"Prayer, Healing, and Restoration (James)" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

dear father once again we thank you for the opportunity and the privilege of gathering together to study your word and as we look at this very important subject we pray that the Holy Spirit would come and guide our hearts and our minds and lead us into a deeper and a fuller understanding of your word for we ask this in Jesus name Amen a lesson today will be brought to us by Pastor Doug Batchelor Thank You vasa Doug thank you Pastor Ross today we're in the second to the last lesson from the book of James and and I've really enjoyed this study is two such practical biblical teaching again it's called prayer healing and restoration lesson 12 and there's a memory verse and the memory verse is from James 5:16 if you have your Bibles always like if you can say it with me James 5:16 and it says they're ready therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you might be healed the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much as it says in the King James the fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much tells us that a lot is accomplished by what kind of prayer fervent heartfelt and effective persistent prayer of a righteous man now in this lesson may as well get your Bibles and turn to the book of James again we're going to be really finishing up the book of James there'll be more of a summary in our final lesson together so I'm just gonna read James 5:13 through the end of the chapter and then we're gonna go back and break it down in our study program number 13 James 5:13 is there anyone among you suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let him sing psalms is anyone among you sick let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord 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 confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed the effect of fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much 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 and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit brethren if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins you know that's a beautiful way to to end a book cover a multitude of cents isn't that what Jesus did so we're gonna go back now we're gonna kind of break this down and be looking in the study dealing specifically with the different portions that are broken down for us in the lesson all right so we'll start looking under that section there that says the essential Christian toolkit is anyone among you suffering let him pray is anyone cheerful let them sing songs is a very important verse because it tells you that the Christian life has its ups and downs but you can be a Christian and you're gonna have days where you feel like you're suffering and you'll have times where you're singing and you know you can see both extremes and the lives of most of God's followers so don't be discouraged you think I accepted Jesus I thought that that would solve all my problems and the joy of the Lord is my strength and it would be the abundant life but there are gonna be cloudy days Jesus said your heavenly Father sends sunshine and rain on the just and the unjust a few years ago I wrote that book on Mary Magdalene and it traces seven times where she's at Jesus feet and it starts in sorrow and repentance there in the temple and it ends with singing and rejoicing proclaiming the risen Lord and you've got the whole spectrum in the Christian life Sir James recognizes that and then he tells us to make sure and pray for each other a suffering is something Christians experience I think it's unfair when a person comes to the Lord and we leave them with the impression all you need to do is accept Jesus and all your suffering will go away well ultimately it does but in this life there's three Romans 12:15 rejoice with those who rejoice weep with those who weep it's like what James just said suffering pray happy st. Paul says rejoice with those who are addressing weep with them that weep you know what that means we need to be empathetic the word in the Bible its pathos it's where we get the word sympathy it means to feel for somebody else and part of being a Christian is feeling what others feel isn't that why Jesus came because he felt our pain unlike the politicians that promise they do acts 9 16 god said to Paul I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake he's actually Lord of speaking to in a nice telling me him that Paul is going to suffer so even though you he came to the Lord he said you're still gonna suffer did Jesus tell Peter how he was gonna die and how was that said they'll stretch forth your hands so the Lord tells us that there may be suffering in the Christian life okay go ahead David I think you're gonna read a verse for us yes 2nd Timothy 3 verse 12 yes and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution here at this seminar we've been looking in Revelation and who is the dragon especially wroth with the woman who does what keeps the commandments of God Paul says all that desire to live godly will suffer persecution the devil will try to make it difficult for anybody who tries to serve God the book of Job job was a righteous man feared God hated evil what did the devil do he accused him before God and Joe went through a time of testing and so anyone who believes you're gonna have good days and bad days you'll have times of suffering but don't get discouraged James says resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and He will draw near to you how do you resist the devil how did Jesus resist the devil the Word of God in prayer yeah and he will lift you up so if you're suffering James says pray second Timothy 2:9 Paul said for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer even to the point of chains but the Word of God has not chained when our Christians the best witness when Christians are getting everything they want you know when they've got lots of money in the bank and you know these prosperity preachers say that if you're really godly and you've got enough faith you can just name it claim it blab it grab it you'll have everything that you need you'll be healthy wealthy and wise and if you don't have those things they imply what you just don't have enough faith but the Bible really says the opposite when our Christians the best witness when does a light shine more