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As far as an ongoing thing, I would say it's most people's experience I've had in my life.

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Me too.

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COVID was bad.

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Where does it get the main thing?

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Well, you can say that, I don't care, but I never meant to do it.

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Bad.

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Some time ago, probably about, I'd say eight, maybe ten years ago, I decided I was going to make my own bread.

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Anybody in here ever try to make your own bread?

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It's kind of fun, isn't it?

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It's kind of...

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You failed miserably?

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Well, that's the story I'm about to tell you, actually.

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It was my first attempt at making bread.

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So I dug around in the cupboard and I found some little packets of yeast.

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And normally, the normal way of making bread is to use little packets of yeast to make it rise, right?

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Or however you get your yeast.

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There are ways to make bread rise without yeast.

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That works good for gluten-free bread.

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This is before we started doing gluten-free so much in my household.

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My wife is gluten-free because she has an intolerance and it messes with her gut.

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Before that, I was making some bread and I went in the cupboard, I dug out some yeast, and I thought, this will work.

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I had a little packet of yeast and I looked on it and it said, used by...

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And it was about three years, almost three years before the date that I was trying to make the bread.

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So that left me in a position.

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I either had to go buy more yeast or give it a try.

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And so I looked it up and it said, well, if it's still active, it should be fine.

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It doesn't matter what the used by date is.

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And so I decided I would give it a try and make the bread.

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And I put the bread all together and I put the yeast in there and I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting.

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And it did not rise.

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So apparently my yeast was no good.

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The truth is, if you're going to make bread with yeast, you need yeast.

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Now I had the alternative.

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I could have looked into making bread some other way.

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They use xanthan gum and some other things in gluten-free bread.

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Or I could have tried to make the bread without yeast, completely without yeast.

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The recipe just like normal, but without yeast.

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And neither way.

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One way didn't appeal to me and the other way wasn't really a possibility because it's not going to become bread, right?

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Flatbread maybe.

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So I want you to think today because we're going to get to a point in this scripture today where we're going to narrow down our duties as Christian to a very narrow scope.

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And at that point, it's kind of like A or B. Choose one or the other.

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I want you to realize that there are a lot of things that we talk about doing as Christians.

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There are a lot of things we talk about our responsibilities as Christians.

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But we're going to narrow at one moment in time, we're going to narrow those things down to just two things.

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And so if you get wrapped up in any of the other hundreds of things, it's not that they're bad things per se.

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But if they can't be connected with one of these two things, then we kind of have a problem.

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And the problem might be that you're trying to make bread without yeast or you're trying to make bread by calling yourself a Christian and being a Christian,

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but using other methods other than yeast without really understanding that without the original two, it doesn't work.

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Okay?

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So grab your Bibles if you would.

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We have a relatively short passage of scripture.

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We usually give an amen, a hoot or a holler or something as we go to James, Chapter 5.

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Amen.

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Thank you very much, those of you who participated in that.

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What was the purpose of that?

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That is to remind us what we are about to do is to read the scripture and from here on out it is not really about what I say or about what you say

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or about what you think or what I think.

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It's really what God thinks.

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And so this is what James, our brother in Christ, wrote to the local church a while, some while after Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.

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And so we'll start reading in verse 13.

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It says, Chapter 5 of the Book of James, verse 13, it says,

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Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.

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Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises.

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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.

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Now we're going to stop there for a second to make sure we understand what we just read.

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So the first part where it says suffering, that means something's going wrong.

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Okay?

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Now this kind of suffering excludes illness.

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Okay?

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So this is a word of suffering meaning something's going wrong, logistically, relationally, financially, your job, whatever.

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Some kind of problems in your life, trials and tribulations if you will.

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And what does that person do?

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The command is, let him pray.

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Let the one, and the actual pronoun there is neuter, so it's, you could say let him or her pray.

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So the point is, if you're suffering, if you're in a bad spot, you're supposed to pray.

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Is anyone cheerful?

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I submit to you that this cheerful basically means you're doing in your own mind pretty good.

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Happy, satisfied, content with the basic circumstances.

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That's what it literally means.

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But, well let's say it this way first.

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Let him sing praises.

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So we've got one who's supposed to pray and one who's supposed to praise.

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Okay?

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Now I would say to you that people get wrapped up in what they think is true.

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In fact, most of the time we believe what we think is true.

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Anybody see the problem with that?

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That's really not the order of things, is it?

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You're supposed to think true what you believe.

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Right?

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So we believe opening a channel between us and God, grace shows up.

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Ever since I've been saved, it would have been virtually impossible, almost impossible.

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And I've had some people try for someone to convince me that there is no God of heaven.

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Because I had a personal encounter with him.

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Right?

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And I know there's a lot of people who were raised without a biological dad.

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You never met your biological dad or your biological dad left maybe when you were a teenager or something.

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And you basically went through and became a man or became a woman without your dad.

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But you know you had a dad, right?

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You either met them so you know they were a real person or you understand the science behind it that says that they made a significant contribution to your beginning.

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And so you know that you had a dad.

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It's undeniable.

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Right?

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But the problem is some people think they're suffering when in reality it's not all that bad.

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And some people think things are not all that bad when in reality it's pretty bad.

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Right?

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So we kind of fool ourselves.

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Example is in mourning.

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We deny.

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We deny that the person is dead.

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We lost our loved one.

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They've gone to the Lord or worse.

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And now we deny that they're dead.

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That's denial.

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So we think it's got to be okay because they're not actually dead.

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But they actually have gone on.

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And so that's denial.

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So sometimes we think we're okay when we're not.

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Sometimes we think we're really hurting when we're not.

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Our minds are not always clear.

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So let me restate it for you this way.

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If anyone among you thinks he is suffering, let him pray.

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Now I submit to you he is calling for you to have an open mind to really understand when you're suffering and when you're not.

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That's true.

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But if you assess your situation and you're like I'm not 100% sure if I'm suffering, but I think I am, then you're called to pray.

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If on the other hand you look at your situation and you're pretty content, things are pretty good, things are working.

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Even though I've got some suffering, I realize I'm a lot better off than some people.

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I think I'm okay.

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Then sing praises.

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When I'm in worship, sometimes I put my hands up.

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Some people are like allergic to that, right?

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Like I put their hands up like, oh, like we're going to break out in dog barking or something in the next moment, right?

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Like it's going to be crazy if we raise our hands.

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But the scripture actually commands us in worship, in Psalms especially, to praise God with raised hands.

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It's commanded.

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It's not an option.

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It's commanded.

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And so there should be a time if you want to do it privately because you're really embarrassed or you have bad VO under your arms or something, if you want to do it privately, that's between you and God.

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But it's commanded in scripture to raise your hands.

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So you raise your hands.

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You raise your hands like this and you recognize God is awesome.

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God is so far above me like the angels in heaven crying, holy, holy, holy.

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He's amazing.

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You raise your hands like this.

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You raise your hands like this when you're saying I need God.

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I need God to do something.

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I need God to affect my heart.

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Right?

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And there's two separate words in the Hebrew for that.

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One's this and one's this.

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And both are commanded.

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And so that's what he's saying.

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When you realize you are in need, when you realize you are suffering, you have issues, you pray to God.

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Open your hands.

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Listen to what are just testimony.

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Right?

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Listen to me and I will fix it, says the Lord.

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So you say, okay, God, I am listening.

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You actively open up and listen.

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And then the praise is when you realize that you're doing pretty good.

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You're content.

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Things are okay.

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So you praise him recognizing his power.

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Now, what's the third alternative?

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Well, you go on to 14.

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What's left is this.

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Is anyone among you sick?

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So you remember the suffering in the first part of the previous verse was that kind of suffering rules out sickness.

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Right?

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It's situational suffering, not sickness.

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And so that leaves only one other alternative.

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If anyone among you is 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.

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So whether he or she is sick, either way, all neuter pronouns here.

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And so as male or female, either one, they call upon the elders.

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The elder word is interesting.

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That is the presbyteros word.

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Okay?

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So whenever you see elder in the Bible, it's pretty much interchangeable with pastor.

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Pastor, elder, bishop, all the same word, presbyteros pretty much, or a version thereof.

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And so what we're talking about is someone who's been in the church longer or someone who's been in the church and is recognized by the church as someone who something has a characteristic, a certain characteristic.

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Okay?

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Could you say this is a position so the church altogether says, well, we recognize, right, Curtis, we're going to make you an elder.

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You clearly love the Lord.

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You're serving God.

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You're righteous by his standards.

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Best we can tell, we're going to make you an elder.

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Right?

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It could be that because that would be like ordaining.

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That would be like the church recognizing that person.

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Right?

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When the Catholic Church calls people saints, they say, well, that person was definitely a saint, which is kind of comical in a way because every Christian is a saint.

