, you better have some way or your bread is going to be flat.

Yeast is not the only way to make bread rise.

But if you put yeast in there that's not active and it doesn't do anything, it's not going to make the bread rise.

This prayer that we're talking about, how many times have you seen it?

How many books, I got one in my office I love called Simple Prayer.

How many books have you seen written about prayer?

How many sermons have you heard preached about prayer?

How many times have you seen shows about prayer?

How many programs are on Right Now Media about prayer?

It's all over everywhere.

It's tons about prayer.

You want to start a revival? Pray!

First thing I do is pray, right?

You sit, pray. You're hurting, pray.

Pray, pray, pray, pray.

It's like an echoing throughout all time that we should pray.

Because we're supposed to be in community with God.

But if you do that, if you pray without these pieces that make your prayer effective and powerful, you miss out.

Everybody thinks I'm okay.

So when I pray, I pray and everybody's like, wow, you pray real good.

We let you pray a lot.

I'm going to call him because he likes to pray.

I'm going to call him. He prays so much something must happen, right?

You know, all kind of reasons why prayer is good.

But there is one reason why prayer is effective.

It is effective because we confess our weaknesses to one another and we forgive each other repeatedly, faithfully, until Jesus comes again.

That brings us to our conclusion.

Our prayers are dependent to a degree upon one another.

In other words, whether or not you pray, whether or not your prayers are answered, are dependent to a degree on one another.

You're dependent on your spouse. You're dependent on your kid. You're dependent on your church.

Can you bring yourself to confess your sins here among the people?

If not here, where?

How will you get your prayers made powerful?

How will you get your prayers made effective?

If not here, are there not people here that you say, look, I have a sin. I confess I have that sin.

And if they pray, if they pronounce you forgiven and pray for you, that you believe that you'd be forgiven?

Because if not, you don't belong here. You don't want to be here.

You want to be wherever you can confess your sins openly and have someone declare you forgiven and have someone pray for you that God actually forgave you and move on and then repeat.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. I screwed up. I sinned.

Jesus is our advocate before the Father. And when we come there, Jesus will say, this one belongs to me.

He is my good and faithful servant, even though he sinned and he never confessed his sins and he never prayed like he should.

He made all his mistakes, whatever. But I paid for his sins. So he's coming in today.

But it's about the abundant life and the effective and powerful prayer of a believer in the meantime.

Will you confess your sins? Can you and will you confess your sins?

And will you have them forgiven amongst God's people? Will you do it for one another?

If we will not do it here, I submit to you, I've never known a church like this one. I've never seen a church like this one.

I've never been to a church where God's people faithfully desire to follow the Lord any more than they do right here.

This is God's people. We have a worship service on Sunday and God shows up every single Sunday.

We do Bible study on Tuesday and God shows up every single Tuesday.

We have people that have done approaching 35 worksheets, filled in all the blanks on Tuesday night on every topic.

Now, so many different topics, love and prayer. We did 10 locks and keys. So we did two each night, five nights.

And then at the last night, we did all 10 of them again so we could make sure we understand. And it was in there.

The prayer never prayed is never heard and so on.

But here is James saying that the body can be together. The body can trust one another.

I make this commitment. I can't make it for everybody. I'll tell you this right now.

If you come to me and you confess your sins, I will pray for you and I will ask God to forgive you.

I may even in turn confess my sins to you and you will pray for me and you will ask God to forgive me.

And we will do that until we are the elders, which if anyone calls, we will go and anoint them with oil.

And they will be saved from their illness and from their sin.

God set it up this way. Our prayers are dependent to a degree upon each other.

Are your prayers effective? Are your prayers powerful? Are they working?

If they are not, have you confessed your sin? Are you somebody that somebody could come to and confess their sin?

Would you pronounce them forgiven? Would you pray for them?

Are you actively praying when you need help and are you actively praising when you realize how good you have it?

Our healing also is dependent on one another.

Are you among a people that are cleansed of unrighteousness by God?

Not because they are good. Not because they do all the right things.

But because He is God and they are honest before Him.

Can you ask for in prayer and in so doing, can you recognize your sin and confess and repent?

Can you do that? Can you turn from what you are doing wrong and turn to God for the solution?

Can you openly confess when you have done so?

If you repent and say, okay I am doing this wrong, God I am sorry, please forgive me.

And God forgives you and then you just go on and you don't come in here and say, oh by the way I was doing this wrong and I repent and turn to God and He forgave me.

You are not understanding. You are not testifying about the holiness of God, about the goodness of God, about the rightness of God, about the mercy of God, about the grace of God.

And if you are going to testify about God's characteristics, what kind of a Christian are you?

What kind of a follower of Christ are you if you have nothing to say about the goodness of God?

Oh but I privately confessed my sin to the Lord and He forgave me and I repented and now I am walking with Him.