vividly in the day or at night and it is through times of trial this morning for my personal Bible reading I'm reading through Daniel that's just where it happens to be right now I read Daniel 3 and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego I know we've been studying that's just where my Bible reading I'm reading consecutively through the Bible it's where it lined up great story I enjoyed reading it again you know what a tremendous witness they were because they went through the fire because they were tested like that a decree went to the whole civilized world not to say anything against the God of Jehovah but they had to go through some bad experience for that to happen Christians are often the best witnesses when there are times of trial and so God tells us Jesus says you may have times of suffering now with that kind of introducing the subject of healing and prayer for the sick we'll read James 5:14 and 15 again somebody's got marked 6 12 and 13 who would that be all right you'll be next in James 5 14 and 15 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 and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up and of course they're saying this in the masculine but it will raise him up raise her up and if he has committed sins you will be forgiven so the word sick here does not mean does any of you have a headache it's actually the word sick means we you notice it says raise them up this is a person who is going down they can't come to the church the elders come to them this person has some incapacitating illness and so we should all pray for big and little things God cares about that and it's okay to say you know have a headache would you pray for me but the kind of prayer that requires calling the leaders of the church to come together to your home and to anoint you with oil the context of the sickness here is at the point of death it's it doesn't mean usually have to be a death sore but I'm saying it's you've been laid out where you cannot come to the church and ask for healing they've got to come to you you're in bad shape Bible times if you got sick they often didn't have simple medical treatments that could heal you and it could be the end so they never knew part of the reason I say this I remember I was pastoring a small church one time and that dear godly lady she said pastor Doug I I wonder if I could have you and some of the other elders come by and pray and anoint me because I'm just I just can't hear I'm my hearing seems to be going and everything seems faded and and I said well we could do that sister do you think first let me ask is there a connection between your having hearing problems and you're being 93 years old she thought for a moment she says are you telling me I'm getting old she laughed she says maybe this does not qualify for calling me elders together it isn't necessary really when you're experiencing the natural process of aging that you call the elders because you'll have them over every other year to pray about the new onset you had no idea that you know you're gonna get this pain in your back or don't know what it is pastor I just can't seem to remember like I used to could you come and anoint me and so that's not what this is talking about this is talking about you know a serious illness and we should pray for each other even the small but when you call it together the elders to anoint with oil it's usually a serious deal now go ahead read for me please very important verse mark six twelve and thirteen and they went out and preached that men should repent and they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and they healed them now who are these that are going out doing that these are the Apostles at whose instruction if you read the previous verses in mark chapter 6 Jesus is instructing the Apostles what to do when they go out and it says they anointed with oil so I'm so glad that it's there it's not just James coming up with his idea of 19 people who are sick where did the Apostles you get it Jesus told them to do it in all the stories of Jesus healing pieces anointed people with clay and he spit on the ground and and he touched them he spoke he did in a variety of things when he placed his hands on them and healed them where did we ever see Jesus in 19 with oil you know but did he tell the Apostles to do it why what is Jesus last name Christ what does Christ means The Anointed it means the Messiah but know what Messiah means Messiah is Hebrew for anointed Christos is Greek for anointed Jesus is the anointed with the Holy Spirit so what does the oil represent it represents the Holy Spirit we've got some verses on that Exodus chapter 30 verse 25 God told Aaron and you shall make it an oil of holy Aunt meant an ointment compound after the art of the epochal it shall be a holy anointing oil and this was an oil in the sanctuary that they would anoint the furniture and sacrifices and exodus 30 30 and thou shalt anoint aaron and his sons and consecrate them that they may minister to me in the priests office so what was the purpose of taking this holy oil and putting it on Aaron Aaron who is the high priest doesn't that a symbol for Jesus who was anointed with the Holy Spirit and when yeah there are only a few things that were anointed in the Bible priests high priest was anointed there's even a psalm I forget which one it was talks about the oil that ran down on the beard of Aaron how precious it is when brethren dwell together in unity was it one one thirty three you someone who looked at me and tell me priest was anointed who else was anointed in the Bible Old Testament Kings not just David but several Kings were anointed that's right and a sacrifice could be anointed his Jesus our priest is Jesus our King is Jesus our sacrifice you ever thought about why did Mary Magdalene anoint Jesus she anointed him as our King as our priest and as our sacrifice put it on his feet poured it on his head she actually did both if you read that all the accounts and he was anointed before his sacrifice by this woman who worshiped at his feet she's like a type of the church and so that anointing is a symbol for the Holy Spirit ultimately what is it that heals God the spirit bringing that life in healing that's a special function of God the spirit through in the name of the Lord notice that it's what right do we have to have any healing anointing them praying over them in the name of the Lord