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We say, well, God did miracles in their life and they really serve the Lord.

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So they must have been a saint.

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Right?

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And when they do that, that could be electing them to a position.

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But the truth is they are, whether or not we recognize them.

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So whoever it is in the church that fills this characteristic, and I'll get there before we're through.

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I'll tell you what that characteristic, side of characteristics is.

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This person calls out for those people to come to them to pray over them and to anoint their head with oil.

200
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The anointing is an interesting thing.

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So this is typically accomplished with extra virgin olive oil.

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Pretty good cooking tool as well.

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So you keep that on hand.

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And then they will anoint them, meaning they put oil on their forehead.

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Or it might be if you have pain in your hands, you might put it on their hands, more localized or whatever.

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Right?

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So you anoint them.

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I went to the hospital.

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There was a woman and she'd been a professing Christian while she was alive.

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And now she was in her late 80s and she was in bed and she hadn't been conscious.

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She'd been in a coma for like nine days.

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And they said she was brain dead.

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Said she would never live again.

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And her family took her off the life support and she would not pass on.

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She was laying there in the bed, brain dead.

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And her body was moaning like it was inhabited by an evil spirit.

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It was moaning and shaking around and violent.

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And they had her strapped to the rails so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else.

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And had her nails trimmed back down because that was the first attempt to keep her from hurting somebody else.

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Even though she was brain dead.

221
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So we went there.

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Deacon Tony and I went there and we met with the family and we were going to pray over her.

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But before we did, we anointed her head with oil.

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We put a little smear of oil horizontally and vertically on her.

225
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And the moment we put that oil on her forehead and then you explained it however you wanted.

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The moment we did that she stopped.

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And she lay there peacefully.

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And then we prayed over her.

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And I was not very comfortable in the room with the family because I knew that there was a drug dealer in the room.

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A very violent individual and that was his mother.

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And he and I had had run ins in the past.

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It wasn't a very good situation.

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There was a woman in the room who had blamed me for the suffering of their family.

234
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I wasn't very comfortable with that either.

235
00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:37,120
So I wasn't very comfortable in the room.

236
00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:41,120
But I went because this woman who was a present Christian, not a member of our church, needed help.

237
00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:42,120
And so we did that.

238
00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:43,120
And then we prayed over her.

239
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,120
And you could hear them murmuring along as they prayed.

240
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,120
There were about 13 people or so praying over her.

241
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:51,120
And then I said, okay, well, we're going to go ahead and go.

242
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,120
And we kind of backed out of the room and we left.

243
00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:57,120
And she passed away about five minutes later.

244
00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:00,120
Anointing is not anything special.

245
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,120
You accomplish it with extra virgin olive oil, right?

246
00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:08,120
And if you don't got that, you could use something else because it really isn't the quality of the oil that matters.

247
00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,120
It's what it represents.

248
00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,120
It's the power of God and who is going to do the work.

249
00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,120
And so anointing has all the way back in the Old Testament been used to represent the coming of God on a person.

250
00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:19,120
They anointed kings.

251
00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:20,120
They anointed priests.

252
00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:21,120
They anointed prophets.

253
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:22,120
Prophets did anointing.

254
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:23,120
Priests did anointing.

255
00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:27,120
And it was all to recognize the power of God coming on someone.

256
00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:38,120
And so now we've got certain people in the church who have the characteristic of being able to come and pray over someone and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

257
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:45,120
And so he says in verse 15, and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick.

258
00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:52,120
So it's kind of interesting that he says prayer offered in faith because I submit to you that there really isn't any other kind of real prayer, right?

259
00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,120
It's got to be offered in faith in order for it to do anything.

260
00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,120
It's not going to do anything if it's not offered in faith.

261
00:13:56,120 --> 00:14:07,120
But the people that he's writing to clearly had questions about praying, clearly had questions about how it was legit that you could heal somebody, right?

262
00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:11,120
And so he qualifies it as a prayer, bless you, offered in faith.

263
00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:14,120
And it says it will restore the one who is sick.

264
00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:17,120
And it says the Lord will raise him up.

265
00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,120
And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

266
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:25,120
And I think it's interesting because what did the person do that they would be healed?

267
00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,120
What did they do that they would be healed and have their sins forgiven?

268
00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,120
What did they do?

269
00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,120
Well, they were sick, but they didn't really do that, right?

270
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,120
Unless they somehow made themselves sick, which is certainly a possibility, I suppose.

271
00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,120
But it really wasn't the point.

272
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,120
They called on the elders.

273
00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:46,120
They called on somebody with the characteristic that we're going to talk about later to come.

274
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:48,120
That's all they did. They were open.

275
00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,120
They said, OK, I am open to being healed.

276
00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,120
Remember Jesus at the pools?

277
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,120
Do you want to be healed? He said.

278
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,120
Here's a man who had been laying there for 12 years trying to get in the pool to be healed.

279
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,120
And he walked up to him and said, do you want to be healed?

280
00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,120
And the man said, well, yeah, but every time the spirit comes, stirs the water,

281
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,120
somebody gets in before me and I can't be healed.

282
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:10,120
He said, do you want to be healed?

283
00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:12,120
And the man, of course, said yes.

284
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:13,120
And Jesus heals him.

285
00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,120
And so what did they do?

286
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:16,120
What did they do to earn it?

287
00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,120
What did they do to deserve it?

288
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:19,120
The answer is nothing.

289
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:20,120
What did they get?

290
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:25,120
They got their sins forgiven and their ailment healed.

291
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,120
Not based in what they did other than the fact that they were open to it.

292
00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,120
They were ready and willing.

293
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:34,120
And I submit to you, there is one more thing that's wrapped up in the characteristics of the individual.

294
00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:35,120
We'll go to 16 then.

295
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:40,120
It says, therefore, and out here we're going to start touching on the characteristics of those individuals.

296
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:48,120
Therefore, confess your sin to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

297
00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:54,120
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

298
00:15:54,120 --> 00:16:01,120
Therefore, because this is true, because those elders can come and anoint with oil and pray,

299
00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:07,120
and this person's sins will be forgiven and their ailments will be healed, because of that, because that is true,

300
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:11,120
confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

301
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,120
Now this phrase, one another, occurs a lot in the New Testament.

302
00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,120
We're not going to drill heartily down on it, but I just want to say this much to you.

303
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,120
There's a lot of things that we're supposed to do to one another.

304
00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,120
They're all pretty much representing God.

305
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,120
Jesus said, a new command I give you.

306
00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:29,120
It's not really a new command, but he was making it very clear that it was a new command because the church was new,

307
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,120
because God's people were new, because you're new.

308
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:36,120
Here's a new command for you. Love one another.

309
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:47,120
So you're going to have to throw out financial situations, social background, cultural background, race, career choices, sin, etc.

310
00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,120
Love one another.

311
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,120
So here we are. Think about the people that are in this room.

312
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,120
We came together today to reach new heights in Jesus. That's where we started at.

313
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:59,120
We've talked about prayer. We've worshipped God and praised Him.

314
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:01,120
We've looked now into His Word.

315
00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,120
James writes this as much to us as he did to them.

316
00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:13,120
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

317
00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:19,120
This phrase here where it says, the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much,

318
00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:24,120
on the one hand sounds kind of like it's almost like oversimply stated.

319
00:17:24,120 --> 00:17:28,120
So, duh, if it's effective prayer, it's going to accomplish much.

320
00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:30,120
That's what effective means.

321
00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:36,120
Efficient means accomplish much with the least expenditure of energy or without a lot of time involved.

322
00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:39,120
And effective means it gets it done.

323
00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:43,120
So he says the effective prayer.

324
00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:48,120
But the word there that is used for effective prayer has an interesting personality to it.

325
00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:51,120
We'll come back and talk about that a little bit in just one moment.

326
00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:54,120
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

327
00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:56,120
So now we need a righteous man.

328
00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:58,120
How do we get a righteous man?

329
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,120
That's the question.

330
00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:04,120
So Jesus died. He became sin for us.

331
00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:07,120
So that we might become the righteousness of God.

332
00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:09,120
So I understand and you understand. I hope you didn't figure it out yet.

333
00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:11,120
You understand as of now. You're with me Jason?

334
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:16,120
Alright. That you get your righteousness from God, not from you.

335
00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:18,120
Let's keep it real simple. You get your righteousness from God.

336
00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:21,120
God does righteousness. Man doesn't.

337
00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:28,120
So then we have a problem because we're basically being called here and a variety of other places to be righteous.

338
00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:31,120
And I submit to you that it's in the formula.

339
00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:35,120
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

340
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:40,120
And if you take out the so that you may be healed part for one second.

341
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:43,120
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

342
00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:45,120
This is what we need to do.

343
00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:50,120
We need to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.

