Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning and welcome!

It is good to be back with you all this morning.

I would like for you to start turning in your Bibles to .

In just a moment we are going to be reading from and discussing the subject of Prayer and Praise.

For several weeks I have had a very heavy heart for our church and the Lord has impressed on me that we need to change some things.

It seems that our church family has been overwhelmed with sickness and to be honest, I have struggled to know exactly what to do about it.

I’m not a doctor so I can’t treat the sicknesses.

The only thing I can do is pray, which is what I’ve been doing; but it’s not enough.

We, as a Church need to be praying and praising.

Praying for God’s will and praising God for all things.

Because this is an area in which I feel like our church, and most churches struggle.

And I’m not talking about our personal prayer time.

I personally think we could all do better in this area, but I only know my own prayer life.

I am talking about our times of corporate prayer as the body of Christ.

I am talking about the time we spend, here together, in prayer.

I am talking about every Sunday morning when we call the men to the back to pray.

Men, every single one of us should be back there praying.

If God has called us to be the leader of our family, then we should be setting the example.

And that is just one area.

I’ve been thinking about how much time we spend in prayer in a typical service.

We open in prayer, pray over the offering, pray before the sermon, and end in prayer.

Maybe two minutes each for a total of 8-10 minutes in prayer max.

We have to change this, and the first place we are going to do this is on Sunday nights.

Starting tonight, and every Sunday night our services are going to be focused on prayer.

We are going to start each service with a time of corporate prayer and that is going to be our focus.

If there is time to sing a song, we will sing.

If there is time to preach a sermon, we’ll preach.

But those things will be secondary, because our focus needs to be on prayer.

This is where we are going to start, and as the Lord leads we may make other changes.

This is where we are going to start, and as the Lord leads we may make other changes.

And this morning, as we work through James’ teaching on prayer, I want us all to pay very special attention to what James is pointing out to us.

So, if you have found in your Bible, I’d invite you stand with me if you are able.

Again, that is

Scripture Focus

James 5:13-

Trouble and Happiness

Trouble and Happiness

So, James starts out in this passage with the two basic things that every Christian, every Church should be doing.

Again in verse 13, he states . . .

James outlines two situations by asking two questions:

Is any one of you in trouble?

Is anyone happy?

Trouble

I want to ask you all the same questions:

Is anyone here today in trouble?

And I’m not talking only about legal trouble, or trouble with your parents.

What I am talking about is real trouble.

Physical trouble

Emotional trouble

Spiritual trouble

Financial trouble

Legal trouble

Any kind of trouble you can think of.

Does anyone here fit that category?

If so, James says that you should pray.

And not only you alone, but your Church Family should be praying for you and with you.

And to be honest, everyone here today would probably fit into some category of “trouble.”

If it is something that troubles you, it fits the category.

And instead of worrying about it (which I know is hard not to do-that is natural) we should pray about it.

And we should be praying about it as a church because corporate prayer removes that isolation that the devil tries to keep us in.

We get to the place we feel all alone and the devil tries to trap us there.

It’s hard to feel alone when everyone else is lifting you up as well.

So later when we have a time of prayer, I don’t want to be the only one standing down here.

If you are experiencing any type of trouble or distress, I want you down here with me.

Happiness

Now, the second part of that verse we often pay very little attention to, but it is just as important as the first.

Again, James asks us Is anyone happy?

Is anyone here today and you are happy?

You are glad?

You have joy in your heart?

I hope so.

Even though we may be experiencing trouble, serious trouble right now we can find happiness.

And when I am talking about happiness, I’m not talking about the fleeting happy feelings we get when things are going our way.

I am talking about lasting, eternal happiness that is found only in Jesus Christ.

I am talking about the joy that is found in the center of God’s will.

I am talking about the realization of the promise of Eternal Life through Jesus Christ.

I am talking about the promise of no more suffering, no more pain, no more tears.

I am talking about our entering into the joy of the Lord, that Jesus describes in the parables.

That’s what happiness is and that is why you see people who are going through the hardest trials in their life and they praise God anyway.

If you are here and this describes you then James says you should be singing songs of praise.

And that’s not just singing a hymn, that includes testifying to the Lord.

A song of praise is any spoken word of praise to God.

When I ask for people to sing and testify, it should be a race to see who gets to talk or sing first.

If Jesus Christ is your Savior, then you should be praising God for it, at every opportunity.

And these songs of praise do something else as well.

Singing and testifying praises to God can lift us AND OTHERS out of the weights and the bondage that their trouble has over them.

It lifts up the WHOLE CHURCH not just the one offering the praise or the song.

And the reason why the church in North America is in decline and the reason why the Stanford Church of the Nazarene is just sort of holding it’s own, not declining but not really growing much is because WE HAVE NEGLECTED TO PRAYER AND PRAISE.

We have reduced it to just another part of the service.

Just part of the program.

Just sort of work it into our routine so we can get in and get out to satisfy our conscious that we’ve been to church this week.

That’s not going to cut it anymore.

Prayer and Praise do not need to be just an after-thought.

Prayer and Praise need to be one of the focal points.

We need to be praying and we need to be praising!

The Third Question

Now, if you have been paying attention to the Scripture you will notice that James asks a third question as well.

In verse 14 James says . . .

Now, this question that James asks is directly related to the first one about trouble.