The Prayer of Faith: Trusting God’s Sovereign Care

• Scripture Reading ([2 Kings 20](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Kings+20&version=KJV)) [00:06:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the Old Testament reading regarding King Hezekiah's illness and prayer.
• Children's Message / Prayer Instruction [00:10:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > A speaker addresses the children, using the Lord's Prayer as a 'recipe' or example for how to pray, emphasizing praising God, asking for needs, and confessing sins.
• Prayers of the People / Church Announcements [00:18:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor leads prayers for specific church families dealing with grief (Roberta Simon's death, Welch family's failed adoption) and rejoicing (Anne Marie Patterson's surgery recovery).
• Misinterpretation of [James 5:15](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+5%3A15&version=KJV) [00:33:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies the verse as a 'doozy' that is often misunderstood, specifically addressing the 'Word of Faith' movement's view of guaranteed healing and the Roman Catholic view of Extreme Unction/Last Rites.
• Contextual Analysis of James [00:38:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues for interpreting the verse within the context of the book of James, noting it is written to Jewish Christians suffering for their faith who struggled with favoritism, quarrels, pride, and doubt.
• The Role of Faith and Prayer [00:41:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the passage to earlier chapters in James (1 and 4) to show that the congregation struggled with doubting when asking for wisdom and asking wrongly due to selfish passions.
• Prayer and Faith [00:40:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the necessity of asking God for wisdom and healing with faith, contrasting double-mindedness with trust in God's provision.
• Church Leadership and Elders [00:43:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains James 5:14, emphasizing that the sick should call for elders to pray and anoint with oil, highlighting the elders' role in spiritual oversight.
• Divine Sovereignty and Healing [00:46:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the tension between praying for healing and instances where healing does not occur, using Old and New Testament examples to show God's sovereign will.
• Trust in God vs. Medicine [00:54:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns against treating doctors as primary caregivers, urging believers to trust in the Lord as their ultimate healer while acknowledging medicine as a gift.
• Trust in God vs. Medicine [00:54:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that while doctors and medicine are gifts, they are not primary caregivers; Christians must trust in the Lord as their true source of help, using Psalm 20 to illustrate that chariots and horses (medicine) collapse, but those who trust in the Lord rise.
• The Double-Minded Man [00:56:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Explaining James' concept of being 'double-souled,' the pastor defines this as having split allegiance or being a fence-sitter, warning that such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, while clarifying that bringing honest doubts to God is not the same as double-mindedness.
• Authentic Prayer vs. Empty Promises [00:59:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques the cultural habit of saying 'I'll pray for you' without actually praying, calling it a 'lie' and urging believers to either pray immediately with the person or text them after praying, rather than making empty commitments.
• Submission to God's Will [01:02:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > Balancing bold prayer with submission to God's will, citing Jesus in Gethsemane, the pastor explains that God's will may not always include physical healing, but He works all things for good for those who love Him.
• Ultimate Hope in Resurrection [01:04:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shifts focus from immediate physical healing to the eschatological hope of the new heavens and new earth, noting that even those healed in the Bible (like Lazarus) eventually died, so the greatest hope is eternal life and seeing Jesus face to face.
• Worship and Sovereignty [01:07:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The speaker acknowledges God's sovereignty in both giving and taking, affirming worship regardless of circumstances.
• Prayer and Faith [01:07:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The speaker petitions for increased faith and the ability to pray boldly.

• Sermon Illustration [00:12:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The speaker uses an analogy of a recipe card for making pancakes to explain the Lord's Prayer. He illustrates that just as one cannot put a raw egg on top of a finished pancake (doing things out of order), the Lord's Prayer provides a structured 'recipe' or example for the proper order and content of prayer (praising God, asking for needs, confessing sins).
• Sermon Illustration [00:21:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares the story of the Welch family, who had been trying to adopt a child for five years. Just days before the birth mother was to place the child with them, the mother decided to keep the child, causing significant grief for the family.
• Sermon Illustration [00:34:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the 'Word of Faith' movement, citing examples of faith healers on TV or YouTube who claim to heal through touch or screen, sometimes demanding money, and notes the negative consequence when healing doesn't occur (crisis of faith, accusations of insufficient faith or hidden sin).
• Sermon Illustration [00:36:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the Roman Catholic practice of Extreme Unction (Last Rites), where prayer and anointing with oil are believed to remove sin and ensure entry to heaven, avoiding purgatory.
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of King Hezekiah, who was told by Isaiah he would die, but prayed bitterly and was granted 15 additional years of life.
• Sermon Illustration [00:50:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references King David, who fasted and prayed for the life of his infant son with Bathsheba, but the child died as a consequence of David's sin.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' from 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul pleaded three times for removal but God refused to heal him, leaving the ailment to prevent conceit.
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor mentions Paul leaving his companion Trophimus ill in Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20), demonstrating that even apostolic prayer did not always result in immediate physical healing.
• Sermon Illustration [00:55:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of first-century warfare, comparing trust in 'chariots and horses' (doctors/medicine) to trust in the Lord, noting that while chariots are useful, the true warrior is God.
• Sermon Illustration [00:57:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical example of Abraham, who was 100 years old when God promised him a son, yet he trusted God's ability to fulfill the promise despite the seeming impossibility.
• Sermon Illustration [00:58:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites the story of Elijah, who prayed fervently for rain to be withheld for three and a half years and then prayed again for rain, with God sending it after Elijah prayed seven times.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references King Hezekiah, who was given 15 more years of life but eventually 'slept with his fathers and was placed in his tomb,' illustrating that even physical healing in the Bible is temporary.

• Pastoral Charge [00:21:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for the Simon family following the death of Roberta Simon.
• Pastoral Charge [00:22:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for the Welch family regarding their failed adoption and the child, Piper.