344
00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:54,120
And thereby make each other righteous.

345
00:18:54,120 --> 00:18:56,120
You understand?

346
00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:58,120
I don't know if you realize this or not.

347
00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:03,120
But if you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ you have been given a job to do.

348
00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:07,120
There is a ministry of reconciliation. Paul talks about it that way.

349
00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:11,120
But simply put your job is to forgive sins.

350
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:15,120
He said, well you can't forgive sins. I can't forgive sins. No one can do that. Only God can do that.

351
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:19,120
Yes. And for that purpose He has made us His representative.

352
00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,120
Matthew 18. He gave us the keys of the kingdoms.

353
00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:25,120
And all things you bind on earth shall have already been bound in heaven.

354
00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,120
And all things you loose on earth shall have already been loosed in heaven.

355
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:30,120
Right? He gave us that purpose.

356
00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:33,120
Go therefore and forgive the world their sins.

357
00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:37,120
Now once they are forgiven if they believe it and they receive it and they recognize it.

358
00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:39,120
They'll be like, how do you have the power and authority to do that?

359
00:19:39,120 --> 00:19:45,120
I'll tell you it's through Jesus Christ who is Lord and Master of the universe who died on the cross to bestow that power.

360
00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:48,120
God wants to forgive the sins of mankind.

361
00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:51,120
Because God wanted to forgive the sins of mankind.

362
00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:53,120
But God also is a just and holy God.

363
00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:55,120
Punishment had to be paid.

364
00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:57,120
And it has been through Jesus.

365
00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:02,120
And now the message that we deliver is the remission of sins.

366
00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:04,120
Forgiveness.

367
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,120
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

368
00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:09,120
Couple of examples here.

369
00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:11,120
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

370
00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:13,120
By the way, what's our nature again?

371
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,120
Sinful nature.

372
00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,120
I mean born again into the kingdom your sinful nature can be better.

373
00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:22,120
You can start to have a godly nature.

374
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:25,120
You can start to grow in godly things and godly choices.

375
00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:27,120
But the reality is we are humans.

376
00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:29,120
Was Elijah a Christian?

377
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:31,120
No.

378
00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:33,120
Because Elijah was born and died a long time before Christ.

379
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:36,120
But he recognized God and he said, okay God whatever way you make.

380
00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:37,120
I'll give it all to you.

381
00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:39,120
I surrender to you.

382
00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,120
So Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

383
00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:44,120
Like that he trusted in God even though it was tough.

384
00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:45,120
And he prayed earnestly.

385
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:48,120
He just said, God please.

386
00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:50,120
That it might not rain.

387
00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:54,120
And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

388
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:57,120
Now two interesting things in that is by the time James is writing this.

389
00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:02,120
The first one is the scripture does not say that it specifically did not rain for three years and six months.

390
00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,120
So that shows that the story is well known.

391
00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,120
And that by the time James wrote the book of James.

392
00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:11,120
He said three years and six months and everybody accepted that as a thing.

393
00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:13,120
And they think it's like half of seven years.

394
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:16,120
Seven being the perfect number.

395
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:20,120
Also Elijah is attributed this trait.

396
00:21:20,120 --> 00:21:22,120
That he was a man of much prayer.

397
00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:24,120
But if you go in the scripture and read.

398
00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:26,120
It doesn't say he was a man of much prayer.

399
00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:28,120
He was a prophet but not a man of much prayer per se.

400
00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:34,120
But by this time the history of the kingdom was such that God's people recognized him as a man of prayer.

401
00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:37,120
An ordinary man who had become a man of prayer.

402
00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:39,120
Who asked God not to let it rain.

403
00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:41,120
And it had not rained for three and a half years.

404
00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:43,120
And then in 18 it says.

405
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:47,120
And he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

406
00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:51,120
My brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back.

407
00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:55,120
So now we have a person who is supposedly saved as part of our fellowship here.

408
00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:57,120
And they are straying from the truth.

409
00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:58,120
And the truth is the way.

410
00:21:58,120 --> 00:21:59,120
It's the path.

411
00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:03,120
It's the activities that you engage in that are right based on what God says.

412
00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:05,120
As he stray from the path.

413
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:07,120
It says and one turns him back.

414
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:11,120
Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way.

415
00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:13,120
Will save his soul from death.

416
00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:16,120
And will cover a multitude of sins.

417
00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:19,120
Now I submit to you that in order for you to turn.

418
00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:21,120
Know somebody is going the wrong way.

419
00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:23,120
You got to know a little something about their life.

420
00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:24,120
Hence the fellowship.

421
00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:27,120
You're not going to save some guy in Canada named John.

422
00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:30,120
Who goes and uses a prostitute this evening.

423
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:31,120
Because you won't know John.

424
00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:32,120
You don't know that he's in sin.

425
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:34,120
You don't have any way to have contact with him.

426
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:36,120
But you do have this building.

427
00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:37,120
You do have this people.

428
00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:38,120
You do have this body.

429
00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:39,120
You do have me.

430
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:41,120
You do have us.

431
00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:42,120
Okay.

432
00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:43,120
So that's the end of the text for today.

433
00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:46,120
We'll use a couple more in support.

434
00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:47,120
But there you go.

435
00:22:47,120 --> 00:22:48,120
There's three things I want you to see.

436
00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:51,120
Before you do that I want to have an illustration.

437
00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,120
It is simply this.

438
00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:55,120
The Myers near my house has been.

439
00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,120
I have frequented them much.

440
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,120
It's pretty easy for me to walk to Myers.

441
00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:03,120
It is easy for me to ride my bike to Myers.

442
00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:04,120
I can take a little backpack.

443
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:06,120
I can buy half dozen, ten items.

444
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:09,120
By the way, four gallons of milk is real heavy.

445
00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,120
It's over 30 pounds in a backpack.

446
00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:13,120
It gets to be quite a bit to ride your bike.

447
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:15,120
But I've done it.

448
00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:16,120
The point is this.

449
00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,120
I've been to Myers a lot.

450
00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:22,120
However, at roughly 11 o'clock I believe it is every night.

451
00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:24,120
Myers closes one of its doors.

452
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:26,120
Now they do that for security purposes.

453
00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,120
Because of less staffing.

454
00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:29,120
That kind of thing.

455
00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:32,120
They want people only coming in and out one door.

456
00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:35,120
Now it's pretty much always been the pharmacy side.

457
00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:36,120
That they've closed.

458
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:38,120
But there was a little while with the other side.

459
00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:41,120
So one night I showed up and I wasn't paying any great attention.

460
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:43,120
And I had walked to Myers.

461
00:23:43,120 --> 00:23:44,120
I've already walked.

462
00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:45,120
I don't know what that is.

463
00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:46,120
Maybe half a mile or whatever.

464
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:48,120
I've never really clocked it exactly.

465
00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:50,120
And I've got my little backpack.

466
00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:52,120
I go to the pharmacy side.

467
00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:53,120
And the door is shut.

468
00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:54,120
Locked.

469
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:55,120
Big sign.

470
00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:56,120
Red print.

471
00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:58,120
It says this door closed after 11 o'clock.

472
00:23:58,120 --> 00:23:59,120
Please use the other door.

473
00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:00,120
So I go back out.

474
00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:03,120
And I walk all the way over to the produce side.

475
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:04,120
And I go inside.

476
00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:06,120
And I walk all the way over to the pharmacy.

477
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,120
And buy the couple of things that I need.

478
00:24:08,120 --> 00:24:09,120
I walk all the way back over to the store.

479
00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:10,120
To the produce side.

480
00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:11,120
I buy the couple of things I need.

481
00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:12,120
And then I go to the register.

482
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,120
Now by this time I've walked a mile and a half.

483
00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:15,120
Right?

484
00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:16,120
And I go to the register.

485
00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:17,120
And I pay.

486
00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:18,120
And I go out.

487
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:19,120
And I walk home with my stuff.

488
00:24:19,120 --> 00:24:20,120
And I unload it from my backpack.

489
00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:21,120
Fast forward about three weeks.

490
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:22,120
I walk over to Myers.

491
00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:23,120
I've got my backpack on.

492
00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:24,120
I walk up to Myers.

493
00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:27,120
I walk up to the pharmacy side.

494
00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:28,120
And it opens.

495
00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:31,120
And I get right in.

496
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,120
I mean it's three weeks ago.

497
00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:35,120
I was here this time of night.

498
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:36,120
Couldn't get in this way.

499
00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:37,120
Now I can.

500
00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:38,120
I go inside.

501
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:40,120
I didn't have to buy anything from the pharmacy that night coincidentally.

502
00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:42,120
I go into the produce side.

503
00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:43,120
Buy what I need.

504
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:44,120
Walk around the store.

505
00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:46,120
Can't go out the produce side.

