Pray for One Another

So this morning I want to finish my portion of the one and others.

It's amazing.

It's it's Been going on now 33 weeks we've been doing this so the next two weeks brother Mike will finish the last two out of first Peter and then As we had said we will go back With the book of Judges where we left off finish the book of Judges and then on to something else But for this morning anyway want to continue to consider this passage in James last week if you remember we looked at how We ought to confess to one another we talked about What it doesn't mean in a small part.

It doesn't mean what the Roman Catholics think it means where we are to confess sin to a An appointed person a priest.

I don't even like to use that term But we look we did look at that and said that it really was the reality of us if we've offended anyone to to confess that and also the reality of our need to be open with each other and in that sense even to Let other people into our into our minds and hearts a little bit And we talked about some different areas of that this morning I want to talk more in the area of what is attached to that and it's interesting in verse 16 where it says confess your Trespasses and we looked at that too.

We look man.

If you remember look the two distinct words Paratoma and homily up and that the word that James uses in verse 16 for trespasses is not the predominant word for sin and We considered some verses in that but I do want to look this morning about this idea of Prayer, so maybe if we read from verse 13 down to the remainder of the chapter It'll set us up.

So James chapter 5 verse 13 is Anyone among you suffering? Let him pray is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church Let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and The prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed Sins, he will be forgiven Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the effective perfect prayer of a righteous man prevails much Elijah was a man with the nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain And it did not rain on the land for three years and six months and he prayed again and The heaven gave rain on the earth And the earth produced its fruit Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sin so again to focus in on this whole idea of Praying for one another so a Couple of things.

I just want to make some highlights and then we'll see where that leaves us And then I wrote some verses on the board that I'll reference especially towards the end as I want to lay out to us the Not only the Responsibility to pray for one another but the privilege and that you and I really have to consider where we are in our prayer life as far as Do we have a prayer life? How? How real is it to us? Does it does it impact our lives? And are we making sure that it's It encompasses all the parts of prayer and if you remember when we had our conference we looked at some different aspects of prayer or whether it be petition or Thanksgiving or intercession or supplication That there are a number of distinct parts in prayer and that you and I are really to be well rounded in our prayer life again, if if if we're not as I try to bring out at that point To me prayers like the oil in the engine and if the oil is dirty Well, then the engines not going to run the way it should But if the oil is clean and it's and it's working the way it should it keeps everything moving.

And so again You and I really have to consider this so Some thoughts from this verse.

I thought it's interesting.

I think it's interesting if you look at it what we just read that the Emphasis seems to be on the individual doesn't at least until we get to verse 16.

Just look at it again verse 13 is anyone Among you suffering look what it says.

Let him pray is anyone cheerful.

Let him sing songs Is any among you sick let him call for the elders of the church Let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and in the prayer faith will save this Sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven Interesting, isn't it that? the responsibility Is mainly on who the individual they're the ones that are useful we are brothers sisters, we are responsible in all the Areas of our life as he lays it out if we're suffering what are we to do? Right, or if we are rejoicing, what are we to do sing psalms? Are we if we're sick we are the ones that are to call for? The prayer even as it said here in the for the elders of the church So, I think that's something that you and I need to consider Do you and I understand that we are Commanded well, let me pose it a question.

Are we commanded to pray? Okay, are we? Fulfilling that command in other words, I think many times we think of obeying God's commands obeying God's law And we think of it in terms of the Ten Commandments And again, that's a whole other conversation That that we will entertain at some point in more detail but even if you understand it to be that we're not under the law of Moses, which I Certainly don't I believe we're in Lord of Christ as New Covenant believers But nevertheless, I think sometimes when we think of the commands of God what we're responsible to do We think of it in that sense.

We think you know in the sense are I must do this.

I must do that I must do this and I can't do this and I shouldn't do that and this and that and this and that and you look here and if you think about it in all the areas of our life how How predominant is prayer? In other words Do we take even as the the hymn goes do we take everything to the Lord in prayer? Should we? We certainly should why? What why should we have? Why should our lives be filled with prayer? I'm not going to say anything for someone's Sir All right, it broke it demonstrates our dependence on him what else What is that what else is a reason why we should pray we're demonstrating our dependent system Um, well, he's our father and if we don't talk to our father If you're the kind there's something wrong and it's to keep that communication going into us and So it's not just an air.