• Pastoral Charge [00:22:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for Ann Marie Patterson during her recovery from endometrial cancer surgery.
• Pastoral Charge [00:25:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The congregation is called to actively support and love the grieving Welch family.
• Pastoral Charge [00:43:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > Call for the elders of the church to pray and anoint with oil.
• Pastoral Charge [00:42:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray and cry out to the Lord when suffering; sing praise when cheerful.
• Pastoral Charge [01:00:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray immediately with the person in need rather than promising to pray later.
• Pastoral Charge [01:01:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray immediately and then send a text message confirming the prayer was done.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:53] We begin standing as the one true living God calls His people to worship Him this morning. Clap your hands, all peoples. Shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great King over all the earth. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
[00:01:29] join our voices together singing hymn 179, Hallelujah Thine the Glory. Let's pray together.
[00:03:53] Almighty God, you are the Lord, the Most High, the great King over all the earth.
[00:04:04] And we rightly come before you this morning as you have called us by your word to worship you, to praise your name, to sing praises to our great King, for you are the Lord of all creation.
[00:04:20] We praise you that you rule over the nations, that you sit on a holy throne, and that you are at work in the world that you have created. We praise you for your word that tells us who you are
[00:04:32] and for the Holy Spirit that enlivens our hearts and minds to your truth. We thank you this morning, Lord, that you hear us when we pray to you, that though you are the great king of all
[00:04:47] things, you hear your children, your people, your sheep when they call out to you. We thank you that that is made possible through the salvation that we have through the sacrifice of our Lord and
[00:05:01] Savior Jesus Christ. We praise you that the Holy Spirit is at work within us, teaching us how to pray and how to be shaped and molded into those who follow your will in our lives.
[00:05:14] So we worship you this morning, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for you alone are worthy of our praise. We pray that you would be with us now as we continue in our worship, and we pray
[00:05:25] these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please remain standing and turn with me in your hymnals to the back. Page 877 for our corporate voice of faith this morning. Page 877, questions 98 and 99 of the
[00:05:52] Westminster Shorter Catechism. I'll read the questions and we will read the answers together, beginning with question 98. What is prayer? Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will in the name of Christ with confession of our sins
[00:06:18] and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies. What rule hath God given for our direction in prayer?
[00:06:26] The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer, but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer.
[00:06:43] Please be seated. And please turn with me in your Bibles for our Old Testament reading this morning, 2 Kings chapter 20, verses 1 through 11, and then verses 20 through 21.
[00:07:05] In the parallel section for this portion of 2 Kings, Isaiah chapters 36 through 39 paint a full picture of what's going on in the southern kingdom under King Hezekiah during this time.
[00:07:21] And King Hezekiah was a good king. He was a king after God's own heart who was reforming the southern kingdom more and more back to true worship and to following after God's will in their lives.
[00:07:37] And yet twice in 2 Kings, we hear recordings of these prayers of King Hezekiah, one of which is recorded for us today in our Old Testament reading, 2 Kings chapter 20, verses 1 through 11 and verses 20 through 21.
[00:07:53] Let's hear now the word of the Lord.
[00:07:56] In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death.
[00:08:06] And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.
[00:08:18] Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.
[00:08:34] And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
[00:08:35] And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him.
[00:08:42] Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord God, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears.
[00:08:55] Behold, I will heal you.
[00:08:57] On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life.
[00:09:03] I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, bring a cake of figs and
[00:09:17] let them take and lay it on the boil that he may recover. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, what shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third
[00:09:31] day. And Isaiah said, this shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps? And Hezekiah
[00:09:45] answered, it is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather, let the shadow go back ten steps. And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps
[00:09:58] by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.
[00:10:02] Verses 20 and 21.
[00:10:04] The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles
[00:10:16] of the kings of Judah?
[00:10:19] And Hezekiah slept with his fathers and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
[00:10:26] The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever. Amen. Children, at this time we want to invite you forward for our children's message. Good morning. Well, this morning I want to talk about prayer.
[00:11:07] Talk about prayer. I'm sure most of you pray each day and sometimes our prayers can end up sounding the same over and over again, but the beauty of prayer is that scripture tells us over and over
[00:11:22] again that God hears our prayers, that God the Father who created all things, that he hears our prayers. But the thing that we need to learn and grow in is how we should pray, how we should pray.
[00:11:39] Now, we already talked this morning in worship. If you were listening when we read those questions, we talked about a rule for prayer. Does anybody hear what we said when we were reading that?
[00:11:49] A rule for prayer? It's the Lord's Prayer. And this is a way to think about a rule for prayer or the Lord's Prayer. All right, before me I have, anybody know what this is? They're on iPads and
[00:12:03] phones now, so this might not, you might not know what this is. What is it? It's a recipe card. Yeah, it's a recipe card. So a recipe is important to follow the instructions of the recipe, right?
[00:12:19] Let's pretend you're making pancakes.
[00:12:21] How many of you have helped make pancakes or muffins or something?
[00:12:24] Right?
[00:12:24] Yeah, you help stir, you help measure things out.
[00:12:28] Now, what if you made a pancake and then at the very end, you put the raw egg on top?
[00:12:32] Would that be good?
[00:12:33] No, that'd be gross, right?
[00:12:35] You can't do it out of order.
[00:12:36] You follow the instructions you've been given.
[00:12:39] And that's what God gives us in the Lord's Prayer.
[00:12:43] It is a recipe or an example for how we are to pray.
[00:12:49] And God's word teaches us over and over again the things we are to do when we pray.
[00:12:54] We're to tell him how great he is.
[00:12:56] We're to tell him the things we need help with.
[00:12:59] We're to ask for help for others.