506
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,120
Even though I bought the produce right over there.

507
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:50,120
And then I go all the way back to the pharmacy.

508
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:51,120
I go outside.

509
00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:52,120
I walk home.

510
00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:53,120
I walked less that night.

511
00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:54,120
But I still walked quite a bit.

512
00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:55,120
Go another time.

513
00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:57,120
You know walking up there.

514
00:24:57,120 --> 00:24:58,120
And I'm thinking to myself.

515
00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:00,120
I don't know which door is going to be closed.

516
00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:01,120
Right.

517
00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:02,120
So I walk up to Myers.

518
00:25:02,120 --> 00:25:04,120
I get where I can see the pharmacy side door.

519
00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:06,120
And I'm like a hundred yards away.

520
00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,120
And I'm looking to see is there a big red sign in the window.

521
00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:11,120
And lo and behold there was.

522
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:12,120
And so I didn't even walk up to the pharmacy side.

523
00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:15,120
I walked all the way over to the grocery side.

524
00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:16,120
And went in.

525
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:17,120
And walked all around.

526
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:18,120
Got everything I needed.

527
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:19,120
And walked home.

528
00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:22,120
One door closes after 11 o'clock.

529
00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:25,120
You can only get in through the open door.

530
00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:27,120
There is only one open door.

531
00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:29,120
And you can only get in that way.

532
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:31,120
And you can only get out that way.

533
00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:32,120
Unless there's a fire.

534
00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:34,120
Or if you want to get yelled at.

535
00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:35,120
Alright.

536
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,120
So we must choose.

537
00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:40,120
We are not going to choose who we serve.

538
00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:46,120
But we are going to choose by which discipline we will relate to Him.

539
00:25:46,120 --> 00:25:53,120
These verses say to us that if you are in suffering.

540
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:54,120
You pray.

541
00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:59,120
And if you perceive yourself to be basically blessed and doing pretty well.

542
00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:00,120
You praise.

543
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:04,120
And if you're sick and that's your one kind of oddball out.

544
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:05,120
Right?

545
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:06,120
And you need.

546
00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:09,120
Then you get somebody else of certain character to come and pray for you.

547
00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,120
That's interesting isn't it?

548
00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:13,120
So now I'm a Christian and I'm in the church.

549
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,120
And I should pray for myself if I'm sick.

550
00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:18,120
And I think I probably already have by that moment in time.

551
00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:21,120
And I realize hey I'm praying for myself and nothing's happening.

552
00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:25,120
I need to call upon the elders and let them come and pray for me.

553
00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,120
When's the last time you've seen that done?

554
00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:28,120
Now I do it.

555
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:29,120
I've been called.

556
00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:30,120
Right?

557
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:34,120
But it isn't you call me and say hey I'm sick can you pray for me?

558
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:35,120
And I say yeah I'll pray for you.

559
00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:36,120
Whatever.

560
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:37,120
That's not what it says.

561
00:26:37,120 --> 00:26:39,120
It's a call upon the elders and have them come and pray for you.

562
00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:40,120
Right?

563
00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:41,120
So I'll spread the word.

564
00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:42,120
I'm happy to do that.

565
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:47,120
But if you want somebody from the church to come and pray for you and anoint you with oil because you're sick.

566
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:48,120
Then you need to ask for it.

567
00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:51,120
If you don't ask for it you miss step A of the formula.

568
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:52,120
Right?

569
00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:54,120
So it's not like oh well you're sick.

570
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:56,120
Oh can we come and pray for you?

571
00:26:56,120 --> 00:26:57,120
Oh sure why not?

572
00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,120
That's not the same thing.

573
00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:00,120
Right?

574
00:27:00,120 --> 00:27:05,120
So it happens sometimes that we think that we're suffering and sometimes that we think that we're okay.

575
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:08,120
And in both of those cases you're down to just two things.

576
00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:13,120
I submit to you that even the person who summons the elders to pray when they're sick.

577
00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:15,120
That's a specific kind of suffering.

578
00:27:15,120 --> 00:27:17,120
They do pray for themselves while the elders are praying for them.

579
00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:18,120
Probably.

580
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:19,120
Right?

581
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:21,120
It would be kind of dumb to say I'm letting the elders pray for me but I'm just thinking about pizza.

582
00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:22,120
Right?

583
00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:23,120
Or I'm just watching TV.

584
00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:27,120
I can't turn the TV off but you're welcome to anoint me with oil and pray for me.

585
00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:28,120
Okay?

586
00:27:28,120 --> 00:27:29,120
No?

587
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:30,120
You're probably praying right along.

588
00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:35,120
So it happens when we figure out that we have one kind of suffering and another that either A we're supposed to pray for ourselves.

589
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:39,120
Including if the suffering is sickness and then include the elders of the church.

590
00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:41,120
Certain characteristic individuals.

591
00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:42,120
Right?

592
00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:46,120
And the other possibility is that you're supposed to praise.

593
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:50,120
1 John says it this way.

594
00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:55,120
These things have been written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

595
00:27:55,120 --> 00:28:00,120
This is the confidence which we have before Him that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.

596
00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:06,120
And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

597
00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:11,120
And that is the connection between I have suffering and I ask and I have received and I praise.

598
00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,120
I have suffering and I ask and I have received and I praise.

599
00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:18,120
Now what lies outside that?

600
00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:24,120
I don't have suffering and I don't praise.

601
00:28:24,120 --> 00:28:26,120
I have suffering and I praise.

602
00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:28,120
What lies beyond that?

603
00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,120
I have blessings and I'm content and I praise.

604
00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:35,120
What lies? I have blessings and I'm content and I don't praise.

605
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:38,120
Those are what lie outside of it.

606
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:41,120
You live somewhere between having suffering and not having suffering.

607
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:42,120
Everybody lives there.

608
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,120
There's nowhere, you either have suffering or you don't.

609
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,120
It's like a door or like a letter.

610
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,120
One side has it right and one side doesn't.

611
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,120
So either you have suffering or you don't.

612
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,120
And if you have suffering you pray.

613
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:58,120
And if you don't have suffering you ought to be content.

614
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,120
Or if you think you're not content, I'm not content.

615
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,120
I don't have suffering but yeah I'm not content.

616
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:03,120
Then you have suffering.

617
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:04,120
That's the kind of suffering.

618
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,120
You're thinking yourself into suffering.

619
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:08,120
And so the bottom line is one or the other.

620
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,120
So do you pray or do you praise?

621
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:11,120
Ask yourself.

622
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,120
My day. Day in, day out.

623
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:14,120
Do I pray or do I praise?

624
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,120
It's probably both most of the time I would think.

625
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,120
But if you don't, if you're living some other kind of Christianity,

626
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,120
right now I just give.

627
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:22,120
I don't really pray.

628
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:23,120
I just serve.

629
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,120
I don't really ask for much.

630
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:27,120
I just serve.

631
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:28,120
I don't need anything.

632
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:29,120
I don't pray to God and ask.

633
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:30,120
I just serve.

634
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,120
No, those are all other forms of living.

635
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,120
But they're not Christian living.

636
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,120
It's praise and prayer.

637
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:39,120
Those are the only two that are given.

638
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,120
And notice that the illness wraps up under the prayer.

639
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:44,120
And it needs more.

640
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,120
It needs more than just you praying.

641
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,120
The bottom line is this.

642
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,120
You've got a choice to make.

643
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:55,120
With today, will you pray or will you praise?

644
00:29:55,120 --> 00:30:01,120
And if your day does not include one of those two things as its primary direction,

645
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,120
you say, well, I have 50% pray and I have 50% praise.

646
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:08,120
I submit to you, if you are praising God for illness,

647
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,120
you're probably going to keep it.

648
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,120
Right?

649
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,120
God, thank you so much for making me sick, God.

650
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:15,120
I know this is good for me.

651
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,120
Thank you so much I'm hurting, God.

652
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,120
Thank you so much for breaking up my relationships.

653
00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:21,120
Thank you so much for letting my job fall out from under me.

654
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:22,120
Thank you, God, for that.

655
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,120
What do you think God's going to do?

656
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:25,120
Well, he's going to keep right on you.

657
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:26,120
What do you do?

658
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:27,120
A little kid does something to you and you say thank you.

659
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:28,120
What do they do?

660
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:29,120
They do it again.

661
00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:30,120
Right?

662
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,120
So you say to God, God, thank you so much for this suffering.

663
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:33,120
I'm sure.

664
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:34,120
You know better than I do.

665
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:35,120
No, that's not what it says.

666
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,120
It says if you're suffering, pray.

667
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,120
Ask God to fix it.

668
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,120
We're enduring a lot of things because we think, well, just the way it is.

669
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,120
Now, that's a worldly teaching.

670
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,120
You can test and approve what is the good and perfect will of God.

