Prayer is the Key (James 5:13-20)

Kootenai Church

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Welcome back again So open your scriptures to the fifth chapter of James Open up to James chapter 5 and let's begin with a word of prayer

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Our father it is with anticipation that we open the scriptures together this morning

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Looking forward to what you have for us here We pray that your spirit would

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Teach and apply the truth through this lesson Pray father that what is said in this place would bring honor and glory to Christ alone

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That we would hear it with hearts of faith and As your spirit makes individual application for each of us may we leave this place?

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With a renewed sense of purpose to serve Christ Walk in the fullness of the spirit and to enjoy fellowship

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That is ours with Christ and each other by virtue of his atoning sacrifice and your indwelling spirit

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In whose name we pray. Amen All right. Well, we arrived this morning at the last lesson from the book of James we are now here at the end and Over the last few months as we've worked our way through this book.

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We've been challenged for sure We've been convicted We've been rebuked

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We've been encouraged and We have been inspired By James to put on display the inward reality of our faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ James has been working towards that end You remember that James has addressed in the prior lessons the proper response to suffering

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He has spoken about the need for compassion for the down -and -out among us and He has warned about the danger of divisions

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The dangers of conflicts and the danger of the uncontrolled tongue These are just some of the major topics that James has addressed and we have addressed over these last 13 weeks or so this morning we're going to finish this letter and James Exhortation and words to the to this ancient church or ancient group of believers

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By writing about the importance of prayer this section This book closes with the importance of prayer and especially as it relates to a church that is in a difficult place

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So the title of this message this morning prayer is the key Well, that's the name of the lesson.

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The title is prayer is the key We are looking at verses 13 through 20, so 13 to the end of the book

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Let's begin and read the text together Is anyone among you suffering

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Then he must pray Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises is

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Anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him

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Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and The Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him therefore

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Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much

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Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and It did not rain on the earth for three years and six months

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

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My brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way

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Will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins

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By personal experience James Knew a lot about prayer

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In fact the according to the ancient church historian Eusebius So early fourth century

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James came to be known as old camel knees That's what he was affectionately called old camel knees and that was because Reportedly the calluses that had built up on his knees because of the hours spent in prayer

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Interceding on behalf of the Jewish people. He became known as old camel knees

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You know beloved nothing connects us to God like prayer nothing and The reason that's true is because it demonstrates our complete dependence upon him when we pray we are

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At least tacitly confessing our complete dependence upon him And yet prayer is one of the most difficult activities in the

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Christian life, isn't it? When we are honest about such things, we all say yes prayer is hard It's hard to begin.

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It's hard to sustain It's difficult It requires spiritual discipline it requires spiritual discipline it requires faith it requires humility and it requires perseverance

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And for many of us Prayer is not our first response to difficulty

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In fact, it is the last response to difficulty once we've exhausted all the material

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Possibilities and all of the natural Means for escaping the difficulty we find ourselves in then we resort the prayer.

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You might even have heard it said Well, there's nothing else we can do but pray It's right everything else.

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Well, we might as well do that We might as well do that Now this section of Scripture before us this morning is

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I believe The most challenging text in this entire letter and this letter has a number of challenging texts but I think this one is the most challenging and the reason is because there are a number of different and conflicting interpretations of This section that have been taught through the years and undoubtedly you have heard and perhaps hold to one of these

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And so it makes it difficult to interpret the text and it makes it difficult in a sense to communicate it

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And I just I pray that we all have an open mind to hear What I've got to say this morning and at least you'll take it into consideration

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Now for the Roman Catholics the Roman Catholics Find in these verses the justification for their doctrine of extreme unction

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Now we would immediately reject such things and rightfully so but among evangelicals the interpretations tend to be divided over either does the passage refer to a

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Spiritual healing or a physical healing that seems to be within the confines of evangelicalism

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Does it breaks down here or there is that a spiritual healing James is talking about or a physical healing that he is talking about Beyond that the evangelicals are divided over whether he is talking about healing in the context of divine chastisement or Just a general reference to spiritual or physical healing

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So spiritual healing physical healing Chastisement no chastisement.

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You can see how how one lands in these areas affects how one understands these verses so In light of that in light of the conflicting interpretations that have been put forward through the years by very good and godly men.