[00:13:01] And also, we're to confess our sins to him.
[00:13:06] Those are kind of the main things we're supposed to do.
[00:13:08] So I'm going to read the Lord's prayer as it's recorded for us in Matthew chapter 6.
[00:13:13] And I want you to remember this is an example for us.
[00:13:16] It's not just something we pray all together.
[00:13:18] that's great to do, but it's a true example for us for how to pray. So this is how Jesus teaches us to pray, and then I'll close in prayer, and you can repeat after me, okay? He tells us,
[00:13:30] pray then like this, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not to temptation but
[00:13:51] deliver us from evil. In that prayer, we see an example to tell God how great he is, to tell him the things we need, and to confess our sins before him. And we can pray for others too.
[00:14:05] Isn't that awesome that we get a recipe, an example for how to pray in the Bible, right? We can know how to pray to God. Let's pray to God now and thank him for that gift. Dear God, we thank you
[00:14:17] for the gift of prayer that you, the King, hear us. We love you. Be with us as we worship.
[00:14:31] In Jesus' name, amen. All right, you can go back to your seats.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:40] Tim is a celebration of the blessing of prayer, so I invite you to turn in your hymnals to number

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:46] 629 stand with me as we sing what a friend we have in jesus let's pray together lord our god

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:31] we do thank you that we can come to you in prayer at any time in any moment and even now in worship as we prepare to return to you our first fruits the your tithe and our offering lord we thank you
[00:17:44] that we can respond to your goodness to your love through this small token of appreciation and we know, Father, that as we give these gifts, these are precious in your sight, and we trust that you
[00:17:55] will use them for your kingdom purposes, for your glory, and for the good of your people in this church and all around the world. And so we commit these all to you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be

[00:18:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:18:07] seated. As we look to the Lord in prayer this morning, a few things that I would mention to

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:33] you for prayer, some of these you are already aware of, of course, as you heard in a one call earlier this week, it was on Wednesday that the Lord called our sister Roberta Simon to himself
[00:20:45] following her illness with cancer. John and Amy, we continue to pray for the two of you, and we are so glad that you are here this morning in worship. There is no better place for the two
[00:20:55] of you to be, and so we pray with you, for you, and God's deepest comforts to your aching hearts at this time. There will be a memorial service on Tuesday of this week at 11 o'clock here in
[00:21:08] the sanctuary, and afterwards the family will receive visitors, so you may speak to them at that point. But please continue to pray for the Simon family during this difficult time.
[00:21:21] In addition to this grief, one other grief in this church family over the course of this last week involves the Welch family. Earlier in the week, Taylor and Jessica were on their way up to
[00:21:31] Michigan for the birth of the child they were hoping would be placed in their arms when they received word that the birth mother had made the decision to keep the child. And so again, another
[00:21:44] grief for the Welch family. You remember last summer, they were hopeful for an adoption, and that one fell apart as well. This one was just a day or two away, and so they are in Georgia with
[00:21:56] family this weekend, but please be praying for Taylor, for Jessica, for little Piper.
[00:22:01] this is a very difficult time for them so continue to pray for them scripture tells us to to weep with those who weep also to rejoice with those who rejoice and i would mention to you for that
[00:22:14] matter ann marie patterson on wednesday of this past week she had a significant surgery to take care of endometrial cancer and we can rejoice that the lord saw her through that she is home and recovering well
[00:22:25] we'll be recovering for some weeks but please continue to pray for her and the family as they care for her. So with all this in mind, let's look to our Heavenly Father in prayer.
[00:22:41] Our Lord and our God, we, your children, come before you this morning in heaviness of heart, grieving for dear families within the life of this congregation, extensions of our own spiritual families. And we turn to you because you are the God who has told us that you are
[00:23:01] near to the brokenhearted, and you save the crushed in spirit, that when we cry out to you, you hear us and you deliver us out of all our troubles. And so, Lord, this morning we do just
[00:23:16] that. We cry out to you, knowing that you are already near to us. We don't have to ask you to draw any nearer because you cannot be any nearer to us. Because of the love that you have set upon
[00:23:30] us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And yet at the same time, we ask for your comfort to be with those who are grieving this morning. And we do think particularly of the Simon family,
[00:23:44] of John and Amy who are here with us this morning, of Mike and his wife who are coming this week for memorial service, that you would minister to their hearts and minds.
[00:23:53] Lord we thank you for Roberta we thank you for the joy that she exuded an unmistakable love for the Lord Jesus Christ and you her father we thank you for her ministry in this church
[00:24:10] faithfully singing in our choir week in and week out and all of us will miss her dearly but we also thank you for this great and abiding hope that is that is ours in Jesus Christ Lord
[00:24:24] that she is not gone forever, that she is in your presence.
[00:24:29] And for those who share that faith, we will one day see her again.
[00:24:33] More than that, we will see Jesus.
[00:24:36] And this is the great hope of the believer.
[00:24:38] And so we pray that that is the hope that would buoy the Simon family in these coming days, but also in the days and weeks ahead and this church family as well.
[00:24:49] Lord, we also grieve with the Welch family when this good desire of theirs was not met this long desire five years now they have been trying to adopt a second child and father we just ache for them and words fail us to know what to plead of you anymore
[00:25:08] but we ask that you would guide them through their sorrow we pray for taylor and jessica as they shepherd piper's heart and mind through this and we ask that your will would be done and that we, their church family, would simply be willing to wrap our arms around them
[00:25:26] and love them through this difficult time.
[00:25:29] Lord, we pray for others who are hurting in this moment.
[00:25:33] We haven't named all of the needs, all of the pains, all of the cares, all of the burdens, but we know that you are more than aware of them, and we lift them to you this morning.