671
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:49,120
Romans 12.

672
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:53,120
You can know that God does not want you to be stuck in suffering for your life.

673
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,120
Is there suffering on the highway of holiness?

674
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:56,120
Yes.

675
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,120
But demons, evil spirits, and all the bad things can't come on the highway of holiness.

676
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:03,120
The worst things cannot come on this highway that is the highway of holiness.

677
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:04,120
It is not God's.

678
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:05,120
Jesus did not die.

679
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,120
So you can have life and have it more sufferingly.

680
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,120
Now, am I saying that you have to be wealthy?

681
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,120
I'm saying all your relationships are going to work perfectly?

682
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:14,120
No.

683
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:18,120
In fact, I submit to you, you'd be in a really bad place if everything went right.

684
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:23,120
Because you'd be given no good reason to pray.

685
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,120
Right?

686
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:26,120
Now, can you pray in praise?

687
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:27,120
Sure.

688
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:34,120
Can you go in your closet and all you feel is just thanks and praise for God and tell him how good he is and what he's done and all that?

689
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:35,120
Sure.

690
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:39,120
But if in so doing you discover something that is wrong, something that you don't care for.

691
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:44,120
Oh, and by the way, if you can't find any of that stuff, check the news.

692
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,120
Check social media.

693
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,120
Ask a friend what they're going through.

694
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:49,120
Right?

695
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:54,120
I feel the weight of some of the things that people go through so heavy sometimes.

696
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,120
Just day before yesterday we just found out, or was it yesterday morning?

697
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:58,120
I'm getting my days confused now.

698
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:03,120
We just found out that there was a family, there was a regular client of the life station that was regularly abusing their children.

699
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:07,120
And they had their children taken from them into custody and they both went to jail.

700
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,120
You know what I felt like in that moment?

701
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,120
I felt horrible.

702
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:13,120
It wasn't my kids.

703
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:14,120
It wasn't my people.

704
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:15,120
They're not part of my church.

705
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,120
They're not close to me.

706
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:22,120
But I didn't like knowing that the world is like that.

707
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,120
And I had to say, you know, look, we've made attempts.

708
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:26,120
We've given them opportunities.

709
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,120
We have prayed for them.

710
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:29,120
We have delivered their emergency groceries.

711
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,120
We've offered them the podcast.

712
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:32,120
We've offered them the Facebook online.

713
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:34,120
We've offered them a ride to church.

714
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:35,120
We've offered them all of these things.

715
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:39,120
And if they're going to keep on being wicked, then they probably didn't get what they deserve.

716
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:45,120
And so I didn't pray, Lord, don't give them what they deserve.

717
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:46,120
They didn't do nothing to me.

718
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,120
I didn't really have anything to forgive.

719
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:53,120
I prayed, Lord, help me, because I am battered.

720
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:54,120
I am hurting.

721
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:57,120
I am suffering right now in this moment.

722
00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,120
That's where I started at.

723
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:05,120
So this word says to us that we live between praise and prayer.

724
00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:10,120
And if you are ever anywhere and have neither one of those things, then you're not in community with God.

725
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,120
That's the bottom line.

726
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:20,120
If you're ever mediocre enough that you don't need to pray and you don't need to praise, you're not in community with God.

727
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:28,120
Second thing to see in here, now is where we're going to drill down on it, is you see the prayers of the elder and the prayers of the righteous as displayed here.

728
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:36,120
Elders, this could be an early position connected like they were sort of the pastors of the church or they were the leaders, they were recognized as leaders.

729
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,120
But notice the formula here.

730
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,120
Community, request, response.

731
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:46,120
They were in community, the request was remade, the elders responded.

732
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,120
God does the healing, not the people.

733
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:52,120
This is not about whether or not you can heal somebody.

734
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:59,120
It's about whether or not God wants you to pray for somebody to be healed and then whether or not God wants to heal that person.

735
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,120
So the question is what makes an elder?

736
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:04,120
Is it the one who has stood longer?

737
00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:12,120
That's what the word presbyteros means in a very generic sense, is the longest living or the oldest person.

738
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:18,120
So that means you go to the church whenever you're in real sickness and you call the three 70 year olds.

739
00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:20,120
They got to be the ones to come and pray and anoint the head with.

740
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,120
Is that what it means? No, it's not what it means.

741
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:27,120
So we're talking about people who have a certain description.

742
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:32,120
And then he goes on to say that that description includes that they are righteous.

743
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,120
And how did they get righteousness?

744
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,120
They confessed the sins to one another and prayed.

745
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:49,120
So what we're talking about is people who have regularly, unendingly, faithfully confessed their sins to one another and prayed for each other so that they might be forgiven.

746
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,120
For that you're going to need a church community.

747
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,120
For that you're going to need a local body of believers.

748
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,120
For that you're going to need transparency.

749
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,120
You got to come in here and stop lying about who you are, what you've been doing.

750
00:34:58,120 --> 00:34:59,120
Stop making yourself look good.

751
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,120
Stop trying to cover up the fact that you're hurting.

752
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:05,120
Right? Stop telling the lies that I'm okay.

753
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,120
By the way, okay wasn't even on the list.

754
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,120
Okay is not even in the story.

755
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,120
Okay is not in the chapter and it's not in the church.

756
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:14,120
If you're saved and blessed and following the Lord God, you're not okay.

757
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:16,120
You are a child of the King.

758
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:19,120
You are an heir to all creation.

759
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:20,120
You're far better than that.

760
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:24,120
And if on the other hand you're lost and don't know the Lord, you're not okay.

761
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:31,120
You're on the way to hell for eternity and you will not be with God and you will not reign with God and you will not have a crown to lay down when the time comes.

762
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:39,120
And so the bottom line is you must be together in community with God confessing your sins.

763
00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:49,120
We know what 1 John 1 9 says right that when we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

764
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,120
And you are cleansed of all unrighteousness.

765
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,120
The result is righteousness.

766
00:35:53,120 --> 00:36:00,120
And when the result is righteousness repeatedly over and over again, you become the person that they call to pray.

767
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:08,120
How many times do you have to sin and be cleansed of unrighteousness before you can be the person that they call to pray when they're sick and they need a miracle?

768
00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,120
Well, at least once.

769
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,120
That's for sure.

770
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,120
A minimum of one time.

771
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,120
One time you've got to be transparent about who you are.

772
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:18,120
One time you've got to be real.

773
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,120
One time you've got to walk in the light.

774
00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:24,120
One time you've got to say I need this salvation.

775
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:37,120
This thing that only God can provide because I am a liar, because I am a thief, because I lost after members of the office of sex, because I watched this I shouldn't watch, because I said this I shouldn't say, because my mouth is filthy, because my body is messed up because of the choices that I made.

776
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:42,120
One time you have to recognize that you are not God and you cannot save you.

777
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,120
A minimum of one time.

778
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,120
Otherwise you're not only not righteous, you're not saved.

779
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:54,120
And if you're saved and you've done that, then regularly faithfully assessing.

780
00:36:54,120 --> 00:37:01,120
Now should you be going, oh I'm so bad I must be unsaved because I lied yesterday, because I used foul language when I shouldn't have or I lost my temper.

781
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:03,120
Should you be doing that regularly?

782
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:04,120
No, that's not up to you.

783
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:05,120
That's up to God.

784
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:12,120
If you've been saved, now it's up to God to determine when what you do disqualifies you to do the work of God.

785
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:13,120
That's up to God.

786
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:14,120
Are you unclean?

787
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,120
You repent and turn to the Lord.

788
00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:20,120
Now if the Lord brings to your attention, he says hey my servant doesn't do that.

789
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:22,120
Hey my child doesn't behave that way.

790
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:27,120
And you're convicted in the spirit, then you confess and repent.

791
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,120
And everybody wants to say right there, we're going to confess.

792
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:30,120
I'm going to confess to God.

793
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,120
And you really only need to confess to God.

794
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:34,120
To go to heaven, to be His child.

795
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,120
You really only need to confess to God.

796
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:37,120
That's all you really need.

797
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:44,120
But if you want to be forgiven in this lifetime, the word says you confess to one another.

798
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:48,120
And you pray for one another and God forgives.

799
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:50,120
That's tough stuff.

800
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,120
Because it requires a body.

801
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:53,120
It requires a church.

802
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:54,120
You cannot do it for yourself.

803
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,120
Here's what you can't do.

804
00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:58,120
Oh Dan?

805
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,120
Yeah Dan, what's up?

806
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,120
I'm feeling bad today because I lost my temper yesterday.

807
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:03,120
I shouldn't have done that.

808
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:04,120
It's okay Dan.

809
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,120
I forgive you.

810
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,120
I know but it seems like you were there and did it too.

811
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,120
No, it's okay.