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I Think it's wise to offer you my interpretation on the passage and And why

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I think it means what I think it means But understand also that I always reserve the right to change my opinion

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If upon later study I come to the conclusion that I've been wrong. I Will tell you this

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I've held this opinion now for more than a decade and nothing has influenced me yet to move away from it

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So I offer it to you with that caveat, but also with a confidence. I think I'm right

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Okay, I know it sounds terrible doesn't I'm not alone Okay, so this is not novel

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It's not novel Okay, so let's break it down.

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Let's break it down. I Find here three prayerful responses. That's how this is gonna be the outline three prayerful responses that we should imitate

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When difficulty arises within the church So three prayerful responses that we should imitate as followers of Christ when

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Difficulty arises in the church not yes, but when Yes, but when? so the first The first is found in verse 13 and the first prayerful response is personal prayer

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That's very simple personal prayer verse 13 is any among you suffering

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Let him pray That seems pretty straightforward Life is filled with troubles.

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Don't you agree? life is filled with troubles as One of Job's counselors noted man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward

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That's Job 5 7 and the older I get the more convinced I become of the truthfulness of that statement

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Man is born to trouble James is writing here to the Jewish believers who have been scattered

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They've been scattered. I believe because of persecution and He is bringing to them a word of instruction when life is hard for them

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Word of instruction when life is hard Now is any among you suffering look at this word suffering the word literally means to experience what is bad

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To suffer misfortune Or Calamity, okay, so it's kind of a general word

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The trouble can be of a physical nature It could be mental

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It could be personal. It could be financial. It could be religious. It's a very broad term

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The same word is used here in verse 10 of the same chapter notice. There is an example brethren of suffering and patience

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Take the prophets It was there spoken of of the suffering of the prophets who spoke to God and that has led some to believe

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That James has the idea of persecution in mind when he's talking here in verse 13 as any of you suffering but I but I think the term is general enough and broad enough that we ought to conclude he is talking instead about all kinds of various trials and in fact

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Back in chapter 1 verse 2 where he leads into the whole letter He said consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various Trials, so he's not so super specific there.

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So I think it works here that he's talking about the kinds of Misfortune or calamity or bad things that happen to believers in all aspects of life now

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What would God have us do? What would God have us do in the inevitable difficulties of life come upon what would he have us do verse 13

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Pray He would have us pray Not to complain verse 9 right do not complain

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Don't engorge indulge in self -pity Instead turn to God in prayer.

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That's what he would have for us. And what is it that we're to pray for?

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What kind of things should we pray for? Well back in chapter 1 again, it's for endurance

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Verse 4 and let endurance have its perfect result. So we should pray for endurance

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Although it is certainly legitimate to pray for deliverance To pray for relief these are legitimate requests as well, but at least for James it's for endurance

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Beyond that James says chapter 1 verse 5 were to ask for wisdom in prayer.

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Then if you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God So we're to pray in search of God's wisdom in order that we might understand the divine perspective on the purpose of Suffering not that we would necessarily understand all the details of our suffering

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But that we would understand the divine perspective on suffering in which is that it is through suffering that he is growing and maturing his children conforming them to the likeness of Jesus Christ who himself suffered

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Notice verse 13. He then moves from the suffering To Sometimes life's pretty good.

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Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises Not all of life is suffering

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Sometimes and perhaps we would say in God's good and common grace frequently life is pretty good

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It's pretty good We're related. We're upbeat. We're happy.

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We're cheerful Most of you walked in here this morning in that way and because why well because your life is basically pretty good

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And we're not superficial in this It's that inner attitude that we have a confidence in that God is at work in our lives if he loves us

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He's caring for us. And so it's with a with this comfort and peace in our heart that we are cheerful And Christians should be cheerful people they should be

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And when these times come James would have us pray again He would send us back to prayer again.

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It's not just pray when you're suffering But pray when life is happening pretty good right this time in a different way, but it's notice.