[00:25:43] We also thank you for answered prayers, and we do rejoice with the Patterson family that you saw Anne-Marie through her surgery on Wednesday.
[00:25:51] Lord, we pray that you would continue to bless her in her recovery, that lab work would come back showing that this was contained cancer and did not spread any further.
[00:26:00] We pray for others who are facing cancer diagnoses and who are awaiting either further tests or procedures or treatments that you would be with them in those things.
[00:26:12] Lord, there is so much need.
[00:26:14] But we thank you that you are the God who hears us when we pray.
[00:26:18] Lord, we also thank you for this past summer, though we are still in the month of August, the ministries of this past summer, most recently wrapping up with Family Bible Conference at Bonn-Clark, and we thank you for the ministry, for the fellowship,
[00:26:31] for the time of growth and learning that so many of us experienced in June and July.
[00:26:37] And we thank you for seeing us through that season.
[00:26:39] And as we turn our attention to a school year that is getting ready to start, for some this week, for some in the next week or two, Lord, we ask that you would be with students and with teachers and with administrators
[00:26:50] as they are gearing up for this.
[00:26:52] We pray for a good school year, even as we pray for a good start to our new Sunday school year next week with Rally Day.
[00:26:59] Lord, these are things that you use to grow us up in knowledge.
[00:27:03] And so we pray that you would bless us to that end.
[00:27:07] Lord, again, we just thank you that you are the God who does hear us as we come before you in prayer, that we can lift up our desires, that we can humbly submit our great needs, that
[00:27:19] we can worship you as our God, and that you hear us as we do so. So hear us this morning, answer us,

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:27:26] we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:29:45] the book of James, actually the end of the book of James. We're going to be looking at chapter 5.
[00:29:52] I'm going to read verses 13 through 18, but we're going to focus in particularly on verse 15 this morning as we continue our summer series in which we're looking at verses of the Bible that are misunderstood, misquoted, and misapplied.
[00:30:09] We're actually going to have this series go throughout the month of August, and then when we hit September, we'll pick back up on our study of 1 Corinthians.
[00:30:16] And this morning, as we look at James chapter 5, verse 15 in particular, we come to what we might colloquially say is a real doozy.
[00:30:29] This is a verse, this is a passage, a phrase that is simply just hard to fully understand, hard to read and know what exactly James is trying to say, what he is saying to us.
[00:30:43] So I am simply going to read this passage.
[00:30:46] we are going to ask God's blessing on our study, and then we will take a few moments to consider it together. So James chapter 5, picking up at verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him
[00:31:03] pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 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. In the
[00:31:17] prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for
[00:31:29] one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain,
[00:31:42] and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
[00:31:51] Let's pray together.
[00:31:56] Lord our God, we come this morning to your word, your word that is living and active, that is sharper than any two-edged sword, your word that is light to our feet, a lamp unto our path.
[00:32:10] And yet we come to a particular word of yours this morning that may not shine quite as brightly immediately to us, A word that perhaps confuses us a little bit or has led us to wonder what exactly you mean here.
[00:32:26] And so we would ask that you would lend your light to us, that we might see clearly your word, that we might be encouraged by it, and that you would bless us in this effort.
[00:32:38] We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:32:43] The prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
[00:32:48] what in the world does James mean here? This is a verse, this is a phrase that has puzzled believers, theologians, scholars, commentators for years and years and years, for centuries and centuries, because it sounds so much like an absolute promise, a guarantee of physical healing,
[00:33:14] And yet, our experience in this life tells us something a little different.
[00:33:22] That even when God's people offer up fervent prayer for healings, not everyone for whom we pray experiences healing.
[00:33:34] And that leaves us befuddled.
[00:33:36] That leaves us a little confused, perhaps.
[00:33:39] and over the years and efforts to to both understand this phrase and to put it in practice all sorts of inaccurate conclusions have been reached and as a result then this this verse or really this phrase out of this verse serves as a sort of point in case for us about the problem
[00:34:01] of taking a single verse and trying to build an entire theology or way of life around it Let me offer a couple examples of what I mean, of how this verse has been misunderstood and
[00:34:15] misapplied.
[00:34:16] And the first is perhaps the lowest hanging fruit on the tree.
[00:34:20] One misunderstanding of this is one that is prominent in some charismatic and Pentecostal circles, particularly those that subscribe to what's known as the Word of Faith movement.
[00:34:32] And this is a belief that this verse does actually promise, guarantee complete healing and wellness and the conduit of this healing is is what we might consider a a mighty modern day prophet a faith healer and as long as the person who is sick has enough faith to be healed they
[00:34:51] will be healed that's sort of the the basic premise some of the most outrageous and blatant examples of this are found on your tv screen or on youtube videos with some of these who be able
[00:35:04] or who claim to be able to heal you with just a touch of their hand or even through the screen if you will just respond in faith and sometimes with some money as well. But it's not just these
[00:35:19] outrageous over-the-top abuses by these these fame and money hungry charlatans that we also understand that there are there are many well-intentioned people who have held to this view but here's the problem when healing doesn't take place when the sick person is not made well
[00:35:41] what happens it can very often lead to a crisis of faith with with a lot of self-doubt wondering about personal assurance of salvation am i right with the lord but more difficult than that it can
[00:35:57] also sometimes lead to in those communities painful accusations by others of saying where was your faith or your faith wasn't strong enough or your faith wasn't pure or what sin are you hiding i've spoken with people who have experienced that and some of you maybe have as well and it's
[00:36:18] difficult on the other side of the spectrum as a another example of misunderstanding of this phrase from james 5 15 is one that's particular to the roman catholic church which bases its sacrament of extreme unction or what we sometimes refer to as last rites upon this verse. Believing that
[00:36:40] this prayer and anointing with oil removes any remnant of sin in a person and strengthens the soul of the dying. And while physical healing is held out as a possibility, the main focus is to
[00:36:53] ensure that this ailing or dying person is in a state of grace so that they can avoid purgatory and enter directly into heaven of course as as protestants and particularly as those who hold to reform view of scripture we disagree with this practice first on the basis that we understand
[00:37:13] that there are only two sacraments those that have been expressly commanded by our lord jesus christ baptism and the lord's supper and also because we do not believe there is any saving power in oil
[00:37:25] nor is our salvation contingent upon something that a priest might utter over us.