812
00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:12,120
I forgive you.

813
00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:14,120
But who forgives you?

814
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:15,120
Oh you forgive me.

815
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,120
Oh okay I forgive you.

816
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:18,120
Thank you.

817
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:19,120
Oh good.

818
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:20,120
You can't do that.

819
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:21,120
You're one person.

820
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,120
There's nobody to pronounce you forgiven when you sit against the God of heaven.

821
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,120
And you quietly confess to Him your need for a Savior and the ability to go to heaven.

822
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,120
And He sets it up.

823
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:30,120
You're going.

824
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:31,120
It's good.

825
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:34,120
It gives you to take off the ramifications of the action in this lifetime.

826
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:37,120
Who forgives a sin and washes it away in this lifetime?

827
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,120
You need a representative of God.

828
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,120
You need somebody who was created in God's image.

829
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:42,120
And by the way, what does that look like?

830
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:47,120
It looks like somebody who confessed their sin to God and was forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness.

831
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:50,120
And there are people in this room who have done that.

832
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,120
And some of us have done it a dozen times.

833
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,120
Am I saying be saved a dozen times?

834
00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:58,120
No, I'm saying come back to God after screwing up and confess it openly.

835
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:00,120
Carrie did it today.

836
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:04,120
She said, I openly admit I have trouble getting back into it and doing what I'm supposed to.

837
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:05,120
What do you think that was?

838
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,120
That was public confession of weakness.

839
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,120
I, for one, pronounce you as forgiven.

840
00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:14,120
And now you can know for sure you are.

841
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,120
And somebody else in this room could have done the same thing.

842
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,120
That's what we do.

843
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:21,120
And when we do it ongoing and we continue to do it for each other,

844
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:24,120
we become the elders that are talked about in here.

845
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:28,120
And then any one of us, any one of us who has regularly continued to repent,

846
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,120
turn back to God, confess and be forgiven,

847
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:33,120
any one of those people could be part of a group of people that goes and prays.

848
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,120
And what does it say?

849
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:41,120
It says that if a few of us go and anoint that person with oil,

850
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,120
not we might see a miraculous healing.

851
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:48,120
It says we will see a miraculous healing.

852
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:49,120
It will happen.

853
00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:50,120
God will do it.

854
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,120
And that person will also be forgiven of their sins.

855
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,120
There could be a limitation because they could be doing it reluctantly.

856
00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,120
Remember the formula was they ask, they make a request,

857
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,120
and then the body responds and God does the healing.

858
00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,120
So there could be a limitation of that if they're not truly on board.

859
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:10,120
But otherwise, God basically said, I will do this.

860
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:13,120
But we have to realize that confession leads us to righteousness

861
00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:17,120
because righteousness is not provided by us.

862
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:22,120
Rightness in a moment, in an instant, in a time can be.

863
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,120
You should have just gave in and not argued with him.

864
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:26,120
I know, but he was wrong.

865
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:27,120
I was right.

866
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,120
So in an instant, you can have an instant of rightness.

867
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:34,120
But righteousness, the trait or characteristic of righteousness is provided by God.

868
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:37,120
Every time it's provided, it's provided by God.

869
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:42,120
It is still true what Isaiah says where he says we are all as an unclean thing

870
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:48,120
and all our righteousnesses, there we go, are as filthy rags.

871
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:53,120
And we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.

872
00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:57,120
But in Christ, it does not have to be that way.

873
00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:59,120
We can go to heaven when we die.

874
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,120
So that means that eternal problem is resolved.

875
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,120
But for the time between when we get saved and the time when we go to heaven

876
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:07,120
and the eternal problem is resolved, there is a period of time

877
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:09,120
when we're supposed to be living in righteousness.

878
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,120
And that righteousness is accomplished this way.

879
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:18,120
We confess our sins to one another and we pray and each other forgives each other.

880
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:22,120
You can forgive somebody even when you yourself are struggling with a secret sin

881
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:26,120
and indeed you then say, okay, well, I've got this secret sin and I'm ready now.

882
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:28,120
And you come out and say, okay, well, I hear you.

883
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,120
You need forgiveness for this.

884
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:30,120
But I got to tell you, I need forgiveness for this.

885
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,120
And you can forgive each other.

886
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:36,120
We can forgive one another just the same as we can confess to one another.

887
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,120
This is confession in community.

888
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:41,120
This is one of the things that we provide for each other.

889
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,120
There is room for private confession where you confess only to Christ.

890
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:50,120
But here, the invested by God communal ability is being emphasized.

891
00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:54,120
Do not understand that God set it up this way.

892
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,120
When Brother Tim pushes a certain key on the keyboard,

893
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,120
he expects it to produce a certain note.

894
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,120
And if he pushes a different key, it's a different note.

895
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,120
And a different key is a different note.

896
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:08,120
And if he pushes any one of three keys and does not get the note that he expects,

897
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:10,120
he realizes something is wrong.

898
00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:12,120
God set this up way.

899
00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:17,120
When God looks at the church and he sees people unwilling to confess their weaknesses to one another,

900
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,120
unwilling to forgive one another,

901
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:22,120
if somebody comes up to you and says, I'm confessing to you, I did this,

902
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:25,120
and I understand that hurts you.

903
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:27,120
I understand that was wrong.

904
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:28,120
I understand I betrayed the community.

905
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:29,120
I betrayed the fellowship.

906
00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:31,120
I betrayed God in doing this.

907
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:34,120
And you can't immediately forgive them.

908
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,120
You can't go, okay, I pronounce you forgiven in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

909
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:41,120
I personally forgive you and I pronounce you forgiven on behalf of Jesus and on behalf of the church.

910
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:43,120
And I enlist you back into the community.

911
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,120
I say, let's go be the church together.

912
00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:51,120
And if you can't do that, then you don't think God is pushing the key and getting the wrong note.

913
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,120
God is investing his Holy Spirit in this church.

914
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:58,120
And the notes that are being played are, she said, he said.

915
00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:00,120
Stop it.

916
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,120
That's not the note.

917
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:06,120
Or, yeah, he wants me to do that, but he really just wants me to do it because that's what's good for him,

918
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,120
not because it's what God says, even though I know in the back of my mind it is indeed what God says.

919
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:12,120
That's not the right note.

920
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,120
The right note is here I recognize I'm not doing what God wants me to do.

921
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:19,120
I'm repenting, turning to the Lord, and I'm confessing to you, my brother or sister in Christ,

922
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:27,120
and I'm asking you to forgive me yourself and for the church and for the Lord.

923
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:32,120
And in that instant, that community of forgiveness, that community of confession,

924
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,120
God does what God has promised to do.

925
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,120
He forgives.

926
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:44,120
Aaron and I decided to go golfing.

927
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:49,120
We were playing in a golf scramble for the Association coming up here toward the end of the month,

928
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:54,120
and basically neither one of us are very good golfers, and we thought maybe we'll brush up a little bit.

929
00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,120
So we decided to go golfing.

930
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:59,120
So we got up in the morning, we set a time to meet at the golf course.

931
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,120
We picked the name of the golf course, where we were going to go.

932
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:03,120
Now he was going from his house, and I was going from my house.

933
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:07,120
As I'm driving there, I'm wondering if he's going to be late.

934
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:10,120
How late is he going to be? Is he going to make it on time?

935
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,120
And then I started thinking to myself, I wonder what route he took.

936
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:16,120
If he took this route, this would be easily quicker than that, even though Google might say go the other way.

937
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:19,120
And so I'm thinking to myself, I wonder what route he took.

938
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:26,120
But the fact is the route didn't matter, but that we both had to know where we were going in order to meet there.

939
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:27,120
That's what mattered.

940
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:28,120
He was going from his house.

941
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,120
I don't matter what route he takes, as long as he knows where he's going.

942
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:35,120
I'm going from my house. It doesn't matter what route I take, as long as I know where I'm going.

943
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:38,120
And we both got there, and we both played golf.

944
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:39,120
And that's it.

945
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:41,120
You're a screw up. I'm a screw up.

946
00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:43,120
We're all screw ups. We all make mistakes.

947
00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,120
We all do things that maybe we shouldn't do.

948
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:48,120
And when you recognize that you've done something you shouldn't do, what do you do?

949
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:51,120
You confess to one another.

950
00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:57,120
You get somebody on the phone, preferably actually in the community meeting, in the inspirational moment time, at the invitation.

951
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,120
You say, hey, I screwed up this way.

952
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:02,120
This is the way I screwed up. I just did it yesterday. I just did it Wednesday.

953
00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:05,120
I've done it seven times since the last time I said anything about it.

954
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:06,120
I'm still doing it.

955
00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:08,120
And you confess openly.

956
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:10,120
And you ask for forgiveness.