when Peter and John touched the man at the beautiful gate Acts chapter three and he was healed and the people all came and looked at Peter and said Wow John what kind of amenities he said don't look on us as though we have any special power it is through the name of Jesus that this man stands hold before you so they always said it was through the power of the name of Christ now does that mean that it's a special utterance of the name of Jesus where you pronounce it just right and then there's healing or is it saying that because of the person of Christ that name represents he purchased with his sacrifice the right for us to be forgiven and healed because what we deserve is death so why do we get that new life and healing through the name of the Lord it's through credit because of the merits Christ let me give you another one isaiah 61:1 here the prophet says the Spirit of God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor and he goes on he shares a number of other aspects to that and then you can read in acts 10:38 talking still about Jesus being the anointed how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit there you have it with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil for God was with him now Jesus is the Christ he's the anointed but he said as the father sent me so send I you when God put his spirit on Saul did the holy when he was anointed king did the Holy Spirit come upon him when God put his spirit on David Holy Spirit come upon him when Elijah prayed for a double portion of Elijah's spirit was he anointed with the Holy Spirit then can we go as Christ went anointed with the spirit should we pray for that same anointing with the spirit and that we might go out and heal and to do those things now it also says that you pray for them and he goes on to saying if they have sinned their sins will be forgiven we're gonna talk more about healing for the Soul in the next section but I just want to read a quote to you from the book ministry of healing this is in your lesson page 228 to those who desire prayer for their restoration to health it should be made plain that the violation of God's law either natural or spiritual is sin and that in order for them to receive His blessing sin must be confessed and forsaken example someone calls you up and says pastor and you please come over have a prayer and anointing service for my brother he struggles with alcoholism and the doctors tell him that his liver is failing pray to heal his liver well you know what I would say during that service if we went say brother are you prepared to say by God's grace you will never drink again you want us to heal your liver that is you know now all ransacked by alcohol there should be a willingness to humble to yourself to the Lord turn to the Lord ask for victory and we'll then we'll pray for your healing but if you're just wanting to feel better so you can enjoy sin more is that the purpose of asking for many times not always but many times when people are sick it's connected with their sin how often did Jesus heal a person he said go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you and so part of a good pastoral visit when you do an anointing service I know pastor Ross does this I share this I'd say are you right with the Lord are you willing to make a complete surrender we're getting ready to ask for a virtual miracle right now are you prepared in your heart to receive that by being fully submitted to God and so a person ought to have a humble heart and be really surrendered to God before you're praying for when you praying for anointing you're readily asking for a miraculous healing and I've seen it so many times where the Lord has done that I have too seen some incredible miracles we had one sister that went to visit her in the hospital she was hooked up to life support the doctor said that there was no brain activity she had had evidently a massive stroke was found at home breathing machines family was there already discussing funeral estate-planning they asked if I could pray and so I prayed and in my prayer I'm doing this more for the family really because I this is an older sister and I figured this was her final illness and I prayed you know just that in a while I felt impressed to pray Lord and I don't want to put it past you you could still heal this sister and even as I prayed it to be honest I I thought it was just sort of a zinger you know this may as well throw that in try and encourage the family there's still hope the Bible says a living dog is better than a dead lion where there's life there's hope she's still alive who knows and so I prayed that prayer and then kissed her goodbye and said goodbye to the family and they called a little while later they said Pat review heard what happened said no said mom set up they took out her respirator she's talking she said she's hungry she's still going to her church now in Sacramento she's at the door greeting I mean I just totally written her off and it was a miracle but was it because of me it wasn't my faith maybe the families had faith or you know sometimes the Lord answers prayer for the individual in spite of our lack of faith but God does perform miracles all right healing for the Soul psalm 103 verse 2 and three and someone is going to read whoever's next is gonna be James 5:15 that'll be in a moment or two Psalm 103 two and three bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives your iniquities who heals all your diseases how many diseases how many iniquities I left a word out all forgives all your iniquities heals all your diseases what came first healing or forgiving in this verse first we need the forgiveness now some of you remember the story in 10 mark chapter 2 it's and I think Luke there's this paralytic man who's brought to Jesus carried by four friends by the time they get to the house probably Simon Peters house there in Capernaum there's just swarms of people all around the house you can't get near a window or a door there's just folks are all press shoulder shoulder and but they carried this friend a long way because more than anything he wants to hear Jesus say he'll be forgiven he's paralyzed he's sick because of his lifestyle and they won't give up they're hoping he'll be healed they find a way out back and they climb up on the roof there's a wall with no windows and no ones there's but there's a ladder and they go up on the roof