And that is all I really have to do because I will be in heaven when I die and I am good now. I have got an abundant life. Do you?

How effective is your prayer? Are you confessing your sins? Are you open about God?

Are healing is dependent on one another? Are you among a people who has been cleansed of unrighteousness by God because they are honest before Him?

Can you ask in prayer and in so doing, can you recognize your own sin and confess and repent?

It doesn't take more than this. Confession, I screwed up, I am sorry, I am wrong.

Forgiveness, will you forgive me? I forgive you. Commitment, I am following Jesus, continuing to do so.

It doesn't take more than that to access the God of the universe. God!

With all the angels and all the power of His throne room, all the power of His kingdom, it doesn't take more than that.

It is a pretty easy request. You screwed up, own it publicly.

Let's be humble. Let's be realistic. You screwed up, own it.

The Lord forgives me because Jesus died on the cross for me. You forgive me, you pronounce me forgiven, you do? Great!

Now I am forgiven and I am cleansed of all unrighteousness and I commit myself to thus far and thus forward follow Jesus.

If God is calling you to do something more than that, so you are there and you start walking and God says,

okay now I want you to go and lead the youth ministry or now I want you to go and serve in this department or this place.

Put yourself to work, more than that is fine. But never think that the more than that is the thing.

It is not the thing. The thing is this, confess, forgive, commit. That is the thing.

And doing all that extra work is great and people will go, he must be the elder of the church because he is leading in that department.

Because he is doing that ministry, because he is preaching every Sunday. He must be the one.

But that is not what the word says. The one, the ones, the people are the people who regularly confess their sins to one another,

forgive one another and commit themselves to go forward living for God.

God literally died in the flesh to make it available to us to do this thing.

Now that might be a simplification because he died for a little bit more than that.

But he certainly died so that we could have access to this.

In this state you can find confidence. You can approach the Father with confidence.

And you can ask and receive. But while you are still keeping secrets about your failings,

while you are still failing to confess and to be forgiven publicly, openly,

while you are still failing to be truthful about who you are and who God is,

you will probably be meek in prayer. You will probably only be bold in prayer when you are so desperate

and you know the thing that you need so badly, you just can't survive without it.

That's when you might be bold.

By the time you get to that place I submit to you, if you have not confessed your sins, been forgiven,

been public about it, you have not been active in this, it's not the effective prayer of a righteous man.

And it just might not avail much.

Hebrews 4, 14-16 says this way,

Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,

let us hold fast our confession. And that is the confession of who the Lord is,

which includes that He forgives our sins. And when you say Jesus forgives your sins,

you also mean you have sins to be forgiven.

But we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,

but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.

Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace,

so that we may receive mercy and grace to help in the time of need.

And then in 1 John 4, and these are our last verses,

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.

God is love. And the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,

because as he is so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,

because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

We love because he first loved us.

If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

And let me say this to you based on what it says in James.

These are the two primary, not the only, but the two primary things that determine whether or not you love somebody else.

It is whether or not you would be willing to hear their confession and pronounce them forgiven.

I submit to you that is why people do not witness the lost people.

It is not because they do not want that person to be saved, because they say, well I am saved,

and I want to have one, I die and I am going to and I want them to too, and I want to see them in eternity.

So that is not the reason why they do not tell other people about Jesus.

It is because when you get right down to it, compared to Jesus, we are nobody.

We are screw ups. We made mistakes. And we do not want to own our mistakes.

We do not want to confess our mistakes. We do not want to confess our weaknesses.

And we do not want people confessing to us either.

Do not tell me what you did wrong. I do not want to hear it. It hurts me.

I do not want to know.

We need to repent of those attitudes and realize that here is the effective prayer of a righteous man.

Here is what makes a person an elder. They regularly have confessed their sins.

The truth is if you regularly confess your sins, you know what will happen?

You will quit doing them. You will eventually cut them out.

You may even get help.

So anyway, step up and say, I can help you in this way, or I will be your crutch for a while

and make sure that does not happen anymore.

But if you had to, every time you lied, come up in front of your church

and list that lie publicly and tell them what it was about and who you did and who you hurt,

and ask that person and everybody that you talk to for forgiveness,

pretty soon you would find some other sin because lying is too much work.

That is what happened to me. Two and a half years in after I got sage,

I was in the East Little Baptist Church in the basement.

I had listed a list of three sins that I was struggling with,

three things that I felt like God was saying to me I had to give up.

I just could not give them up. I was having a hard time giving them up.

One of those was lying.

I was in the basement. There was an older gentleman there, probably in his 70s,

and he asked me to come at a certain time during the week to help set up for some kind of event.

I lied. I told him I could not come because I had to work or I had to be somewhere else or whatever it was.

As I walked away, the Lord said, I told you we were going to stop doing that.

I said, yeah, I am working on it. I am still working on it. I am still kind of deep in here.

I have been doing pretty good.