Sermon Tone Analysis

“*ONE LAST LOOK IN THE MIRROR*”

                     (A Series on the Book of James)

 

Westgate Chapel 05~/22~/05                                  James 5:13-20

 

Proposition:      That prayer is a life devoted in every season and every circumstance to seeking God’s voice, His direction, and His purposes so that His will be done in our lives.

! i.    introduction

!! -     I WONDER how many Christians quit church….because

they prayed for relief from suffering and nothing happened?

!! -     I WONDER how many Christians quit their faith….because

they prayed for the good times to never end, and they did?

!! -     I WONDER how many Christians quit on God altogether….because

they prayed for a healing and it never happened?

!! -     I WONDER how many Christians gave up and went back to a life of sin….because

they prayed to be delivered instantly and got tired of the battle?

!! -     I WONDER how many Christians have prayed for the nation to be revived…and when revival didn’t come, after a year, or five years, or ten, gave up and went back to status quo?

!! -     I WONDER how many Christians have prayed for the restoration of someone they love…and when it didn’t seem to make a difference, just gave up?

!! -     THIS is real life people!

This is where you and I live.

It is where I live.

!! -     AND remember, James is a real pastor, concerned for the wellbeing of a real congregation that all used to attend Jerusalem First Church….that is until severe persecution scattered most of them all over the Roman Empire.

!! -     AND this (hold up Bible) is a real letter written to them to help them live the Christian life all the way to the finish line.

!! -     IT is not a cook book, with recipes that call for a teaspoon of this and a pound of that…stir and bake until browned on the top.

!! -     THIS is a mirror….so

they can hold it up from time to time and see the model of the Christian life, who is Jesus, and look at their reflection to see how they are doing.

!! -     AND in the last 8 verses…..before he puts his pen down and entrusts the letter and them to the Holy Spirit….he

addresses some of the biggest issues of life and sums them up in one four letter word…PRAY!

!! -     LISTEN….before

you dismiss this as one more sermon designed to guilt you into praying and tune me out….think about this:

!!! ~*     As breathing is to your physical life…so prayer is to your Christian life.

!!! ~*     Not as a means to get you or I what we want….but to put us into direct contact with what God wants for our lives.

!! -     EVERY day God has…

!!! ~*     New mercies for you.

!!! ~*     Blessings.

!!! ~*     Guidance.

!!! ~*     Opportunities for you to serve Him.

!!! ~*     Challenges for you to overcome.

!!! ~*     Affirmation.

!!! ~*     Encouragement.

!!! ~*     Divine appointments in which He wants you to represent His heart and intentions.

!!! ~*     Opportunities to learn a broken and contrite spirit.

!!! ~*     Healing.

!!! ~*     Grace to persevere.

!! -     AND you will miss most of them if you don’t pray….all

day and into the night.

!! -     THE starting place for a life of prayer is the disciplined time, set aside before the distractions and other voices of the day barge in.

!! -     THE time set aside for prayer that is both talking and listening.

!! -     BUT I am also talking about the kind of prayer which is your heart and mine occupied with God all day and into the night.

!! -     THAT you are going about your day, with one ear tuned to His voice, enquiring how He is feeling and what He is thinking about the life you are busy living right then.

!! -     SO, if you place any value on your Christian life and the finish line of your faith, you will listen to James wrap up his epistle on the subject of prayer.

!! -     AND you will learn an incredibly important lesson from James today….that

you and I pray, not to get what we want.

!! -     THAT is why so many people are quitting the church, their faith and even God.

They prayed and tried to muster the faith required to receive….and

nothing happened.

!! -     NO!

We pray so that we can find out what God wants….and

then pray in faith believing and receive.

!! -     I THINK you are going to be amazed at the range of real life issues James uses to illustrate his point on prayer.

!! -     TURN with me to James 5:13-20 ( page 1199)

!

ii.

WHEN YOU ARE SUFFERING-PRAY

!! -     THE first real life issue James addresses is in verse 13a,

!!!       “*Is anyone among you suffering?

/Then /he must pray*.”

!! -     THE word “suffering” covers any type of misfortune.

!! -     THINGS are not going your way.

!! -     PROBLEMS are compounding in your life.

!! -     SOMETIMES we go through whole seasons in life that are characterized by misfortune.

!! -     THE people to whom James was writing this epistle could certainly say that was the case for them.

!! -     AND for most of us in this room, the most common responses to continual misfortune are:

!!! ~*     Anger.

!!! ~*     Complaining.

!!! ~*     Self-pity.

!!! ~*     Isolation.

!!! ~*     Escape….by

whatever means are at your disposal.

!! -     NO! James says when misfortune strikes…you MUST pray!

!! -     IT is imperative that you pray!

!! -     TO escape the suffering?

!! -     NO!

We pray, first to find out what God is saying and doing in the middle of our suffering.

!! -     THEN we will know how to respond, how to stand and how to believe concerning our situation.

!! -     UNTIL we have prayed….we

are just flailing around, no matter how much binding and loosing we do.

!

iii.

WHEN YOU ARE CHEERFUL-PRAY AND WORSHIP

!! -     HERE is the second real life issue James addresses, in the rest of verse 13,

!!!       “*Is anyone cheerful?

He is to sing praises*.”

!! -     HOW does the born again, Spirit-filled Christian handle the good times?

!! -     SOMETIMES the good times are the hardest times to serve the Lord and pray.

!! -     THAT certainly became Israel’s problem when she arrived in the land of milk and honey.

!! -     GOD warned them, back in Deuteronomy 4:9, “When you get into the Promised Land….

!!!        “…*give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons*.”

!! -     WHEN you are in the good times….they

too easily become the goal instead of God.

!! -     SO, the answer is a life of prayer.

!! -     I KNOW that James says “sing praises”, but in reality there is no different between praise the prayer.

!! -     IT is the communion of the heart with the living God…and it is the only way to “keep your soul diligently” in the good times.

!

iv.

WHEN YOU ARE SICK-PRAY