It's not just the reality of our own Dependence upon him, but it's also the reality of relationship, right? And again as you bring up and rightfully so if a husband never talks to his wife and the wife never talks to the husband Right, bro, something's something's not right So when you think about it, what else anything else that you could think of why else should we? Be constantly prayer.

So Instruction instruction.

Okay we are submitting ourselves and we are to the father and We want to be obedient to his will we take his word and apply it to our lives in all things And so with prayer we're able to discern the word and Listen to him and have instruction Okay, so there's not only our dependence, but it's the reality of our need For that instruction which comes how? Well, it comes through his work, right? But how does it come to us through his work to? Discernment and how does that discernment come to us? There you go Bingo the Holy Spirit, right? So so you and I need to consider that if if we are truly dependent which By us saying we're truly dependent we're also saying that without him we can what? Do nothing.

So and we come to him because of the relationship that we have with him and we come to him to give us What not only what we need but what we don't have and that comes to us through the power of the Spirit You think any other reason to pray? Ma'am he answers.

Okay, so there's a There's a reality of us Rallying is that we believe and and we'll look at it here in just a moment.

We believe that prayer Actually, it does what it works Right, and that's the example that he lays out here.

He says As we look at it the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man does what does it avail little or does it avail much? It avails much There's still another there's still at least one more.

I'm trying to draw out of us about why we ought to pray Okay, there's another one the reality that we have And we do offend God and that therefore we need to have that Cleansing right that if we say we have no sin What does John say we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, right? So so if you think about it, we're just having conversation and there's so many different things.

There's still one more I'm not gonna stop till I get it and it's just because All right, okay he has you and I Jack is the winner Chicken dinner That's the one I was trying to get us to think about listen One of the great privileges and responsibilities that come from prayer is that it's worship And you have brought it up sister in the fact of Relationship and community, but really the reality.

I don't know what you win Jack, but I Think it's the cookie job But think about it One of the one of the great privileges is to be able to worship God in spirit and truth to praise him for who he is Not just what he does.

I I would suggest and again I Would suggest that we pray more for what we want God to do Then to give God.

Thanks for who he is And that our prayer life needs to have a balance in it where we're not just coming to God like the genie in the bottle and Desiring God to do this do that fix this fix that give us this give us that but actually That much of our prayer life is just absorbed in in worship and communion we think of the Lord Jesus Does not the gospel say that many times he did what? He went off There are times to talk about he spent a whole night in prayer What was the last time we spent a whole night in prayer? anybody Anybody pray from the time I went to bed last night till the time I got up this morning Now again, I'm not trying to say that that's but it's the thought of it Do you not think that do you not believe that the Lord Jesus Christ? It wasn't just solely Petition but it was communion.

It was praise.

It was it was honor It was fellowship again Do we? Do we lose much? by praying little Or do we gain much by praying much I Guess it all depends on what we think concerning prayer.

And if you look in this section when he talks about it There it is in all the areas of life suffering joy Sickness and again, you know, a lot of people spend a lot of time our verse 14 with the anointing the oil Get all hung up Whether you should bring oil or holy oil this that the other thing.

There's probably some guys on TV for five Ten dollars or maybe you get the hundred dollars.

You get the special bottle of oil and You know, it'll cure everything Even as I thought the video that brother keep showed Wednesday was really interesting I don't as far as especially the one where the lady said that they had remember she said that we have the power To control the weather and then she said but we don't fly in bad weather But she actually believed that she had power to control weather because her husband rebuked the tornado at one point But they don't fly in bad weather But but all these things are are to be thought of But let me ask you a question and if you want to answer it, that's fine How many of us have ever kept a diary of our prayers anybody Okay What did you find when you did that Steve? But it does Sister what was your experience with Homicide example when I was Yeah I haven't done it as recent recently as I should but I here's what I found It was amazing what I actually came to God for and it was amazing to me how I forgot What I actually prayed for and about and it was Really enlightening when I went back And if you did it Let's just say you did it the first day of the month and then at the last day of the month you go back And you looked it up.

You look at what you prayed for the first day of the month and Then you remember it's almost like I actually did pray about this and God answered it in the middle of the month And I totally forgot about it ten minutes after I prayed in the first day of the month So I would even suggest that that's you will You will enjoy that if you do it, you'll be amazed at it.

If you do it, you'll also be heartbroken If you do because you'll find that that you forgot the very things that Let's say on that day that you prayed about it.