and those houses in the middle east there they often had an opening in the middle so when they cooked in the summer created convection air came and the window smoke went off the top and so they didn't like take an axe like fireman and bust up the guy's roof they just moved some natural tiles out of the way and they lowered this man down right in the middle where Jesus was preaching and teaching and probably the scribes and everyone thought what a rude disturbance but these friends were desperate to get their friend into Jesus presence and it says in that store when Christ saw their faith now it's not just the faith of a man who is healed but it's the faith of the friends who bring him to Jesus so when James says spot speaking about healing the prayer of faith whose faith the faith of the sick the faith of the elders or maybe all why did Jesus when he raised up Jerry as his daughter put everyone else out except Peter James John and the family because they were unbelieving they were laughing and saying all the girls dead and so sometimes if you have people that are bringing unbelief into the room it's not coming from God might need to say well you know you may not want to won't come to you later and have people who believe that God can answer that prayer so these four friends jesus said when he saw their faith he said to the man stick with palsy son your sins are forgiven and that's what really bothered the scribes they said who is this man that speaks bland blasphemies who can forgive sin but God alone now what did the man want more than anything he and by the way that's mark 2 verse 10 and 11 that you might know that the Son of man has power on earth or forgive sin he said to the paralytic I say to you arise take up your bed and walk and you read in the book desire of Ages 267 it was not physical restoration he desired so much as a relief from the burden of sin if he could see Jesus and receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with heaven he'd be content to live and die according to God's will I don't know about you but if I was suffering like that and I had to choose which would you rather hear Jesus say get up and walk to sin another day or your sins are forgiven and you have eternal life I mean more than anything we want to know that especially if we're sick am I ready and just knowing you know you've got eternal life if you know you're forgiven and you're ready you can take just about anything if you know it's not going to last and then you've got eternal life but all physical healing while we're talking about prayer for healing keep in mind all physical healing is at best temporary until you get sick again Jesus raised Lazarus who is as sick as you can get can't get any sicker than dead can't you if you can't you let me know about that I guess the second death is the worst sickness but Lazarus was raised up for how long we don't know until he got old and sick again maybe he died as a martyr we don't know but all of the people that Jesus ever healed are dead now so healing physical healing is temporary the healing that really matters is the one that lasts forever and so when we gather together to pray for those that are sick and anoint them with oil we should make sure we keep that a priority that we make sure their hearts are right with God I have we did an anointing service for a man that had terminal cancer and he told me a few weeks later says God says healed they went back they tested me and the tumors are gone he had bone cancer and he was in a lot of pain cuz I that's what my mom died from I thought there was really no hope and but we prayed for brother leg was his name and he lived he was already in the 60s at that point but he lived like 1215 years beyond that with great strength and health and God does perform these miracles of healing so I've seen it just on a practical note some who are watching maybe elders and I'm sure most pastors are aware of this how do you anoint a person with oil you know if you've watched the way it's done sometimes on some of the charismatic hootenannies that they have on television you might get the wrong idea but typically the oil is a symbol for the Holy Spirit and typically what I do in most pastors I know is you get a small vial you it's nice to have something attractive I actually took an old cologne bottle and cleaned it out real good at one time because it just looked nice and I put the oil in there and still had a lingering nice smells about to but you you put the oil in there you want to keep it cool because I once left bottle in Church you know you don't do anointings every day and I went to use it one time it have gotten rancid so make sure you keep it fresh before you go do an anointing check your bottle of oil don't come to them with a big ol thing you bought from the market and dump it on people since it's a symbol oh and sometimes people are dressed through a church they're praying for an anointing you just take a little bit and you put it on your finger have a Kleenex or something available afterwards so when you're done praying if there's any dripping they can wipe it off they don't have to wear it the rest of their life right it's a symbol well agree yeah so I'm just being practical because I've seen it done the wrong way and I think sometimes we need to know that take a couple of fingers is that right pastor Ross just put it on their forehead they may not want it in their hair and you can just put it on their forehead and you you pray and usually during the prayer why the elders are kneel you place your hands on the person they might be in a bed they might be kneeling with you and then during the prayer the elderly denounces and now as we anoint with oil and that moment he takes his two fingers with a bottle you put it on their forehead and it's not running down this just a little bit and you complete your prayer and and it's a symbol and it it meets that criteria and then you hug each other and you pray that God will bless the healing may happen instantly may happen over time it may be a healing process that begins I'll get to that in just a minute all right guys still moving down here Hebrews speaking about Hebrews 12:12 talking about healing for the Soul therefore strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet so that which is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed God wants us to be healed you can read in 1st Peter 2 verse 24 