Gtcotr/ws020619
The Word of God is not the Word of God unless it is the Word of God.
There
are two critical keys that will unlock success in every endeavor. From
salvation to business and from parenting to brain surgery, these two critical
keys are indispensable factors in determining success. These Two Critical Keys to Success are:
1.
Knowing what to do
2.
Doing it
Know
the right answer – Correctly apply that answer to the test.
There
is no test that cannot be mastered if a person first knows the answers and then
correctly applies those answers to the test. However, if either of these two
critical components are missing, failure will most likely occur.
When
it comes to the Word of God and releasing the power that is available to the
Believer in Christ today, two factors are critical as well.
1.
Our interpretation of God’s Word is critical.
a. The Word of God is
not the Word of God unless it is the Word of God.
b. It doesn’t really
matter what we think it means or what we feel it says to us unless we agree
with God and what He knows He meant.
2.
Our estimation of God’s Word.
a. When we claim to
know what the Bible says but we do not believe it is the Word of Almighty God
we are reprobate.
i. Our lack of faith,
doubt and disbeliefs withhold the power of God’s Word and we receive nothing
from our claims.
ii. Matthew
13:58 & Mark 6:5
both show how unbelief limit the power of God even in Jesus’ earthly ministry.
b. However, when we
believe the Word of God is true, but we are not sure what it means, we are
invited to become disciples of Christ. The first step of faith is to believe
God’s Word is true.
God’s Word is designed to have permanent character so as to be
applicable to all generations. Neither God nor His Word will change with time
or circumstances. When we make up our minds to believe God and the Bible, we can
begin a lifelong adventure on our way to find out what God said and what He
meant when He said it. As we mature in Christ, our faith
becomes more effective and our prayers more powerful. Just like a baby
who learns and grows into an adult, we are designed by God to mature in faith
as we walk in this life with the Word of God as our supreme guide.
That
being said, this evening we will continue our study of the New Testament Book
of James. James was the half-brother of Jesus who came to faith after the
resurrection and became the Lead-Pastor of the first Church in Jerusalem. By
the time he wrote the letter we have been studying, he had been the Pastor of
that Church for about 30 years. Not only was James raised in the same house
with Jesus, in Nazareth, and witnessed all the things that went on during those
33 ½ years, but he also experienced the up’s and down’s, in’s and out’s, good
days and lean times of the Church and its families over decades of serving the
Lord. James was perhaps the most seasoned man of God alive on planet earth in
that day.
To
conclude his letter, James turns to the subject of prayer. And tonight we are
going to introduce prayer as a privilege and not merely a practice.
James 5 NKJV
13 Is anyone among you
suffering? Let him pray…
Suffering
= hardships and ill-felt conditions of all kinds from poverty to
broken-heartedness. – Let him pray. What an invitation – an open invitation
from Almighty God to communicate directly with Him.
John 16:23 ¶ “And in that
day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the
Father in My name He will give you.
There
is no one so desolate, so poor, so distraught that they are unwelcomed at the
throne of grace. You can talk to God!
Every
person is invited to bring their sincere petitions, supplications, thanksgiving
and intercessions directly to God Himself. He will hear you.
It
is difficult to get through to your doctor at times, perhaps a nurse or a
receptionist or maybe even a recording is as far as you can go. The usual
response is that someone will get back to you. And maybe they will …
Who
among us has the personal cell phone number of the judge who is hearing our
case or is deciding the fate of our child?
Can
you call the president of the United States, and get him, late at night when
everyone else is asleep, just to discuss your concerns for the nation?
Is
there a CPA or financial advisor who is available in a moment’s notice to help
you make the biggest or even the smallest financial decisions you face? Yet God
is right there … as close as a whisper …
Where
can you go for counsel, encouragement, direction, correction, to find peace,
right wrongs, get deliverance from worry, fear, hurt feelings and injustice?
Anytime, day or night, you can go to God in prayer!
Prayer is a Privilege. Almighty God waits to hear you. Jeremiah
33:3 says that if you call upon Him, He will hear you and He will show you
great and mighty things which you have not known. He has a way … He knows the
answers … He can deal with others in their sleep … and He can comfort your soul.
David knew that God heard his prayers and that He answers.
James 5:13 Is anyone among
you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
Prayer
in the time of affliction, not because it is easy but because it is appropriate
to allow the release of our spirit and concerns unto God.
Praise
in the time of merriment not because it is an aimless and idle expression of a
carefree soul but because it is appropriate to direct our thanksgiving to God
for His evident goodness to us. Praise with Purpose.
Both prayer and praise are privileges not to be overlooked or
underdone.
14 Is anyone among you sick?
Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith
will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed
sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your
trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a
nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did
not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and
the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19 Brethren, if anyone among
you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
20 let him know that he who
turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover
a multitude of sins.
Prayer
for ourselves and Prayer for others
Support Scriptures:
Matthew
5:37 But let your communication be, Yea,
yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Psalms
50:15 And call upon me in the day of
trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Psalms
34:4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
Psalms
107:6 Then they cried out to the LORD in
their trouble, And He delivered them out of their distresses.
Psalms
107:13 Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses.
Psalms
107:28 Then they cry out to the LORD in
their trouble, And He brings them out of their distresses.
Ephesians
5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the
Lord;
Ephesians
5:20 Giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