They were so urgent It was so important right and then two weeks later It's it's just In the rearview mirror.

And so again, I'm glad a couple people have done that.

I I do think that's something that We would really think we should really think would be a privilege and again not to do it by Mandate but rather to do it by desire.

So something to think about I want to ask you to think about verse 15 a little bit The prayer faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up and if he's committed sins, he will be forgiven so I just wanted to ask us just as a Provoker thought is sickness always associated with sin Huh, yeah, it is, right In as it unfolds in life, no Sickness could just be the means by which God uses for a person a person's sanctification Look at Paul.

Yep But You can bring that up next week when you're up here because I ain't touch it that way There's a definite reality though, right because in one sense is not is not the reality of the fall Does that not result in all kinds of maladies? right but but is there a Could we say and some people will say especially those who try to Persuade you to do it their way.

Is it always a one-on-one ratio? Is it in other words if I'm sick? It's because I said if I get an earache, it's because I listen to something I shouldn't listen to It is it always that way or is it really? Much of that is encompassed in the whole idea of a fallen world and that you and I in it's interesting in this section and it's not what I Kind of looked at this a little bit last week with us.

What? There is a reality that we ought to pray and ask God for discernment Over those the situations that we find ourselves in would you agree? Because at times it could be what? It could be the result of Sin what isn't that what we do with the Lord's Supper, right? We ask we ask ourselves to what and when will Paul says? He says if you don't judge yourself God will judge you and he said for this reason what many of you are All sick, right? So so it could be and I think that's one of the reasons why we ought to keep that engine free of debris So that we are praying and that we have knowledge And God will reveal that to us It doesn't mean it comes in the form of lightning bolt or postcard or red light green light But there's a reality that God is If any man lacks wisdom James says what? Let him pray let him ask God who gives to all men abundantly let him ask in faith So some different thoughts to think about that Here's another thought It's such a great privilege to pray and I wanted to ask us to think about What was the main function of the Prophet Especially as it was laid out in the Old Testament, but it could be certainly what was the function of the Prophet? What did he do? I mean we take up the Lord Jesus Christ and we spend a lot of time thinking about crisis Prophet priest and King right those three great offices that he hope what was really the function of the Prophet? Okay Prosecutor yeah So in a sense the Prophet spoke for God to man right whether in various forms, but the prophets main function was to Speak on behalf of God as God has sent him to man.

Okay, and that's a general term Let me ask you a question, what was the main function of the priest sir? Okay, so Brother Ron says that the main function of the priest in various forms was to do the prophets spoke to man for God and Did the priests speak to? God for man Use brother Mike says intercession So so if you think about it, and then I want to bring in another foot What are we in the kingdom of God? What does Peter say? We are? It says we're a kingdom of what Priests.

Well, okay following through and again, I'm not trying to make one-on-one relationship from Old Testament to New Testament, but the reality is as The kingdom of priests we are to intercede for Man Back to God and not only for ourselves, but for who else? For others, right? So so and again that Wouldn't it be interesting Close to this way.

Wouldn't it be interesting if if every morning somehow you had This pie chart would come up.

I know I'm being crazy.

That's okay What is your pie chart that comes up every morning and it it defines your prayer life and I wonder you know how you do pie charts and You have bigger sections and small sections and you know something like that I wonder how big your your prayer life would be in the pie chart every day Would it be would it be a big slice so would it be you know one of these How would it how would it come back Just something to think about brothers and sisters and think about What he's saying here and I want to move on to the example of your life's gonna get to some other verses But if you think about it one of the great Realities of the Lord Jesus Christ not only did he spend nights in fellowship But much of that time he spent in prayer was for even his disciples Do you remember and I'm just gonna read it to you you remember that Great high priestly prayer that he prayed in John 17.

Let me just read you a piece of it I have manifested your name to the men that you have given me out of the world They were yours and you gave them to me.

They have kept your word now They have known that all things which you have given me are from you and I have given them the words Which you have given me And they received them and have known surely that I came forth from you and they have believed that you sent me and then Jesus Makes this astounding statement in John 17.

I pray for them.