[00:37:33] Our salvation is based on the atoning work of Jesus Christ in which He covered over our sin by His death on the cross and is ascertained by us through the gift of faith by grace.
[00:37:47] Okay, so if those two views are not correct, that still brings us back to our main question of the day.
[00:37:55] What exactly is this verse telling us?
[00:37:59] Well, let's begin by understanding its context.
[00:38:03] And that should come as no surprise to you by now.
[00:38:05] We're two months into talking about context.
[00:38:07] And we're going to look at the context both within the book of James itself in which we find this passage, but also looking at the larger witness of Scripture.
[00:38:17] But let's begin with the book of James.
[00:38:19] This comes at the very end of the book of James.
[00:38:21] He's wrapping up his letter.
[00:38:24] What is going on here?
[00:38:25] Why is he writing?
[00:38:27] Well, James writes his epistle, as we see at the very beginning, to Jewish Christian churches that were suffering for their faith.
[00:38:36] It's probably a general letter that was supposed to be passed around to various house churches in a particular geographic region, and these Christians were suffering for their faith.
[00:38:47] And so on one hand, he's writing to encourage them.
[00:38:50] He's writing to encourage them to stay true to their faith, but it's also very obvious as you read through this epistle that these Christians also have a lot of problems, a lot of misunderstandings of the way their faith should impact their living, and a lot
[00:39:05] of interpersonal problems as well, because James takes on things like favoritism.
[00:39:11] We know that these Christians showed partiality to those people who were rich and in position of authority while sort of denigrating the poor.
[00:39:20] They also had a lot of quarrels amongst themselves.
[00:39:23] In chapter 4, he takes that on head on.
[00:39:26] That people would have division and quarrels amongst themselves.
[00:39:29] They also were troubled with issues of fear and with pride and with doubt.
[00:39:35] There was a lot of things that James had to address.
[00:39:38] And he is very blunt in this letter.
[00:39:40] He doesn't beat around the bush.
[00:39:43] He just hits things head on.
[00:39:45] But these problems were manifesting themselves particularly in the quality of these Christians' faith and in the quality of their prayers.
[00:39:57] For instance, if you flip back with me to chapter 1, this is one of the most well-known parts of the book of James.
[00:40:06] Picking up at verse 5, I'm going to read the next few verses.
[00:40:13] James chapter 1, verse 5, he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him, but let him ask in faith with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave
[00:40:30] of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So James there says
[00:40:44] if you lack wisdom, you need to ask for it. But when you ask, you need to ask with faith. You need to believe that God will actually provide it. Don't ask sort of thinking, well, this is just
[00:40:54] sort of a last-ditch effort. Believe. Trust that God will do this. But the asking requires prayer.
[00:41:05] And we learn in chapter 4 that prayer was also a weak point with this congregation. Look at chapter four. This is where he's taking on some of the divisions within the church. He says, what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war
[00:41:22] within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. And here's the kicker. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do
[00:41:36] not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions. So we see then that the church struggled with faith, with trust, and with prayer. And this is important because both of these things
[00:41:52] come together in our passage, in our verse today, prayer and faith. And he begins in verse 13 of chapter 5, as we just heard, by asking some questions about situations. Verse 13, Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.
[00:42:09] Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
[00:42:14] So James is doling out some advice here.
[00:42:18] Advice about basic responses, basic principles of the Christian faith.
[00:42:25] Are you suffering? Pray.
[00:42:28] Cry out to the Lord.
[00:42:30] Our Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God.
[00:42:36] If you are suffering, he says, take that to the Lord and pray.
[00:42:40] But then he says, is anyone cheerful?
[00:42:43] And what does he say to do?
[00:42:46] Sing praise.
[00:42:49] So no matter your circumstances, acknowledge the Lord.
[00:42:53] If you're suffering, submit yourself to him.
[00:42:56] If you're cheerful, praise him for that gift.
[00:43:00] Live life in communication, in communion with God.
[00:43:04] This is the essence of our faith.
[00:43:06] Faith isn't an add-on.
[00:43:08] faith is our life i have been crucified with christ it is no longer i who live but christ who lives in me faith should be the sum total of our life and so if we're having sufferings
[00:43:20] we cry out to the lord if we are having the best day of our lives we praise him for that we live in communion with the lord in communication with the lord and then in verse 14 he goes on and he
[00:43:33] asks, is anyone among you sick? And we might expect to hear him say, then pray some more.
[00:43:41] That's not exactly what he says. In verse 14, he says, 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
[00:43:54] Lord. Now, that's a little bit of a surprise. Is anyone sick? You would think again that he would say, well, then pray a little more fervently. But he says, no, let him call for the elders of the
[00:44:05] church. Let them pray over him and let them anoint with oil. Now, I don't want to spend too much time on this idea of anointing with oil. There's several opinions on what James has in mind,
[00:44:18] but I think it most likely serves to consecrate the ill person to the Lord. Much like the priests in the Old Testament were consecrated with oil, signaling that they were being set apart for service to the Lord, I think it's likely that the anointing of oil is setting that sick person
[00:44:35] aside for for particular attention to the lord for their healing but i don't want to spend so much time on oil because what we really need to think about is james main point here which is
[00:44:48] prayer listen again to verse 14 this time with verse 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
[00:45:01] So the prayer of faith, the first thing we need to understand, the prayer of faith is the prayer of the elders.