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It's the singing praises sing praises Reminded of Ephesians 5 19 right singing and making melody with your heart to the

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Lord So we in prayer should sing praises to God when life is happening

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When good things are happening around us give him praise give him Thanksgiving Enjoy your life

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Enjoy your life now It's easy to neglect

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God when times are good And that a funny thing when times are good, we often find ourselves neglecting

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God and James would say don't forget

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I 117 God is the giver of all good gifts don't forget that and it is that knowledge that stimulates us to express our

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Contentment our cheerfulness in vocal prayers of musical pray

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As anyone among you suffering and you must pray anyone cheerful he is to sing praises personal prayer

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Now It occurs to me that it would be an excellent idea for Parents particularly young parents to instruct their children in the music of the church

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So that it becomes the heart language of praise for them train them to sing

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God's praises to him Through the great music of the church. This is a beautiful way to apply this and it will help you to Have the ready vocabulary to express your praise to God for all of his goodness so If it's going rough pray if it's going good pray

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Personal prayer personal prayer That's the first response to difficulty the second

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Is in verses 14 to 18 and it is pastoral prayer This plunges us right into the heart of the controversy

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Over James's message here to the suffering believers. Let's read it 14 to 18. Is anyone among you sick?

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They must call for the elders of the church And they are to pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the

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Lord And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him

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Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed

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The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the

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Earth for three years and six months Then he prayed again. The sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit now before I Give you my interpretation of this text.

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Let's do this Let's kind of work it through together in a number of preliminary observations

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That we will make of this text before we attempt an interpretation. Okay, so this is your this is

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Sunday school So this is your hermeneutics slash exegesis class for this morning

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So, here we go, I've got three three preliminary Observations from this text.

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So here they go. Number one The issue involves someone who is according to all the major major Bible translations

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It is somebody who is sick notice verse 14 Is anyone among you sick verse 15 restore the one who is sick?

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So sickness is clearly close at hand in this text and although the

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Greek words that are Translated here as sick in verses 14 and 15 and all this also in verse 15 the use of the word restore

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The Lord will raise him up He and where am

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I now I'll save him verse 15 in a margin note

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So the idea of restore the one who is sick or save the one who is sick

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I could refer to spiritual weakness. It could be a reference to spiritual weakness and spiritual deliverance clearly the idea of save But The usage of these words in the

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Gospels is actually overwhelmingly related to bodily illness and healing so these

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Greek words translated here as sick and restore when spoken of him used in the Gospels is overwhelmingly used in a context of bodily illness and healing

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Beyond that the only other mention of anointing with oil in the

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New Testament occurs in Mark chapter 6 and verse 13 where there we read and they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them now since James is the earliest a

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New Testament writing and Since James I think is obviously been influenced by the ministry of his stepbrother

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It is stands to reason that the themes in the vocabulary that James uses It seems best to me in the light of this passage to say that he's dealing with the question of bodily

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Illness and I think he's dealing with bodily illness. So that's my first observation and reasons why

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Second the issue of sin and sickness is woven together in the

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New Testament Or I'm sorry before we get to that in this passage itself.

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I'm sorry sin and sickness are woven together in this passage itself again verse 15 The one offered in faith who will restore the one who is sick the

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Lord will raise him up and he has committed sins They will be forgiven him verse 16 therefore confess your sins to one another pray for one another so that you may may be

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Healed and then Donna verses 19 and 20 my brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back

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Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death To the sins so sin and sickness are in this text in close proximity right beyond that and this was the point from a second ago is that the

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Relationship between sin and sickness in the New Testament is something that we need to get a handle on so First we shouldn't assume

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Sickness as a result of sin the New Testament would teach us that Right, we could we could look for example to John chapter 9

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John 9 and verses 2 and 3

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I'll pick it up in verse 1 and and he passed by that is Jesus and he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples

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Asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he would be born blind Jesus answered it was neither that he that this man sinned nor his parents

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But it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him so You notice that their

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Immediate connections were he's got physical infirmity. There must be sin behind it

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Who's in Jesus said he didn't sin his parents didn't sin This is the display of the glory of God and of course

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I'm reminded of Job chapter 1 in that same kind of context right job was a righteous man and yet He suffered not because of his sin.

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So the Bible would be sure to tell us that We shouldn't assume that sickness is a result of sin

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Yet at the same time and here's the balancing factor at the same time. The Bible also teaches that sometimes

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Sickness is a judgment of God on Sin, sometimes it is

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Again, we can turn back to John's gospel To chapter 5 and verse 14

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After the healing at Bethesda Pool there in verse 14 after which

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Jesus found him in the temple and said to him behold You have become well do not sin any more so that nothing worse happens to you

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So there seems to be a connection here to his illness and his sin

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Beyond that and probably one of the most well -known The Testament passages is found in the communion passage of 1st

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Corinthians 11 the 1st Corinthians 11 and beginning in verse 27 where Paul says therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the

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Lord in an Unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord But a man must examine himself

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And in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly

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For this reason many among you are weak and sick and a number asleep

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Stay dead. All right, so clearly there There is judgment.