I do not pray for the world But for those that you have given me for they are yours And all mine are yours and yours are mine and I'm glorified in them and I am no longer in the world But these are in the world and I come to you Keep through your name those that you have given me that they may be one even as we He prayed for them Not only did he pray for them for their Condition at that point, but he prayed for them for what? That they would be with him forever and ever so just think about that just think about that and think about this reality of Where in verse 16 confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed whether it be sickness Whether it be Related directly in one-on-one relationship to a particular sin or fault or Just in general because of the reality of our own frailty and Because we live in a world that is in that sense sin cursed that you and I have this privilege and this Responsibility to pray for one another you remember the epistles If you read through Paul's epistles You will find yourself constantly Seeing what Paul did for the churches praying for the churches many of his epistles open that way because he had such a For them and such a burden for them He was so burdened for those that he had in that sense brought in through into the fold by God's grace not by Paul's Wisdom but by God's grace But nevertheless Paul was burdened for the church at Ephesus and the church at Thessalonica and the church at Philippi And on and on and on let me ask you to think about that How burdened are we to pray for others? How burdened are we really do we see it as a burden? here's one of the things that I think of and and I'll remind you of it in a minute, but I think of How Terrible it is that there are so many people that never pray at all Although there's probably a reality that we could discuss that every man prays Many people many pray to the wrong God, right? There's no atheists and foxholes that kind of a thought but how about People who never pray for their own souls Never pray for their own kids Never pray for their own wife or husband.

Is that not something that you burden us that someone's not They're not even concerned over the state of their own souls Should we not be burdened with that? Let me read you something and if you remember Job Especially in the beginning of the book and it says this about Job And it says and his sons would go to feast in their houses each one in his appointed day and would send and invite their Three sisters to eat and drink with them and so it was when the days of feasting had run their course that Job would send and Sanctify him listen and he would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings According to the number of them all for Job said it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts thus Job did regularly Think about that.

How many of us are burdened for our own relationships Whether it be our own kids Whether it be brothers sisters husbands wives How many of us really feel a sense? And as it says here how Job did it day by day Concerned about the souls of his own and certainly if you remember what happens fairly quickly after that His family's wiped out even to the point of course his wife saying curse God and die Doesn't ask us to think about that.

And again, I'm trying to provoke us this morning to to really consider our prayer life and Consider the privilege the responsibility and the worth of it all The Apostle John said that he prayed that we might prosper in all things as our soul prospers Is that wrong to pray for prosperity as long as we understand what prosperity is in its right context What do we just merely? Ask let's say in relationship to our own kids Well, just just bless my daughter today.

Bless my son today and hope they get this job and and I hope they they're happy And again, I'm not saying those things are wrong in and of themselves But do we really feel that sense of burden? that perhaps my My son my daughter My my brother my sister It won't all said maybe they've cursed God Maybe they don't know God Who's gonna pray for them? Are we? Are we gonna be the ones to do it? I mean if you think about it even in that sense What does it say in first Timothy? It says that Paul says I would that what? Men would pray always and that we would pray for who? Kings and for all those entering authority that we might need a Republican life.

No a Democratic life.

No An independent life.

No that we might lead one a Quiet and peaceable life that God would check my quick this way How many of us would it rightfully admit that we? Are guilty at times of complaining for those in authority But not praying for those that are in authority.

You want to see that pie chart again? No, because again, it's a to me prayer is in in essence is like the the cloud that was With the children of Israel the pillar of fire it should always be there and it doesn't necessarily mean that we're Just doing it at out of a setting like Daniel opening the window three times a day But there's a reality that that our lives are encompassed by this community with God dependence with God relationship with God burden for others Intercession supplication giving a thanks that God would Be glorified and that men would come to to know just think about a prayer list.

Why do we even have a prayer list? Here's another thought and I think about this a lot if you ask me to pray for you I've better pray for you.

And if I say yes, am I not committed? I Absolutely committed I'm committed so we ought not to say someone comes up to us and said, please pray for me from Well, not to say yes and not pray ought to be committed it's like the It's like the chicken and the pig right at breakfast Serving bacon and eggs Chickens interested the pigs committed.

I'll let you think about that one for a minute Should It not be that we are of Such a mind that we actually believe that we can and I want to kind of before we end this Look at the example that he gives us because there it is Verse 16 confess your trespasses to one another pray for one another that you may be healed Then he says the effectual the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much that word for Fervent It means to be working at it with great might and great strength and great It's a word that denotes energy It's not it's not something that just we just just passes by it has to do the effective fervent earnest continual If you will Hard pressed in our souls to do that That you and I are responsible To pray I wanted to just go back if you would real quick first Kings 18 because that's where we read of Elijah first Kings 18 just let's look at it because the example is startling As it's brought up to us You know, I sure was a man of and and I it's so Interesting and powerful to me that he He was just like us brothers and sisters.