[00:45:20] Is anyone sick?
[00:45:21] Let him call the elders.
[00:45:23] They will pray over him.
[00:45:25] And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
[00:45:30] So it is the elders as the shepherds of the flock who have been entrusted with the spiritual oversight and well-being of the church family who are to be called when someone is sick.
[00:45:41] Now, James has in mind here a pretty serious illness.
[00:45:46] He doesn't mean the next time you get a head cold, call the elders to come and pray over you.
[00:45:50] He has in mind here someone who can't get out of their house, someone who is bedridden, someone who has a serious illness that has incapacitated them.
[00:46:00] They are the ones who are to call for the elders because they can't go to them for the elders to come to them and to pray and to anoint.
[00:46:08] And this is a particular responsibility for the elders to pray over them.
[00:46:14] And it's in this context that James says that the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick.
[00:46:22] But that still leaves us with the question.
[00:46:24] What does James mean when he says it will save him?
[00:46:27] And then he goes on to say that the Lord will raise him up.
[00:46:32] And it takes us back to where we began.
[00:46:33] is this then a guarantee? As long as I meet the conditions of being sick enough to have called the elders and they come and they anoint me and they pray over me, does that then mean now I'm
[00:46:45] guaranteed? That's the equation. That's the solution for any and all illness. But if so, how do we make sense of occasions when that is followed and the elders come and pray and yet healing doesn't happen. Does that mean our elders don't have enough faith? Or does that mean that
[00:47:12] God has failed to keep His promises? How do we make sense of all of this? Well, here is where we need to turn our context question to the larger witness of Scripture. We've considered this in
[00:47:25] light of the context of James, and now we need the help of Scripture to help us understand what is going on. You know, one of the most basic and fundamental rules for understanding the Bible
[00:47:36] is that Scripture interprets Scripture.
[00:47:40] Where we find a subject that is maybe difficult to fully understand in one particular place of the Bible, we look to other parts of the Bible that deal with similar themes and they often help illumine our minds to a fuller understanding
[00:47:54] of what God has in mind for us.
[00:47:57] So let's consider some other Scripture that might help us understand what James is driving at here.
[00:48:06] We have many instances in Scripture.
[00:48:09] where prayer for healing is offered up and God responds accordingly. We heard one of those earlier from our Old Testament reading with Hezekiah when he was mortally ill. Did you notice in that reading that Isaiah the prophet comes to him and says, thus says the Lord. Isaiah the prophet
[00:48:30] is speaking for the Lord and he says to him, you are about to die, you will not recover. That's the message that hezekiah got while he was ill thus says the lord you are gonna die and you're not
[00:48:45] gonna recover but then we're told that hezekiah turned towards the wall he's in his bed bedridden turns his face to the wall and and just has this this this raw prayer remember me oh lord because
[00:49:00] as luke said he was a great reformer he had done many things he had a steadfast faith in the lord throughout his kingship to this point and he wept bitterly and we're told that god heard his prayer
[00:49:14] god saw his tears and before isaiah had even left the royal palace he received another word from the lord turn around go back in and tell hezekiah i've heard your prayer i've seen your tears
[00:49:26] you're going to recover and what's more i'm going to add 15 years to your life and so we see that God heard the prayer of faith and responded with healing.
[00:49:42] And yet, several generations before Hezekiah, we see an instance where David is begging the Lord to heal the infant son that had been born to him and to Bathsheba, even fasting for days while he pled for this child's life.
[00:50:03] And yet God did not relent and the child died.
[00:50:08] Now, that was, we know, in direct consequence for his sin, not only in his affair with Bathsheba, but also arranging the death, the murder of her husband Uriah.
[00:50:20] But it's important for us to note this, because even James in our passage acknowledges that sometimes, sometimes, not all the time, sometimes illness can be a result of sin.
[00:50:34] He says, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
[00:50:38] And so sometimes sin informs our life circumstances, which is why he goes on to call for us to confess our sins to one another, to find forgiveness and to find healing.
[00:50:51] All right, so those are a couple Old Testament passages, one that results in healing, one that does not.
[00:50:55] We come to the New Testament, where we find Jesus healing all kinds of people, and the apostles healing all kinds of people.
[00:51:03] But then we also find some of these occurrences where healing doesn't take place.
[00:51:08] Perhaps most famously is Paul himself in 2 Corinthians 12 talking about that thorn in the flesh that was given to him to keep him from becoming conceited.
[00:51:19] We're not sure exactly what that is, but I think most people assume there was some sort of physical ailment that was difficult, that was painful.
[00:51:27] And we're told that Paul pleaded three times with the Lord to remove it from him.
[00:51:33] And did God heal him?
[00:51:35] No.
[00:51:36] it was left there as part of god's grace painful grace to keep him from becoming exceedingly conceited but not only that we have this we have this mention it's passing at best at the very end
[00:51:52] of second timothy you don't have to turn there i'll read it for you at the very very end of second timothy as paul is is doing what he always does in his letters doing the final greetings
[00:52:01] he tells timothy greet priscilla and aquila and the household of anisiphorus erastus remained at corinth and i left trophimus who was ill at miletus you probably read that a couple dozen times never really picked up on that but paul says i had to leave trophimus who was ill at
[00:52:23] miletus that's interesting paul was an apostle paul traveled with godly men timothy and others they would have definitely been praying for Trophimus and his illness and yet he hadn't recovered he didn't receive healing and Paul had to leave him behind because of his illness and my
[00:52:45] point in sharing some of these examples is yes God does often indeed grant healing when his people pray but he doesn't always do so so how does all this inform then our understanding and our
[00:53:00] interpretation of what we find in James chapter 5 well I think there are several points to take away from this. Very practical points. And the first and the biggest point is this, and this is
[00:53:13] in keeping with James' main point in what he's writing at the end of this letter. And here it is.