957
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:13,120
And God forgives you and prays for forgiveness from the Lord.

958
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:16,120
And you receive forgiveness.

959
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:19,120
Accordingly, we need some sins overcome.

960
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:24,120
There are some things that we're wrapped up in, some things that we're part of, that we need to overcome.

961
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,120
We have sins.

962
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:29,120
To say that we do not have sins is to make God out to be a liar.

963
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:34,120
So we have some sins so that we should have some confession and some forgiveness.

964
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:36,120
Confession results in overcoming.

965
00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:47,120
And those who do this and commit themselves to live transformed lives are the very ones that James is referring to as having their prayers filled with effectiveness.

966
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:49,120
You catch that?

967
00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:54,120
We want what we want to the point that sometimes we're even willing to pray for it.

968
00:45:54,120 --> 00:46:00,120
But the real question is, are you willing to confess and forgive,

969
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:06,120
to one another, to the church, to the group, to the people that are in your community,

970
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:12,120
and forgive one another in order to see your prayers filled with that very same effectiveness?

971
00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:14,120
That brings us to effective prayer.

972
00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:17,120
The word there is energeo.

973
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:23,120
It's a Greek word from where we get our word energy.

974
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:26,120
But the truth is, it does not translate well in this usage.

975
00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:29,120
It doesn't fit here exactly right.

976
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:31,120
So you can do what you want.

977
00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:35,120
You can say, our brother James wrote this book and he screwed up and he put the wrong word there.

978
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:41,120
Or you can say, our brother James meant something that wasn't customary for the day.

979
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:48,120
Prayer is whatever this says it is, clearly when God has invested in it.

980
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:55,120
So whatever it means to say that it has power, that it is effective, that it has energy, that it can do something.

981
00:46:55,120 --> 00:47:00,120
What that is, is that thing when God has invested in the prayer.

982
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:04,120
This is because it's God's accomplishment, not ours, hence the oil.

983
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:06,120
Watch the model.

984
00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:12,120
Elijah called a prophet, I get that, but the bottom line, he was a man like us.

985
00:47:12,120 --> 00:47:15,120
He needed God's help and he prayed.

986
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:23,120
The elders, they had lasted a while persevering in confessing their sins to one another and forgiving one another.

987
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:29,120
When God was recognized, they were requested, God was honored, they prayed.

988
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:34,120
In both examples, God's the acting agent.

989
00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:36,120
We are at best making the request.

990
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:40,120
Righteous people call on the right God.

991
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,120
Yeast is not the only way to make bread rise.

992
00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:51,120
But if you don't make it rise that way, you better have some way or your bread is going to be flat.

993
00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:54,120
Yeast is not the only way to make bread rise.

994
00:47:54,120 --> 00:48:00,120
But if you put yeast in there that's not active and it doesn't do anything, it's not going to make the bread rise.

995
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:04,120
This prayer that we're talking about, how many times have you seen it?

996
00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:06,120
How many books, I got one in my office I love called Simple Prayer.

997
00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:08,120
How many books have you seen written about prayer?

998
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:10,120
How many sermons have you heard preached about prayer?

999
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,120
How many times have you seen shows about prayer?

1000
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:16,120
How many programs are on Right Now Media about prayer?

1001
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:18,120
It's all over everywhere.

1002
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,120
It's tons about prayer.

1003
00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,120
You want to start a revival? Pray!

1004
00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:24,120
First thing I do is pray, right?

1005
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:26,120
You sit, pray. You're hurting, pray.

1006
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:27,120
Pray, pray, pray, pray.

1007
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,120
It's like an echoing throughout all time that we should pray.

1008
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:32,120
Because we're supposed to be in community with God.

1009
00:48:32,120 --> 00:48:40,120
But if you do that, if you pray without these pieces that make your prayer effective and powerful, you miss out.

1010
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,120
Everybody thinks I'm okay.

1011
00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:45,120
So when I pray, I pray and everybody's like, wow, you pray real good.

1012
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,120
We let you pray a lot.

1013
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:49,120
I'm going to call him because he likes to pray.

1014
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:52,120
I'm going to call him. He prays so much something must happen, right?

1015
00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:55,120
You know, all kind of reasons why prayer is good.

1016
00:48:55,120 --> 00:48:58,120
But there is one reason why prayer is effective.

1017
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:07,120
It is effective because we confess our weaknesses to one another and we forgive each other repeatedly, faithfully, until Jesus comes again.

1018
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:10,120
That brings us to our conclusion.

1019
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:17,120
Our prayers are dependent to a degree upon one another.

1020
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:27,120
In other words, whether or not you pray, whether or not your prayers are answered, are dependent to a degree on one another.

1021
00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:32,120
You're dependent on your spouse. You're dependent on your kid. You're dependent on your church.

1022
00:49:32,120 --> 00:49:37,120
Can you bring yourself to confess your sins here among the people?

1023
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:39,120
If not here, where?

1024
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:44,120
How will you get your prayers made powerful?

1025
00:49:44,120 --> 00:49:47,120
How will you get your prayers made effective?

1026
00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:51,120
If not here, are there not people here that you say, look, I have a sin. I confess I have that sin.

1027
00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:56,120
And if they pray, if they pronounce you forgiven and pray for you, that you believe that you'd be forgiven?

1028
00:49:56,120 --> 00:50:00,120
Because if not, you don't belong here. You don't want to be here.

1029
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:11,120
You want to be wherever you can confess your sins openly and have someone declare you forgiven and have someone pray for you that God actually forgave you and move on and then repeat.

1030
00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:16,120
Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. I screwed up. I sinned.

1031
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:23,120
Jesus is our advocate before the Father. And when we come there, Jesus will say, this one belongs to me.

1032
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:30,120
He is my good and faithful servant, even though he sinned and he never confessed his sins and he never prayed like he should.

1033
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:35,120
He made all his mistakes, whatever. But I paid for his sins. So he's coming in today.

1034
00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:39,120
But it's about the abundant life and the effective and powerful prayer of a believer in the meantime.

1035
00:50:39,120 --> 00:50:43,120
Will you confess your sins? Can you and will you confess your sins?

1036
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:48,120
And will you have them forgiven amongst God's people? Will you do it for one another?

1037
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:54,120
If we will not do it here, I submit to you, I've never known a church like this one. I've never seen a church like this one.

1038
00:50:54,120 --> 00:51:02,120
I've never been to a church where God's people faithfully desire to follow the Lord any more than they do right here.

1039
00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:07,120
This is God's people. We have a worship service on Sunday and God shows up every single Sunday.

1040
00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:11,120
We do Bible study on Tuesday and God shows up every single Tuesday.

1041
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:17,120
We have people that have done approaching 35 worksheets, filled in all the blanks on Tuesday night on every topic.

1042
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:24,120
Now, so many different topics, love and prayer. We did 10 locks and keys. So we did two each night, five nights.

1043
00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:29,120
And then at the last night, we did all 10 of them again so we could make sure we understand. And it was in there.

1044
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:32,120
The prayer never prayed is never heard and so on.

1045
00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:39,120
But here is James saying that the body can be together. The body can trust one another.

1046
00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:42,120
I make this commitment. I can't make it for everybody. I'll tell you this right now.

1047
00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:49,120
If you come to me and you confess your sins, I will pray for you and I will ask God to forgive you.

1048
00:51:49,120 --> 00:51:55,120
I may even in turn confess my sins to you and you will pray for me and you will ask God to forgive me.

1049
00:51:55,120 --> 00:52:01,120
And we will do that until we are the elders, which if anyone calls, we will go and anoint them with oil.

1050
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:06,120
And they will be saved from their illness and from their sin.

1051
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:12,120
God set it up this way. Our prayers are dependent to a degree upon each other.

1052
00:52:12,120 --> 00:52:17,120
Are your prayers effective? Are your prayers powerful? Are they working?

1053
00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:24,120
If they are not, have you confessed your sin? Are you somebody that somebody could come to and confess their sin?

1054
00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:27,120
Would you pronounce them forgiven? Would you pray for them?

1055
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:33,120
Are you actively praying when you need help and are you actively praising when you realize how good you have it?

1056
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:37,120
Our healing also is dependent on one another.

1057
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:41,120
Are you among a people that are cleansed of unrighteousness by God?

1058
00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:44,120
Not because they are good. Not because they do all the right things.

1059
00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:48,120
But because He is God and they are honest before Him.

1060
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:54,120
Can you ask for in prayer and in so doing, can you recognize your sin and confess and repent?

1061
00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:59,120
Can you do that? Can you turn from what you are doing wrong and turn to God for the solution?

1062
00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:02,120
Can you openly confess when you have done so?

1063
00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:07,120
If you repent and say, okay I am doing this wrong, God I am sorry, please forgive me.