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The judgment is illness even Eventuating in death for those who have sinned in failing to judge the body rightly

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And I'll just tell you quickly I think that that statement of judging the body rightly has to do with the divisions within the body of Corinth that were portraying themselves in particular at the communion meal where they were completely

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Disregarding the unity of the spirit that we have in the way they celebrated the unity meal, right?

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So we know that sometimes Sometimes sin and judgment are closely related

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Now back to James this passage in James 5

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There seems to be here a particularly close connection between Sin and sickness

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It seems to be very close. They're in the same verses same verses One commentator wrote the following I find it helpful.

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So I'll read it to you He said in Jesus day people over spiritualized illness

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Many assumed that all tragedy and disease were direct consequences of sin.

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We saw that in John 9 today in the West he writes we

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De -spiritualized illness We believe microbes and defective genes cause all illnesses

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We deny a link between sin and illness Except in the obvious cases such as cirrhosis of the liver or sexually transmitted diseases in fact, he writes we need to re -spiritualized illness for scripture often links sickness and or excuse me sin and illness

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So he is pleading for that. We don't fall into the ditch that was common in the first century

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But we get out of the ditch that is common here in the Western world where we have been steeped in a materialistic worldview and we discount the results of the soul upon the body third observation third observation

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The third observation comes from the illustration of Elijah's prayer

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All right, this is this is a two verses absorbed in this illustration so we got to figure out what's the point of it the illustration is drawn from first Kings 17 and 18 and that section of scripture is

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Elijah announced that the land would not have rained for three and a half years and At the end of the three and a half years he prays again and the rain comes and the ground is refreshed

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We know that story, you know that story James reaches back into the

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Old Testament and he uses this illustration to illustrate his teaching here about prayer in the church now

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Certainly the fact that Elijah was merely a man right you see verse 17

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He was a man with a nature like ours is an important example for the power of prayer and people use it that way

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And I think legitimately Right, he was a man he put his pants on one leg at a time just like us and God answered his prayers prayer was powerful

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And the power of this prayer was the Spectacular judgment that came in response to this prayer of a righteous man verse 16

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Effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much But I am persuaded the example is more than just that It's more it's brought forward for more than just the reality that a righteous man who prays can expect answers to his prayer

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I think there's more here than that other examples of the prayer life of Elijah could have been brought forward in support of prayer and yet there's something about this example

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I believe that sheds light on the topic at hand Okay, I Think the answer to the question lies in the

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Old Testament context of the Mosaic Covenant In particular

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God's promise to his people that if they sinned by disobeying them

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He would afflict their land with diseases Diseases which included drought

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Okay For example in Deuteronomy chapter 28

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That's great section in Deuteronomy where the blessings of the covenant are elaborated and the curses of the covenant are allowed in 11

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Pardon me in verses 23 and 24. We read and The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze

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Okay, this is the cursive section and the earth which is under you iron The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust from heaven

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It shall come down on you until you are destroyed Okay so the withholding of rain is clearly a

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Judgment on Israel and it's a judgment in response to their sin Furthermore in 2nd

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Chronicles chapter 7 Verses 13 and 14, which is the section of 2nd

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Chronicles that is long been abused with evangelicalism God tells

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Solomon what to do when the nation is experiencing this judgment

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The judgment of disease upon the land the judgment of drought there we read if God says

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I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain and my people who are called by my name humbled themselves and pray and Seek my face and turn from their wicked ways

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Then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land

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Again notice a very very close connection Now in this account in the first Kings King Ahab and the people of Israel had sinned

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So wickedly by following the bales that God brought judgment on them

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And I think we can say the judgment he brought was he made the land sick He made the land sick when the people repented

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Demonstrated their repentance by slaughtering the false prophets right first Kings 18 37 to 40

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Elijah prays again God answers by ending the drought and bringing rain upon the land.

