James 5:13-18

Quick Recap On Previous Verses;

- James is addressing the Jewish Christians like we talked about in previous weeks

James 5:13–14 “13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 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.”

Here in these first two verses James starts off by asking three questions

is anyone among you suffering ? Let him pray

is anyone among you cheerful ? Let him sing Psalms

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

Lets brake these down

So James brakes this down into two categories, of Evil

the suffering , and the sick

Whats the difference ?

Suffering , when he uses this word he uses it in terms of a Believer being persecuted

As believers sharing the Gospel we will experience some forms of persecution ,

we might be made fun of for our belief , we might be assaulted for our belief, regardless like we talked about last week

most of us if we are living for the Kingdom of God will experience some form of Suffering for the Lord

and since we are going to be suffering there is a way to suffer that we talked about last week

we are to suffer with patience ,

when we are tested or going through trials , we need to pray for endurance to suffer long

the ability to get through it with the right attitude

Remember, when we complain we complain against God because we are taking the circumstance into our own hands

Next we have the Sick

The sick is referring to again believers

when illness is not major we pray for each other

obviously when we look at sick people we see that they are not doing well physically

James here is saying, who ever is sick let the Elders pray for them, and anoint them with oil

why do we anoint people with Oil ?

we do it because it gives those who are sick the ability to physically feel the Prayer and not Just hear it

sometimes sickness can be random and completely out of our control

thats when we go to the elders of the church and they anoint us with oil and pray over us

Its important to remember that all of this is done in the NAME OF THE LORD

its not the Oil that heals us its the Lord who heals us

He responds to the faith we have through the act of being anointed and prayer

James 5:15 “15 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.”

So in verse 14 I said that Sickness can be random and out of our control

But do you guys think that sickness can also come from Sin ?

Someone give me an example of sickness from sin

We see sickness in so many different forms of physical ailments

what about sexual sin ?

1 Corinthians 6:18–19 “18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

what about not being obedient to our Parents ? or to what the word of God says ?

(Expound )

Sin has a consequence and that consequence can sometimes be through life changing sickness

People who drink for years and years can develop cirrhoses of the liver

Thats when the body has to filter alcohol through the Liver,

our livers were not meant to filter that stuff so it damages it causing scar tissue build up

and over time the Liver hardens

SIN hardens our soul and causes sickness

Another one I wanted to share is food

do we think eating food can be a sin ?

Yes it can be, our bodies are temples, they are not ours

when we eat bad our body develops sickness in many different forms

diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, anxiety,

i think you guys get the point,

Sin has consequence

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Proverbs 18:20–21 “20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Again sin has consequences, the power of the tongue has the ability to bring forth life and death

What do we do with our tongue that can bring forth Life ?

We pray, thats what James says at the end of the verse, we will be forgiven, keep that in mind for the next verse

James 5:16 “16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

James again is stressing not only prayer but Confession

confessing our sins to a (righteous man) so someone who is spiritually mature avails much,

so prayer from someone who is solid has the ability to make a difference

Galatians 6:1 “1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”

Prayer works

I want to hone in on a couple points in this verse as well

confession is the main part of forgiveness because without confession there is nothing to forgive

it takes faith to confess our sins

because without faith we wouldn’t believe that God has the ability to forgive us of our sins

lets remember that if God is our creator and has the ability to create us than he has the ability to forget our sins

Once we pray to the Lord, confess what ever sin is in our heart, its done, we have given it over to the Lord

true repentance has a Look, fruit comes from a repentive heart

(Read)

Hebrews 8:12 “12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.””

Jeremiah 31:34 “34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””

Psalm 103:12 “12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

The Lord loves us and he wants us to have the right heart

Prayer with others makes a big difference especially when we are in need of it

when we humble ourselves, to the point of reaching out to a spiritual mentor or leader and we ask for prayer and confess our Sins the Lord hears us

James 5:17 “17 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 land for three years and six months.”

James 5:18 “18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

Now James gives am example here of what happens when we do pray

Elija himself was an ordinary man just like all of us , he wasn’t some crazy spiritual being

He was looked up to and Known somewhat as a Jewish Legend that was associated with prayer

be a prayer warrior

but that didn’t matter, that didn’t mean he was unqualified to pray because he wasn’t a high ranking spiritual leader

God is the one who qualifies us not our position

Because we are made righteous in his eyes when we became saved , we have the ability to pray for one another

Just as God answered Elijahs prayer, he will answer ours when we seek after him with the right heart

vs 18 says and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain

prayer is powerful

In James 1:5 “5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Philippians 4:6 “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;”

Prayer again is powerful

James 5:19 “19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,”

James 5:20 “20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”

Rather than condemnation, restoration should be the Goal

James in these two verses is talking again to people who have fallen away and wandered from the truth

that is why there was problems in the church

Now as believers our Job is to again restore those who have fallen away or are struggling through issues

When we are there for others spiritually like it says, we potentially help save someone from death

it is encouraging to know that James is saying if we help turn someone back to the truth, we might help them save their own Life

Today in the staff Devo we read

Proverbs 11:8 “8 The righteous is delivered from trouble, And it comes to the wicked instead.”

This verse is a perfect depiction of what we are talking about

as believers when we are in right standing with God, He delivers us from trouble, he saves us

it doesn’t matter the circumstance, death doesn’t even matter because at the end of the Day through Jesus

we have eternal Life

Now the wicked on the other hand, those that are of the world, trouble finds them

they don’t have the hope we have in Christ

thats why it is important as believers to have friends that are spiritually mature.

we are to restore each other through prayer and Gods word

Galatians 6:1 “1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”

Close !