who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sin might live in righteousness by whose stripes you were healed for that you are like sheep going astray but you've now returned to the Shepherd and overseer of your souls during an anointing service it's a good idea for the elders to take turns praying before you pray read some of the promises of God that are going to be calculated to encourage faith in the person talk about repentance from sin make sure they understand that talk about the promises that God says he will heal because you notice how often it emphasizes the prayer of faith so there's things you can actually say and in your prayer to encourage and inspire faith you remember when a man came to Jesus well actually brought his son who is possessed by a devil through the boy in the fire and in the water two opposite extremes to kill him and he had a convulsion there and the disciples couldn't heal him and jesus healed him but the father came to Christ he said Lord if you can do anything and Jesus said if you believe all things are possible and so Jesus often had to say something to encourage faith in a person who is about to experience a healing when Jarius got word that his daughter had died someone said to Jairus don't trouble the master anymore your daughter is dead Jesus saw that his faith was thinking he said don't stop believing let's go to your house don't but only believe and so you need to maybe encourage the people believe the promises of God and faith it's everything to Jesus amen all right now if someone's going to read for me James 5:15 that deals with that and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him amen now that's one encouraging thing if a person does receive an anointing service and they're healed you can also almost be sure that they've also forgiven because it's connecting the two that I'm gonna forgive you and I'm going to heal you but you notice what kind of prayer the prayer of what the prayer of faith will save the sick let me just give you some of the other verses in the Bible that help illustrate how important this is to God James 1:6 2:8 but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waver it is like a wave of the sea driven with a wind tossed to and fro let not that man think he'll receive anything from the Lord well that's not only saying asking faith wait nothing wavering if you don't ask in faith don't think you receive anything from the Lord in other words have faith you're not getting anything if you don't pray with faith a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways and then you can read where John says first John 5:14 this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us a couple more verses on that theme about the importance of faith jesus said matthew 21 verse 22 and whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will receive wow that's almost like a blank check from Jesus are there some criteria to that if you ask anything believing well of course James just said according to his will needs to be in harmony with his will but boy is there an example in the Bible of anybody Jesus ever attempted to heal that was not healed closest you're gonna get is a man that Jesus went to heal him of his blindness when he opened his eyes he still saw things he saw ministries walking that means they were blurry and then he went through a second stage of the healing and then he saw all things clearly but everybody that Jesus ever attempted to heal was healed why Christ always had faith he never failed you know if you read in the Old Testament Elijah who was a type of Christ can you name anybody in the Bible that ever came to Elisha for healing that was turned away or that didn't get a miracle everybody who ever brought a problem to Elisha he performed a miracle for at least all that are recorded matter of fact it seems like he did twice as many as Elisha which makes sense because he had a double portion of Elijah's spirit let me read another one John 15 verse 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you that's red-letter these are the words of Jesus so criteria also is praying in faith praying according to his will and abiding in Christ right alright now what do you do though now let me read one more there's a lot of verses on faith I could read you you know that mark 922 Jesus said all things are possible to him that believes all right what happens when God says no or the peers have got a saying no to a prayer for healing you've probably heard about anointing services where maybe it wasn't followed by a dramatic miracle or a healing and the person still got sick and died so what do you do how do you process that does that mean we don't have enough faith is there an example in the Bible of somebody filled with the Holy Spirit working for God that got sick that wasn't healed who went to heaven and a fiery chariot Elisha who had a double portion of God's Spirit Elisha how did he die a lingering sickness he got sick and he got old he died matter of fact the king of Israel came to see him when he was dying and said oh my father my father the chariot of Israel and his horsemen thereof and a lice worked a miracle and made a prophecy right there on his death bed and Elisha was so full of the Spirit of God that even after he died and he was buried that it tells us that some other men some months later came to the same cemetery to bury another man and write about then the Moabite Raiders came through the land and they had to run for their lives they said but we've got this body what are we going to do and they said well this let's drop it into tomb of Elisha and when they dropped this man's body in and his body touched the bones of Elisha he came back to life Elisha even performed miracles after he died from sickness he healed somebody so he had it but God let him die what about Paul second Corinthians 12:9 I'm sorry second Corinthians 12:7 through 9 Paul said and lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations a thorn in the flesh was given me a messenger of Satan to buff at me lest I be exalted above measure I uses that term twice exalted above measure now what does that mean Paul was caught up to the third heaven he saw things and heard things that people don't hear he actually saw Jesus in his glorified state appeared to Paul had an abundance of revelations about half of the New Testament is written by Paul you ever think about