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He lifts the judgment and he heals the land He heals the land Okay Are you ready?

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With all of that in mind, however much of it you can remember I'm gonna take a stab now and interpreting what

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James Instructions mean in verses 14 to 16 now notice that James writes if One of them one of the believers is so ill that they are unable to come to the elders

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Then they are to call for the elders to come to them verse 14 Anyone among you sick that he must call for the elders of the church

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When the elders come they are to pray over this sick person and anoint them with oil it says

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By the way, this excludes all ideas of public healing ministries. You get that part, right?

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This is private It's likely occurring within the context of the man's home

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Now the main verb here is pray They are to pray over him.

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That's the main verb the anointing with oil is a participle Which means it's a subsidiary idea

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The main idea is prayer the anointing with oil is a subsidiary idea to it What's the purpose of the oil?

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anybody's guess There is no consensus. It may be medicinal

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It may be symbolic. I Tend to think it's symbolic I Tend to think it's symbolic and the reason is is because it's in the name of the

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Lord of the Lord Anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. I think it's symbolic the text promises verse 15

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That the prayer offered in faith. I Would say both the faith of the elders and the faith of the individual would heal the person if they had committed sins

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They will be forgiven verse 15 the prayer offered in faith again I think it's the faith of the elders offering the prayer and the person

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Over whom they are praying will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he is committed sins

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They will be Forgiven him verse 16 therefore

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And indicates a conclusion being drawn here the conclusion therefore from verse 15

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It indicates that confession and prayer are linked and the healing comes as a result of these two items confession prayer therefore

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There will be a healing Notice next there with the statement about the righteous man's prayer being very effective right, so We see the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much and Who would be the righteous men among the local body?

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Well, we would look first of course to the elders they are the men who would by their character have qualified themselves for this role within the congregation and then

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James immediately proceeds to Elijah to the illustration of Elijah So I think when

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I put it all together what I understand James to be teaching here as it relates to the believer is That this believer has engaged in sin against the body

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To such an extent that he has been struck ill of the judgment of God. I would refer you again to the first Corinthians Just take you back there one more time just to make sure you see it chapter 11

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By the way, first Corinthians is an early letter as well Verse 29 he who eats and drinks eats and drink judge you're not himself.

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He doesn't judge and judge the body rightly verse 22 What you do not have houses in which to eat and drink or do you despise the

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Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I shady say to you? Shall I praise you? I will not praise you

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So I believe James is referring here to a situation where a believer has so sinned

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Against the body That he has been struck by God with judgment with judgment resulting in illness and illness such

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That apparently he's not able to get out of the house Maybe not even be able to rise from his bed and it's in that condition that he is to call for the elders there to pray for him there to anoint him and He is to confess his sin and when he does he will receive the lifting of God's judgment in response to the elders

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Fervent prayer for his recovery in all of this.

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I believe the idea of pastoral prayer is very much clear and In this context circling back to the oil one more time.

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I Think perhaps If I'm right that the oil reflects the idea of psalm 133

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Where we read behold how good and pleasant it is from brothers to dwell together in unity

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It is like the precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard even Aaron's beard coming down upon the edge of his robes

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Okay So this is the true understanding that I think perhaps that is what the oil is

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Symbolizing in all of this is the unity that has been restored within the body

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When this sin whatever that sin was there was a sin not just against his own person, but against the body itself

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He's confessed Repented of and Is healed and with it the lifting of the physical affliction?

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I account for the one another language in verse 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another as a reference to both the elders and the people.

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I think it's a reference This that reflects his reflects James position whereas he stands an authority outside of this local body, but we refers to the both elders and the and the

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Sick man as the one another So Three prayerful responses for difficult times in the church first is personal prayer second is pastoral prayer third versus 19 and 20 pursuing prayer pursuing prayer my brethren if Any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back?

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Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death

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And will cover a multitude of sins seems to be the same idea I think here by virtue of this

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Hypothetical notice the if statements a hypothetical situation James is now widening the instructions to include the whole congregation

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And he is enlisting their support and their effort in the restorative process

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I think that scenario would be something like this one of the members of the congregation notice one of you

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So one of the members of the congregation Wanders or strays, that's a metaphor for sheep

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Wander or they stray by leaving the path of righteousness either inadvertently or willfully

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Now language is very reminiscent of the book of Proverbs right

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Proverbs speaks of two paths two paths And James is calling the correct path here the truth he who strays from the truth.

