31 min
#seekFIRST Part 10 - Prayer & Fellowship 04-05-2020 Pastor JJC's Informal Sermons
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- Christianity
14 Is anyone among you sick?
So, verse 14 talks about someone who is almost ready to give up. What is the Bible telling them to do, here?
Then let that person call for the Elders of the church to pray over them. And they are to pray for them.
In verse 13, you are praying for yourself, but in verse 14, the Elders of the church are praying for you because you need help. Because your prayers are not getting through because you don’t feel like praying anymore.
When life beats you down long enough and deep enough, the fact is that we get tired of dealing with God. Isn’t that true?
James is saying that at that point where you hit WEARINESS – the effects of SICKNESS, you need more than you! So he says, go to the elders of the church – that represent the spiritual leaders of the church to get support for a breakthrough that you haven’t been able to get on your own.
When you are getting ready to throw in the towel, you need some other people in your life who can cry out for you because you are too tired to cry out for yourself.
That is why every follower of Jesus Christ needs to be part of a local church or a fellowship – because when you can’t keep going on, you need someone to help you keep going on!
WE ARE NOT DESIGNED TO BE LONE RANGER CHRISTIANS!
So, there must be spiritual people who can carry you when you can’t carry yourself.
Reminds me of the story in Mark 2, the story of the paralyzed man that couldn’t get up. He simply couldn’t get up. He was laying there for along time and couldn’t get up.
But he had 4 of his homies – they came, they picked him up and took him to the house where Jesus was . They cut a hole in the roof and let him down in front of Jesus.
And then it says, “when Jesus saw THEIR faith, not the sick man’s faith – when Jesus saw the faith of the faith of the 4 brothers who picked the sick man up, Jesus healed the man!
The man couldn’t get up on his own but he had some people in his life who cared enough about him to reach over, pick up him, life him up, carve a hole out and carry him to Jesus and drop him down! And Jesus said, I am going to heal you because of them because you can’t get up on your own.
The truth is we all get tired and the fact is that we need each other!
14 Is anyone among you sick?
So, verse 14 talks about someone who is almost ready to give up. What is the Bible telling them to do, here?
Then let that person call for the Elders of the church to pray over them. And they are to pray for them.
In verse 13, you are praying for yourself, but in verse 14, the Elders of the church are praying for you because you need help. Because your prayers are not getting through because you don’t feel like praying anymore.
When life beats you down long enough and deep enough, the fact is that we get tired of dealing with God. Isn’t that true?
James is saying that at that point where you hit WEARINESS – the effects of SICKNESS, you need more than you! So he says, go to the elders of the church – that represent the spiritual leaders of the church to get support for a breakthrough that you haven’t been able to get on your own.
When you are getting ready to throw in the towel, you need some other people in your life who can cry out for you because you are too tired to cry out for yourself.
That is why every follower of Jesus Christ needs to be part of a local church or a fellowship – because when you can’t keep going on, you need someone to help you keep going on!
WE ARE NOT DESIGNED TO BE LONE RANGER CHRISTIANS!
So, there must be spiritual people who can carry you when you can’t carry yourself.
Reminds me of the story in Mark 2, the story of the paralyzed man that couldn’t get up. He simply couldn’t get up. He was laying there for along time and couldn’t get up.
But he had 4 of his homies – they came, they picked him up and took him to the house where Jesus was . They cut a hole in the roof and let him down in front of Jesus.
And then it says, “when Jesus saw THEIR faith, not the sick man’s faith – when Jesus saw the faith of the faith of the 4 brothers who picked the sick man up, Jesus healed the man!
The man couldn’t get up on his own but he had some people in his life who cared enough about him to reach over, pick up him, life him up, carve a hole out and carry him to Jesus and drop him down! And Jesus said, I am going to heal you because of them because you can’t get up on your own.
The truth is we all get tired and the fact is that we need each other!
31 min