that I mean this man had the Holy Spirit without measure and he said lest I be exalted above measure God said in order for me to keep you where I can use you you're gonna have a physical problem keep you humble some of you know the story about Ellen White when she was called to the prophetic office she was very frightened she said you know I'm seeing things that are wonderful and I'm afraid of Pride and God says when you're at risk of that I'll afflict you so that it keeps you humble and several times in her life he was went through some spells or just a terrible pain and struggle and suffering and even recovered from a stroke at one point and she knew that these were things that God was using to just keep her on track sometimes God doesn't heal us from afflictions because we might need it and Paul said let me go on he had this thorn he doesn't tell exactly what it was in the flesh lest I be exalted above measure concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord that's as strong as it gets he's pleading with the Lord three times that it might depart from me and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you my strength is made perfect in weakness the air for Paul said I most gladly would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me if that's what it takes for God to work through me for me to have this malady then praise the Lord you know as you read and those of you who are africo students this is probably a practical point to remember when you read the personal lives of many of the great preachers and evangelists you'll find that almost without exception they were all afflicted in some way did you know that George Whitfield was so frightened before he preached that he said he would vomit every time why I'd be tough sorry that happened to me but he was just so he and it wasn't that he was so much afraid because he was an actor before he was a preacher he was good tremendous voice he was called the trumpet of the Lord had a great voice but when he thought about the burden of souls when he thought about what if I don't say the right thing that Lord I'm afraid I'm gonna not be able to reach these people that the stress of preaching the gospel that he was called to do that does overwhelmed him and made him nauseous virtually every time he preached and you could go down through the list of the different preachers and they all had a variety of struggles and God sometimes needed to do that to keep them where he could use them so sometimes God doesn't heal because his strength is made perfect in weakness all right some models of Prayer that we've got here and someone's gonna read for me now James 5:17 through 18 who has that verse okay you'll be next right after this scripture in its first samuel here's someone who is a great model of prayer for samuel 1 10 and 11 and she who's that talking about hannah was in bitterness of soul and she prayed to the lord and she wept in anguish then she made a vow and she said o lord of hosts if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and forget not your maidservant but will give your maidservant a male child and i will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor will come upon his head and God worked a miracle for her but she pled with the Lord she was praying so hard and so fervently and talked about a fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man or woman she was rocking back and forth Swayne just overwhelmed with the agony of her petition so that what did Eli the high priest think she thought she was drunk so I need to see someone who's come before the Lord and the place of prayer in the courtyard and then there's rocking back and forth the intensity thought wow this can you think of another time in the Bible when someone spirit-filled was thought to be drunk Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came on them I'm not suggesting you know stagger out of here I'm just saying that you know the Holy Spirit some when you're filled with the spirit you just pouring out your soul our go ahead read for us James 5:17 and 18 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again in the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit all right so there are a number of models of Prayer James is taking one that every Jew knew well it says Elias in the greek it's Elijah who prayed and this tells us something he prayed that it might not rain why did he pray that it wouldn't rain what are you saying about praying for blessings he will the people were strained from God they were worshipping bail and he thought look if the only way to bring him back to God is to give him a drought then send a drought where I'm in a pretty serious drought in California right now it says several years into it and I'm wondering if the Lord's not trying to get our attention and bring us back to him but you know what I really love about this verse it says he was a man with a like nature as ours we always think about these Bible prophets in these apostles and we think that they're just head and shoulders spiritually above everybody else but they struggled with the same passions and that means that if a normal person can become an Elijah through prayer then all of us can that's what James is saying he's pointing to these people that are these Giants of faith in the Bible and he's saying they were just like us but through the Spirit of God and through faith they became Giants in Bible history who are some other great examples I'll just let you call out and I'll repeat after you so that people listening can hear who are some other great examples of prayer in the Bible it who died here Nehemiah oh yeah he prayed that the enemies might be held back the walls might be completed and they were God held back the army I heard David David another great prayer can you think of some specific prayers that David prayed that were answered well the Psalms are filled with and the Santa threat are filled with prayers I remember when David was fleeing from his son Absalom and the wisest man in the kingdom was called a hitter fell and David prayed and he said Lord I pray you will confound the wisdom of a HIPPA fell and God did and the Council of Russia I the Ark height preceded it and it brought the kingdom back again that there are many prayers now what's another name I heard Daniel oh yeah but one of the most beautiful prayers you're gonna find in the Bible is the Daniel