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That's the true path that's the path of righteousness and It's a comprehensive term. I think that includes right doctrine and right behavior

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Resulting from the right doctrine. This is the path of truth and to wander from it

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Inevitably will place this person on the other path, which is the path of death There are only two paths and that death might ultimately be physical again

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First Corinthians 1130 some of you are asleep euphemism for dead Certainly it would result in spiritual death go back to chapter 1

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In verse 13 let no one say when he is tempted I'm being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone

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But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust then when lust has conceived

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He gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it does what? It brings forth death.

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So to wander from the path is to wander into the path of death

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Throughout the whole letter this whole letter James has been hammering away on this one important truth that true saving faith produces good fruit

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True saving faith produces good fruit and the lack of good fruit betrays the claim of saving faith

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That's what James has been repeatedly saying in various ways So I think when this scenario

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Arises here that the if scenario James instructions are very very clear

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That is that the rest of the congregation is also to go after that person in order to attempt to turn them back to the truth

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Means that it shouldn't have to necessarily rise to the level of the man is so sick

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He's dying and he has to call for the elders, but that within the body those that know him

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And go to him and should go to him now the means of the turning here is not stated, right?

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Anyone among you strays from the truth and one turns him back the means by which one turns him back is not stated

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But I think it's implied it's implied in the context and I think it would include certainly fervent prayer pleading

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Imploring the erring one to turn back Before it's too late. We're talking about body life here

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Talking about body life and there is a blessing that comes to the pursuer

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Notice that verse 20 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

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The blessing that comes to the pursuer because you know what you might think you saw. Oh my goodness Let somebody else do this.

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I have no stomach for this. I do not like confrontation and the idea of going and Talking to this person about their sin makes me sick to my stomach and I just as soon not do it

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And you know what? That's a perfectly natural Understanding of the flesh

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But I think what can motivate it I mean Beyond just love

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But you know itself ought to be enough Is the certain knowledge? That there's a blessing that will come to you if you do this and the blessing that will come to you

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Is that if by God's grace you are successful? You will save that person's soul from death.

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There's a tremendous reward a Tremendous reward and in the process

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God will cover over I think again that's just a way of speaking about forgiveness a multitude of sins

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There is the reward that comes the blessing that comes by being willing to love enough to pursue an erring brother or sister is

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That by God's grace when you are successful You will have the joy of seeing

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Someone restored from the edge of death And I can't really honestly think in this life of many blessings that would be greater than that And brother is this is a wonderful promise

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This is a wonderful promise and it really ought to embolden us It ought to embolden us to speak courageously for Christ To to be willing to go to somebody and speak the gospel to them and love them enough to tell them

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You're on a path that is not leading towards godliness you are on the path of death to love them enough to have that hard conversation and And to do that in hope of receiving the blessing of seeing that person restored

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I would say it's equivalent just to leading somebody to Christ Because isn't it really the same thing

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Isn't it really the same thing You are leading this person from death back to the path of life

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And that is an amazing blessing May God grant us the grace to be bold in our witness

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Both outside the body and inside the body The prayer being the power that supports it all

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Our father I Thank you that you in your providential plan has

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Arranged things such that we are included as your hands and feet in this world

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That we are the voice of the gospel That we are the hands that come alongside

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To help someone who has been laid aside by sin Our father we realize that the motivation for these things lies

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Within the heart of love knowing how much you have loved us That we in turn then reflect that family characteristic to others

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That prayer is so significant in this matter. It is not merely just coming and dumping a bible verse

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Power is found as we pray and commit ourselves to you Asking you to act pleading with you begging with you on behalf of the soul of someone

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That you would hear from heaven And that you would heal them our father we

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Desire to be those kinds of people we desire to love one another here at KCC with with a passion that is deep enough

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That we will not walk by and ignore a situation But that we will intercede we will extend ourselves.

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We will run the risk even of rejection Because we love Christ and we love each other

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And it is our desire for all of us To know the fullness of Christ to walk in the in the sunshine of his favor

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And so my father help us even this day to have an eye on on the lookout for someone perhaps who

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Just by their confidence we can tell that they're not having a great day Pray that we would be willing to engage