I mean, I think sometimes we think of the prophets as superheroes And in some senses they did demonstrate Great things but but they weren't much like much different than us Well, this isn't and certainly we could spend time on Elijah, right Elijah does what he calls down fire from heaven on the On the false prophets at Mark on though, and then what does he do? Runs in highs from Jezebel, right so very much like us, but here's what I wanted to ask is to think about so If you remember and hopefully you do remember the story as he's dealing Not the story but the account as he he's sent by God to go to Ahab and Ahab because of his sin and then Elijah says is going to be a drought for three and a half years and Then in James we get the example of how that drought ended.

And so if you look at it in verse 41 of chapter 18 first Kings 18 41 Elijah Elijah said to Ahab go up eat and drink for there is the sound of Abundance of rain.

I'm just real quick.

How's it rain for three and a half years? as if the ground has been dry for three and a half years and Here comes Elijah and he tells Ahab go up because he hears the sound of the abundance of rain Ahab went up to eat and drink and Elijah came up to the top of Carmel and he bowed down to the ground and he Put his face between his knees Well to me that demonstrates fervency Well, because I don't know about you, but I don't think I could do that physically I don't think I can do that And Spiritually, it's very difficult Just a quick thought how many of us would say that sometimes it feels as if God's sitting right next to us And other times it feel like God's 10,000 miles away Something to think about well, maybe God's always sitting right next to you in truth.

He is Right.

He is what I'm talking about an experience.

Tell me sometimes heaven doesn't seem like it's open Wide and all the times it says the heavens seem like brass But then right nevertheless He puts his face between his knees and he says to his servant go up now look towards the sea So he went up and looked and there is Nothing.

Well, he's already told I have a have go eat because the abundance of rain is coming Mm-hmm servant comes back.

He said nada and Seven times he said go again It came to pass the seventh time that he said there is a cloud as small as a man's hand Rising out of the sea.

So he said go up say to a lot a.m.

Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you There's an example of a Prayer of a man in many ways just like me and you because again then the count is the story of the False prophets and calling down fire and and running from Jezebel and then if you remember what happens after that Elijah finds himself in a condition where he's smart He says God just take me this Something to think about and and it's it's amazing how James brings this to our mind in this reality of praying not only ourselves, but praying for for one another that there is a There is a mighty working that comes through prayer and that's why I say to you if we do not understand Both the privilege the responsibility the power of prayer then our prayer life is going to be stunted And we ought not to be Those that have a stunted prayer life There ought to be those whose prayer life is is real and for it ought to be constantly moving right whether it be for ourselves and Even that in praying for ourselves brothers and sisters Do we not are we not of a mind that Lord if you grant me grace to be more like your son Then I will demonstrate your son more to others who don't know you So in that sense praying for oneself is not selfish if we understand it again much of our prayer life Needs to go underneath the microscope See what we're actually praying for and I wanted to end but we're out of time but anyway, just to think about I wrote down a bunch of quotes from the Psalms and The reason why I wrote them down and this is only some of them Because I wanted to to take if we had time wanted to show you what David thought about prayer Because you remember what it says about David It says he was a man after what Man after God's own talk right you want to know one of the reasons why I believe he was You you look at those verses and you'll find out because he's always asking God to hear He's always saying God value ear and listen to me Please Lord.

I'm pleading with you.

Can you hear me? You just look up even those you'll be amazed that David and There are and I went back because I just like to study that way it just helps me that there are 25 specific times that David calls God and asked God for his ear and asked God to hear him Why because David believed that not only was God there But that God answers prayer That God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask I Just will leave you with this thought brothers and sisters Your prayer life in in in some ways will be Regulated by what you believe about God your prayer life.

My prayer life will will grow as The reality of God grows bigger in our life, that's why When someone first comes to faith they struggle it doesn't mean they don't pray, but they they their prayer life Begins to take off and so as we get older in the faith Not just older in the flesh, but older in the faith our prayer life should be on this way Right and not this way And if we've never really seen our our prayer life move, maybe it's maybe it's Because we never really Seek God for who he is and seek to see him more and more because if any of you have ever seen if any of you want to say that you've seen God as He truly is that not only you're a fool.