1064
00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:15,120
And God forgives you and then you just go on and you don't come in here and say, oh by the way I was doing this wrong and I repent and turn to God and He forgave me.

1065
00:53:15,120 --> 00:53:22,120
You are not understanding. You are not testifying about the holiness of God, about the goodness of God, about the rightness of God, about the mercy of God, about the grace of God.

1066
00:53:22,120 --> 00:53:27,120
And if you are going to testify about God's characteristics, what kind of a Christian are you?

1067
00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:32,120
What kind of a follower of Christ are you if you have nothing to say about the goodness of God?

1068
00:53:32,120 --> 00:53:36,120
Oh but I privately confessed my sin to the Lord and He forgave me and I repented and now I am walking with Him.

1069
00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:41,120
And that is all I really have to do because I will be in heaven when I die and I am good now. I have got an abundant life. Do you?

1070
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:47,120
How effective is your prayer? Are you confessing your sins? Are you open about God?

1071
00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:57,120
Are healing is dependent on one another? Are you among a people who has been cleansed of unrighteousness by God because they are honest before Him?

1072
00:53:57,120 --> 00:54:03,120
Can you ask in prayer and in so doing, can you recognize your own sin and confess and repent?

1073
00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:09,120
It doesn't take more than this. Confession, I screwed up, I am sorry, I am wrong.

1074
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:18,120
Forgiveness, will you forgive me? I forgive you. Commitment, I am following Jesus, continuing to do so.

1075
00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:23,120
It doesn't take more than that to access the God of the universe. God!

1076
00:54:23,120 --> 00:54:30,120
With all the angels and all the power of His throne room, all the power of His kingdom, it doesn't take more than that.

1077
00:54:30,120 --> 00:54:36,120
It is a pretty easy request. You screwed up, own it publicly.

1078
00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:41,120
Let's be humble. Let's be realistic. You screwed up, own it.

1079
00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:47,120
The Lord forgives me because Jesus died on the cross for me. You forgive me, you pronounce me forgiven, you do? Great!

1080
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:54,120
Now I am forgiven and I am cleansed of all unrighteousness and I commit myself to thus far and thus forward follow Jesus.

1081
00:54:54,120 --> 00:55:00,120
If God is calling you to do something more than that, so you are there and you start walking and God says,

1082
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:06,120
okay now I want you to go and lead the youth ministry or now I want you to go and serve in this department or this place.

1083
00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:12,120
Put yourself to work, more than that is fine. But never think that the more than that is the thing.

1084
00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:18,120
It is not the thing. The thing is this, confess, forgive, commit. That is the thing.

1085
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:23,120
And doing all that extra work is great and people will go, he must be the elder of the church because he is leading in that department.

1086
00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:27,120
Because he is doing that ministry, because he is preaching every Sunday. He must be the one.

1087
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:35,120
But that is not what the word says. The one, the ones, the people are the people who regularly confess their sins to one another,

1088
00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:39,120
forgive one another and commit themselves to go forward living for God.

1089
00:55:39,120 --> 00:55:45,120
God literally died in the flesh to make it available to us to do this thing.

1090
00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:50,120
Now that might be a simplification because he died for a little bit more than that.

1091
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:54,120
But he certainly died so that we could have access to this.

1092
00:55:54,120 --> 00:56:02,120
In this state you can find confidence. You can approach the Father with confidence.

1093
00:56:02,120 --> 00:56:07,120
And you can ask and receive. But while you are still keeping secrets about your failings,

1094
00:56:07,120 --> 00:56:10,120
while you are still failing to confess and to be forgiven publicly, openly,

1095
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:14,120
while you are still failing to be truthful about who you are and who God is,

1096
00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:20,120
you will probably be meek in prayer. You will probably only be bold in prayer when you are so desperate

1097
00:56:20,120 --> 00:56:24,120
and you know the thing that you need so badly, you just can't survive without it.

1098
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:27,120
That's when you might be bold.

1099
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:32,120
By the time you get to that place I submit to you, if you have not confessed your sins, been forgiven,

1100
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:37,120
been public about it, you have not been active in this, it's not the effective prayer of a righteous man.

1101
00:56:37,120 --> 00:56:42,120
And it just might not avail much.

1102
00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:46,120
Hebrews 4, 14-16 says this way,

1103
00:56:46,120 --> 00:56:50,120
Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,

1104
00:56:50,120 --> 00:56:55,120
let us hold fast our confession. And that is the confession of who the Lord is,

1105
00:56:55,120 --> 00:57:00,120
which includes that He forgives our sins. And when you say Jesus forgives your sins,

1106
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:02,120
you also mean you have sins to be forgiven.

1107
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:06,120
But we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,

1108
00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:09,120
but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.

1109
00:57:09,120 --> 00:57:12,120
Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace,

1110
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:16,120
so that we may receive mercy and grace to help in the time of need.

1111
00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:19,120
And then in 1 John 4, and these are our last verses,

1112
00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:23,120
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.

1113
00:57:23,120 --> 00:57:26,120
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.

1114
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:31,120
God is love. And the one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.

1115
00:57:31,120 --> 00:57:36,120
By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,

1116
00:57:36,120 --> 00:57:39,120
because as he is so also are we in this world.

1117
00:57:39,120 --> 00:57:43,120
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,

1118
00:57:43,120 --> 00:57:46,120
because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

1119
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:49,120
We love because he first loved us.

1120
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:53,120
If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

1121
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:57,120
For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

1122
00:57:57,120 --> 00:58:02,120
And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

1123
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:05,120
And let me say this to you based on what it says in James.

1124
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:11,120
These are the two primary, not the only, but the two primary things that determine whether or not you love somebody else.

1125
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:16,120
It is whether or not you would be willing to hear their confession and pronounce them forgiven.

1126
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:20,120
I submit to you that is why people do not witness the lost people.

1127
00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:24,120
It is not because they do not want that person to be saved, because they say, well I am saved,

1128
00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:28,120
and I want to have one, I die and I am going to and I want them to too, and I want to see them in eternity.

1129
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:31,120
So that is not the reason why they do not tell other people about Jesus.

1130
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:36,120
It is because when you get right down to it, compared to Jesus, we are nobody.

1131
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:39,120
We are screw ups. We made mistakes. And we do not want to own our mistakes.

1132
00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:42,120
We do not want to confess our mistakes. We do not want to confess our weaknesses.

1133
00:58:42,120 --> 00:58:45,120
And we do not want people confessing to us either.

1134
00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:48,120
Do not tell me what you did wrong. I do not want to hear it. It hurts me.

1135
00:58:48,120 --> 00:58:50,120
I do not want to know.

1136
00:58:50,120 --> 00:58:55,120
We need to repent of those attitudes and realize that here is the effective prayer of a righteous man.

1137
00:58:55,120 --> 00:59:00,120
Here is what makes a person an elder. They regularly have confessed their sins.

1138
00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:03,120
The truth is if you regularly confess your sins, you know what will happen?

1139
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:06,120
You will quit doing them. You will eventually cut them out.

1140
00:59:06,120 --> 00:59:08,120
You may even get help.

1141
00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:11,120
So anyway, step up and say, I can help you in this way, or I will be your crutch for a while

1142
00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:13,120
and make sure that does not happen anymore.

1143
00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:17,120
But if you had to, every time you lied, come up in front of your church

1144
00:59:17,120 --> 00:59:22,120
and list that lie publicly and tell them what it was about and who you did and who you hurt,

1145
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:26,120
and ask that person and everybody that you talk to for forgiveness,

1146
00:59:26,120 --> 00:59:32,120
pretty soon you would find some other sin because lying is too much work.

1147
00:59:32,120 --> 00:59:35,120
That is what happened to me. Two and a half years in after I got sage,

1148
00:59:35,120 --> 00:59:37,120
I was in the East Little Baptist Church in the basement.

1149
00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:41,120
I had listed a list of three sins that I was struggling with,

1150
00:59:41,120 --> 00:59:44,120
three things that I felt like God was saying to me I had to give up.

1151
00:59:44,120 --> 00:59:47,120
I just could not give them up. I was having a hard time giving them up.

1152
00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:49,120
One of those was lying.

1153
00:59:49,120 --> 00:59:52,120
I was in the basement. There was an older gentleman there, probably in his 70s,

1154
00:59:52,120 --> 00:59:57,120
and he asked me to come at a certain time during the week to help set up for some kind of event.

1155
00:59:57,120 --> 01:00:03,120
I lied. I told him I could not come because I had to work or I had to be somewhere else or whatever it was.

1156
01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:07,120
As I walked away, the Lord said, I told you we were going to stop doing that.

1157
01:00:07,120 --> 01:00:10,120
I said, yeah, I am working on it. I am still working on it. I am still kind of deep in here.

1158
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:23,120
I have been doing pretty good.