[00:53:19] Christian, pray boldly. Pray expectantly. Pray confidently when you pray for healing. Pray as if you believe God is going to give it. That's exactly what it means to pray in faith. Which begs the question, do we really expect? Do we really believe that God will heal when we pray
[00:53:49] for it? Or do we sometimes use prayer as a way of sort of hedging our bet? You know, we get a diagnosis or we have a friend or a family member who gets a diagnosis from a doctor and our first
[00:54:04] response is, well, what's the treatment? What is the doctor prescribed? And then we think to add prayer on top of that as sort of an extra layer of coverage. You know, I'm all for doctors and
[00:54:18] medicine. Our family has been greatly served by doctors and medicine. I have no problem with doctors and with medicine. I have problems, and I'm pointing to myself as well in this, when Christians sometimes believe that our primary caregiver is not the Lord. We treat our doctor,
[00:54:36] and we even call our doctors primary caregivers, but they're not. They're gifts from the Lord, but the Lord Himself is our primary caregiver. I very often, when people are facing surgeries, procedures, those sorts of things, I turn to Psalm 20 with them. It's one of my favorite psalms.
[00:54:58] It's a psalm of blessing, and so it's sort of a prayer for these people as they are about to enter into a procedure or a surgery. I want to read what we find near the end of that psalm.
[00:55:10] David says this, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. And what I'll often comment after
[00:55:28] I read that passage with someone is chariots and horses. If you're going to war in the first century, these are necessary things, and you're grateful for them to be part of your army. But for Israel, their true trust, their greatest warrior, was the Lord Himself. And for us today,
[00:55:47] doctors, medicine, surgical procedures are wonderful things. But Christian, our trust is in the name of the Lord our God. And James is saying, that is the one to whom we pray.
[00:56:03] And when we pray, we pray in faith.
[00:56:06] We pray in boldness to the name and to the God in whom we trust.
[00:56:13] Because if not, going back to James chapter 1, we are like the double-minded man.
[00:56:20] You know, James, when he says that, he's actually inventing a word.
[00:56:23] James coins that word double-minded.
[00:56:26] It actually in Greek translates as double-souled, S-O-U-L, two souls, a man of two souls, where we might say a man of two minds the double-minded is a person who is split in their allegiance who does not uphold the first and greatest commandment to love the lord your god
[00:56:44] with all of your heart soul mind and strength but who says one thing but acts or believes another thing who's lukewarm who's uncommitted who's a fence sitter and james says in chapter one that person should not think that they will receive anything from the lord now this this doesn't mean
[00:57:05] that you and I can't bring our doubts to the Lord.
[00:57:08] It's good and it's right sometimes when we are unsure, when we're confused, when we're hurt, when we're scared, when we're doubting, to bring that to the Lord and to be honest about that.
[00:57:19] In fact, I think of the words of the Father in the Gospels who presents his child to the Lord for healing.
[00:57:25] And he says to Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief.
[00:57:32] That's a man who had faith but still was wondering, what are you going to do here? How is this all going to work out? I think Abraham's a good example of this for us. You remember in the book of Genesis, God makes this wonderful promise to
[00:57:46] Abraham that he's going to have a son. But how old was Abraham when he received this promise? He was 100. Sarah, his wife, was 90. And he laughs. How in the world are we two old people going to have
[00:58:00] a son? There's plenty of reason to doubt that it could happen. And yet in Abraham, we know that there was also complete trust in God's ability. In fact, Abraham is commended by Paul in Romans 4
[00:58:15] for his faith, that he was fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised, even though the situation itself seemed doubtful. Do you share that same conviction of God's faithfulness to his promise? And if so, you need to pray, and you need to pray boldly and expectantly, and you need to
[00:58:36] pray repeatedly. James points to Elijah for us as an example, a man in our own nature, a man who is deeply flawed, as you know, as the prophet Elijah was. And yet, he prayed fervently for the
[00:58:47] Lord to withhold rain, and God did for three and a half years. And then he prayed again for God to send rain, and he did. In fact, in 1 Kings, we're told that Elijah prayed seven times for God to
[00:58:59] send the rain. And finally, that little cloud appeared in the distance, and it became a mighty rainstorm. So we ought to pray boldly and expectantly and repeatedly as we're told in Scripture, pray without ceasing. Let me add this as a bit of a sub-point. So if that's point one,
[00:59:19] this is sub-point one, and it's a little bit of a personal soapbox. If you're a Christian and you tell somebody you're going to pray for them, you need to actually pray for them.
[00:59:34] Because I think one of the most common and egregious lies that Christians tell themselves in one another is, I'll pray for you.
[00:59:43] Oh my goodness, you say it on Facebook all the time.
[00:59:47] I'm praying for you.
[00:59:49] Are you?
[00:59:52] I'm asking, are you praying?
[00:59:57] When you're talking to someone and they're going through a difficult time and the conversation's wrapping up and you're partying and kind of say, well, I'll keep you in prayer.
[01:00:05] Are you?
[01:00:07] Are you praying for that person?
[01:00:10] Hanging up the phone or in a text message, I'll be praying for you.
[01:00:13] Are you?
[01:00:15] Could it be that we aren't seeing healing?
[01:00:18] Could it be that we aren't seeing answers to prayer because we actually aren't praying?
[01:00:23] We believe the sentiment of saying, I'll pray for you, is the same thing as actually humbling ourselves before the Lord Almighty and praying for that person?
[01:00:35] Stop lying to one another.
[01:00:37] I would rather you tell me good luck than say, I'll be praying for you and not actually pray for me.