chapter 9 Daniel prays in an angel comes and that was the prayer that really was like the the threshold of things changing where Darius ended up I'm sorry Cyrus ended up giving the children of Israel passport back to the promised land well I heard another one well we get one at a time now Esther yeah she was praying they didn't do you know the word prayer is not mentioned in the book of Esther it says that they fasted for three days do you know the word God is not mentioned in history did you know it do you know why they wrote it why they were in Persia where they worshipped other gods so they wrote the book sort of in a code where they every Jew knew when she said don't eat or drink for three days they're talking about what praying when they were fasting and so she fasted and prayed but she didn't use the word prayer and they didn't use the word God but we all know what what they were praying about who they were praying to one or two more I heard some other names Elijah Elijah Oh his prayers yeah well he prayed for a double portion of God's Spirit yeah absolutely and did I see another hand Jeptha now he prayed for a victory in battle and he got it of course he made a vow that we all are troubled by regarding his daughter oh yeah Moses prayers yeah which one the prayer of Jabez yeah Hezekiah is a guy who prayed and you know what I think was the most important prayer not that the son would go backwards because that was the prayer of really Isaiah hezekiah he just said oh yeah backwards would be better than forward but when Hezekiah prayed the whole a Syrian army had surrounded the kingdom and they said your God can't deliver you he took the letter and the threats from the king of Assyria and he brought him into the temple laid it before the Lord that's one way of pray and say Lord here's what they're saying can you read this and he prayed you know what happened that night 185,000 of the Syrian generals died in their sleep and the army was turned back into retreat a lot of great stories of Heroes of prayer and faith in the Bible and then judges and Samson called to the Lord and said O Lord remember me I pray and strengthen me I pray only this once god that I might be a once adventurer of the Philistines for my two eyes and he wasn't just praying for his physical eyes there he realized he had had problems with the Philistines he had taken his eyes off God and God had a plan for Samson's life and he kept got in trouble looking at the Philistine girls and in almost every case that's what it was and did God an answer his prayer was he filled with the spirit and Samson's the type of Christ he killed more by his death of the enemy than he did in his life it's like Jesus through his death he did more to defeat the devil than he did in his life Samson stretched out his arms Jesus stretched out his arms all right talking about restoration and forgiveness this is the last section and someone's gonna be reading for me in a moment Galatians 6:1 who has that you'll be ready ok and now we're reading the last verses in James James 5:19 2:20 brethren if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back let him know that he that turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins that's very important I remember New York's City one time rush hour we were actually doing the net 99 program and all the people kind of gather at the lights you know there's little streets every you know sixteenth of a mile on a city block and you stop and you wait for the cars and there was his kid there I don't know what he's doing he's reading something he was ahead of me I didn't know him he was a stranger and he just was walking right out into the street I didn't know that he knew the light had changed and a taxi was careening down the street and grabbed him and I pulled him back in as the thing honked and went by and and you should have seen the stunt and I feel like I've just saved his life he was gonna walk right in front of the thing he wasn't paying attention and who wouldn't do that I'm not a hero I mean everyone would do that right if you saw it happening would you ask permission first would you ask the parents permission first or would you immediately do something because it's a life-and-death decision why don't we feel that way when we see people wandering from the faith you notice it uses the word wander wandering is not like jumping out wanderings kind of like back to sliding sliding is something it's kind of gradual you could be sliding not even know it right it's not called back jumping or hopping or skipping it's back sliding it happens slowly sheep wander you know how a sheep gets lost they're just nibbling grass they only see the next tuft of grass ahead of me so there's not looks like a good one I'm gonna nibble that one who there's another one over there on the nipple that one sheep do not stand up on their back legs and say I'm gonna make a run for it sheep nibble their way into being lost and all sudden after nibbling for a few hours they look up and say where the other sheep where is the Shepherd how do I get here they do it by just one little tuft of grass after the other and people do that in the church they start watching the wrong things that missed a week they start listening to the wrong things they start hanging out with the wrong friends they start losing interest and it's usually a wandering notice this is a wandering from the truth sometimes they get other ideas or they're reading the wrong material and they start losing an appreciation for the biblical truth and they're wandering James says they're dying there they're gonna walk off a cliff and we need to recognize it's very important sometimes in evangelism we're really interested in catching new fish but we don't care very much about the ones that are caught and they wander out the back door and we say I'll long as we got them baptized we'll leave their name on the books it still looks good you know we got the number and we don't care about the soul should we care any less about bringing back a soul that is wandering than one that is caught fresh no matter of fact in some ways it should be easier they already know they're just losing faith and so we should be just as interested in evangelizing backsliders we did a series with amazing facts back at the General Conference a couple of years ago called reclaim your faith and the whole thing was focused on trying to get people that