[01:00:43] I don't believe in luck.
[01:00:45] That's better for me than an empty promise, right?
[01:00:49] So here's a little tip.
[01:00:50] The next time that conversation is winding down, Don't say you'll pray for them.
[01:00:56] Just say, hey, can we pray real quick?
[01:00:58] And then pray with that person and encourage their soul.
[01:01:02] Come before the Father.
[01:01:03] It doesn't have to be a long prayer.
[01:01:06] Or as the phone call is winding down, or even in text message, don't say I'll be praying for you.
[01:01:11] Why don't you actually pray and then text that person, I just stopped and prayed for you.
[01:01:16] And here's the other thing that'll do for you.
[01:01:18] When you begin to pray for someone, that is planting seeds in your mind and your heart to keep praying for that person as the Lord brings them to mind over the course of the next week.
[01:01:26] and then when you look him in the face next week at Sunday, you can actually say, how did you do this week?
[01:01:30] I was praying for you throughout the week.
[01:01:32] I took time to pray for you.
[01:01:34] How would you feel if someone said that to you today?
[01:01:37] You mentioned something to me last week and I've been praying for you.
[01:01:41] The Lord has just put that on my mind and I've been praying for you.
[01:01:45] And how might the Lord use the prayer of his saints to affect healing or resolution to discord or any number of issues?
[01:01:53] But instead we simply say, I'll pray for you and then we forget it.
[01:01:59] Okay, I'm going to step off my soapbox now.
[01:02:06] So my first point was to pray boldly, to pray expectantly.
[01:02:10] We might say just pray, actually do it, pray.
[01:02:14] But the second point, and one that provides a little bit of balance for us, and we know this, is that we must also pray in submission to God's perfect will.
[01:02:24] And this is that mysterious will that we don't always know.
[01:02:28] The one that Jesus taught us to pray for in the Lord's Prayer, Thy will be done.
[01:02:34] The one that Jesus Himself modeled for us as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that He was betrayed and about to be arrested.
[01:02:42] And He prayed to the Lord, asking in Luke chapter 22, saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.
[01:02:57] And we know, of course, that God did not remove the cup from Him.
[01:03:00] Because it was God's will for Jesus to be stricken, for Jesus to be crucified for your sin.
[01:03:05] And so we balance our prayers, our bold, expectant prayers for healing, also acknowledging thy will be done.
[01:03:18] And sometimes God's will is not to provide physical healing.
[01:03:25] And while that grieves us, we have to trust that God's ways are perfect and that He is still good even when He allows pain into our lives.
[01:03:37] And we're going to probe that idea further next week as we look at Romans 8.28.
[01:03:42] We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
[01:03:48] God doesn't promise us good things necessarily, but He promises to work all things for good purposes.
[01:03:53] We'll plumb that further next week.
[01:03:56] And so we pray boldly, we pray expectantly, but we also pray submissive to the will of God.
[01:04:04] But then third and finally, is we remember that this verse, 5.15, when it says the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up.
[01:04:15] This verse also points us to a greater day of healing and deliverance that is coming.
[01:04:22] That day when Jesus returns and we will all be healed and we will all be raised to never-ending life.
[01:04:32] To that new heavens and the new earth where there will be no more death, there will be no more dying, no more illness, no more diagnosis, no more tragedy, no more grief.
[01:04:40] that day when all we will know is life forevermore.
[01:04:47] Because the truth is, our greatest hope isn't physical healing.
[01:04:51] Because if God heals you today, you're still going to die tomorrow.
[01:04:55] Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, but we know that Lazarus went on to die again.
[01:05:01] Hezekiah, we heard, was given 15 more years, but I had Luke read the closing verse of that passage because I wanted you to hear, but then he slept with his fathers and was placed in his tomb.
[01:05:11] Our greatest hope isn't in physical healing in the here and now.
[01:05:16] Our greatest hope is in the day that's coming when these bodies will be raised imperishable, and we will put on the imperishable, and we will see Jesus face to face, and the griefs of today will mean nothing to us
[01:05:31] because of the weight of glory that has been revealed to us.
[01:05:38] And so perhaps our most fervent prayer, the one we pray most boldly, The one that should be on our lips every single day should be that final prayer that we hear in Scripture at the end of the book of Revelation
[01:05:50] where John simply says, Come, Lord Jesus.
[01:05:54] Let's pray together.
[01:05:58] Oh Lord, that is our prayer.
[01:06:00] That is our great hope.
[01:06:02] That our Lord Jesus is coming.
[01:06:04] That there is a day appointed when He will return and to the believer that will be a day of inexpressible glory because we will be raised as He has been raised.
[01:06:15] We will have resurrection bodies that will never suffer again.
[01:06:19] But the greatest glory will be seeing our Savior face to face.
[01:06:25] And so we pray, Lord, that you would speed that day.
[01:06:30] But until that day, we thank you that you have given us your word that teaches us how to live life in this broken world and how we might pray to you, the maker of heaven and earth,
[01:06:43] the one for whom nothing is impossible, the one whom we trust we can pray to you and we can pray boldly and we can pray for healing and we can pray for deliverance and we can pray for recovery
[01:06:56] and we can do this trusting knowing that you can and very often you do provide that healing and even when you don't Lord we can worship you because you are the God who gives you are the God who takes away
[01:07:10] but blessed be the name of the Lord from this day forth and forevermore so Lord increase our faith and help us to pray and help us to pray boldly we ask in jesus name amen our final hymn is a
[01:07:32] meditation on prayer it's number 634 and i invite you to join me in standing as we sing it together

[01:07:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:07:39] receive now god's blessing may the grace of the lord jesus christ the love of god the father

[01:10:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:10:01] almighty and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all both now and forevermore amen