once knew the Lord come back again because that's just a whole nother field bring in a revival alright go ahead read for us then that next verse in Galatians 6:1 I think brethren if a man be taken overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering yourself lest you also be tempted you know that's very important if you're going to approach a person that you senses backsliding whether you're a pastor elder a church member doesn't matter and you go visit them for one thing we're reluctant to do that because the most common accusation you hear when you talk to a person about how are you doing with the Lord it's are you judging me what makes you think I'm doing not doing well and so a person this is a couple weeks you call them up and you say oh we notice you weren't here oh you're watching me spying on me okay so some were afraid that people are gonna be offended but we ought to be watching for people doesn't the Bible tell us that if a shepherd comes home he's got a hundred sheep and one is missing he goes looking for it how does he know that one is missing because he counts them it's okay to count your sheep how you gonna know if your Fox growing if you don't ever count your sheep that's oh you got to keep an eye on them and if you notice a good pastor in elders and leaders in the church we ought to spot when people hey where have they been make a call don't always have to call the pastor or the elders and have them do it the whole brother/sister are you okay and there's nice ways of asking yes I didn't see you there today and I've been or can I come by and visit and go to their home you know sometimes you don't really know how a soul is doing until you get through their home you can learn a lot and I'll tell you a little trick a little inside secret if you're a pastor and you're visiting with people so whether or not your pastor doesn't matter ask before you leave say is there anything special you want me to pray about before I leave you can find out in that one question what's really going on in their life they'll tell you things and you said wow they if they say yeah can you pray for our marriage well I had no idea there were real problems there and just that one thing all of a sudden or they might say you know I've got a lab report and the doctor says I have cancer can you please pray over off no wonder there's been a problem there and so in you're praying for them you'll learn all kinds of things sometimes you need to plead for their souls and just say how is it going with you in the Lord and encourage them to come back and give them the admonitions from the Bible sometimes you know what to admonish means sometimes it's strong language but you might need to just tell a person hey you know you're heading the wrong way right now this is really what you want to do are you gonna find what you're looking for out in the world do you remember what it was like out there with the devil and you can appeal to a person Bible says when you do that you let you know he that turns a sinner from the error of his ways whether it's a new sinner or someone backsliding doesn't matter we'll save a soul from death so Christians need to have a passion for reaching souls that are lost and cover a multitude of sins that we cover their sins or is it saying in pointing them to Jesus a multitude of sins are covered that's a wonderful thing by the way when you bring a person to the Lord who is turning back to a life of sin you're saving the world from a lot of sins that they would commit when they had given up a holy life they're gonna bring when they turned from the Lord they're bringing all that sinful living back into the world and when you bring him back to Jesus you're actually making the world a better place to live in because you're covering a multitude of sins by leaving them to Christ all right one or two more thoughts here you know what the message of John the Baptist was Luke 1:16 and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God they're already children of Israel but they've wandered from God the message of Elijah which is a message for our day also is to turn people back to the Lord he will go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make a people ready prepared for the Lord I think this work of reconciliation bringing people back into the church and revival and restoring people is something that'll be happening more what James is talking about is something we should be doing reclaiming lost souls before Jesus comes back that's part of the Elijah message right when Pentecost happened and the former rain was poured out Peter preached who is he preaching to the church and they said what should we do and what did he say repent and be converted that your sins might be blotted out this is acts 3:19 that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord that the Holy Spirit might be poured out again and there's a message that needs to go to the church one of revival one of restoration of returning to the truth you know notice what James says if you know someone who's wandered from the truth does that happen in the church did individuals backslide do entire churches sometimes backslide and wander from the truth well I think we're out of time for today's study friends we're glad that you were able to join us here we're an Albuquerque New Mexico one time finishing up our landmarks of prophecy series and we have a free offer you'll see on your screen it's called teach us to pray and if you call that 866 study more number make sure and ask for the offer number that you see on the screen there we'll send that to you for free hope you read it share it with your friends and God willing we'll study his word together again next week we'll be in a different location god bless you did you know that Noah was present at the birth of Abraham okay maybe he wasn't in the room but he was alive and probably telling stories about his floating zoo from the creation of the world to the last day events of Revelation Bible history calm is a free resource where you can explore major Bible events and characters enhance your knowledge of the Bible and draw closer to God's Word go deeper visit the amazing Bible timeline at Bible History com

Channel: Aaron

Views: 15,528

Rating: 4.886076 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: AYGUYE5tRis

Length: 55min 56sec (3356 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 05 2020