Please take your Bibles and go to the book of James, if you would please, the book of James. As you know, we finished the prayer conference earlier this week on Tuesday night. If you remember, if you were here Monday night, Brother Beckham got up and he made mention of the fact that he didn't know whether he'd be able to make the evening service or not. Because he wasn't feeling good. You know, he was battling sickness while he was here. He said Jeanette had had it last week and so he must have picked it up from her. But my wheels started turning. I thought, you know, this is Monday night, we have one more night left. And so I just asked the Lord, I said, Lord, you know, I need to put a message together. And so I trust that you'll help me with this. And so I was ready Tuesday night just in case he wasn't gonna be able to make it. I've entitled the message, James Living a Life of Prayer. In Luke chapter 18 verse one, the last phrase says, men ought always to pray and not to faint. And I think as I was thinking about James, of course we use the book of James there in chapter five, I believe in the anointing with oil. Not in a, like Warren Wearsby said, I'm for faith healing, not for faith healers. And so we don't do the showboat religion here. And this is something that we make a matter of prayer and then we might go into my office and we gather the pastors together and we will anoint the sick with oil, believing in what God has said, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. And so in the scriptures, and so we will anoint and God chooses at times to bring healing to the individual. And then sometimes he chooses not to bring healing. But at least you know, when you do that, that you're in the will of God, because you've given God an opportunity to work that kind of a healing work in your body. should he so choose. But then if he does not then you know that this is also a gift from God to you. As Paul said, I would rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. But I think James is an interesting individual. God chose this particular man to be the penman. And he gave us this book, these five chapters. And this book, as I was thinking about this and studying through James, I began to realize just how much prayer is saturating this particular book, these five chapters. And so I believe that this book of James is one of the first of the New Testament books given to the believer. They say that Job was probably the earliest that God gave in the Old Testament. And then they say that the book of James was for the New Testament church as well. That's interesting to me because both of those books really tell us how to live in a sin-cursed world. And some of the battles that we'll face and some of the things that we'll go through And so as I was thinking about the matter of prayer, of course, I thought about this particular book and this man, James. We believe that James was the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's some discussion about that, but many of the conservative scholars would hold to this particular position. The penman could not be James, the brother of the apostle John, because that particular James was killed in Acts chapter 12 in 44 AD. And we know that the book of James was not really penned until about 52 AD. So we know that that is a point of reference that gives us an indication of not John's brother James, but the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 12, Verses one and two, we have an account here given to us. I know I had you turn to James. But in Acts chapter 12, we have this particular event that was brought to our attention. And I'm going there. In verse one, it says, now about the time that Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. So I wanted to lay that matter to rest. But as I think about James, the half brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, can you imagine growing up in a home where you have a perfect brother? Now you with several, I have no brothers. I just have two sisters. And their brother, my two sister's brother, was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Far from it. And I'd imagine, I mean it's hard to imagine somebody being perfect. I mean, he never did anything wrong. Never. He was never selfish. He never got into a fight. He always obeyed dad and mom. Imagine that. That's our Lord, amen? And James grew up in that home. But it's interesting that the Bible says that James and his brothers and sisters did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as they were growing up. In fact, it mentions that they were actually, when Jesus was gone from the home, that they accepted Jesus Christ. In Matthew 13, verse 55, the Bible says these words, is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brethren, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him, the scripture says. And so John chapter seven, verse five says this, for neither did his brethren believe in him. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 7, it says, after that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. In Acts 1, verse 14, the Bible says, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. So Jesus' brothers, and sisters had to come to the point in their life where they recognized that Jesus Christ was indeed their Messiah. that he was the Savior. And they had to put their faith and trust for their eternal salvation in their half-brother. I keep referring to half-brother because Joseph was not the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was God that was his father. That's why it says in John chapter three and verse 16, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You see, when you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you became a child of God, but you're not the begotten Son of God. Only Jesus meets that criteria, amen? And so these brothers and sisters had to accept Jesus Christ as their very own personal Savior. I also see that James becomes the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. And this is very interesting to me as well. If you go to Acts chapter 13, you don't have to. I just am making some references and we will come back and look at the book of James in particular. But in Acts chapter 15, we know that there was a discussion going on in regards to the works salvation that was beginning to infiltrate some of the churches. You see in chapter 15 verse one, it says these words, and certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. So this is powerful truth from Ephesians chapter two, where we're not saved by works, we're saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. so it's interesting that the false teachers tried to infiltrate the good churches there in that day. And so what had happened was James the pastor of the church of Jerusalem called the folks together, the preachers together, and they were talking about this. They were discussing this matter. That's what chapter 15 is all about. And and they came to the conclusion. It's interesting if you look here at James, let's see, chapter 15 and verse 13. And after they held their peace, James answered saying, men and brethren hearken unto me. Now I'm not getting into the actual teaching of this particular chapter. The point I'm trying to bring out is he's pastoring the church. So he grew up with a brother that's perfect. He accepts Jesus Christ as his savior. And we find that he is discipled by the Lord Jesus Christ and we find him also pastoring the church in Jerusalem, which is interesting to me, how mature he got in the faith. And it's interesting that he teaches in the book of James, the contrast between faith and works. And some people look at the writings of James and they try to pit Paul against James and nothing could be further from the truth. As Paul is writing, he is talking about justification by faith. And we find that that's not a contradiction because he was talking about being justified before God. Of course, you know justification means to be declared righteous. And when you trust Christ as your Savior, what happens is God declares you righteous. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is placed on your account. And because you accept Christ at the cross for your salvation, he took our sins and they were put on Christ. He paid the sin debt. He was the propitiation or the payment for our sin. And so that's the justification that Paul is addressing in the book of Galatians. But James is talking about our justification before mankind. In other words, as you know, that God and salvation is a matter of the heart with the individual. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And so what happens is God sees your heart. No one else sees your heart. They don't see your motives. They don't hear your prayer, the inner belief of your heart where you say, I believe, I'm sorry for my sin. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin. I believe he was buried for me and in my place and also that God raised him from the dead. I believe that and I put my faith and trust in it. That's believing and you don't have to, you can be in a You can be in your closet somewhere. You can be in your bedroom. You can be in a car. You can be out in the back 40. You can be in church. You can be just about anywhere. You can trust Christ as Savior. And God sees that, and God saves your soul. And that's wonderful. But you know what? Mankind does not see your heart. And so James writes from the premise of, hey, if you say you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, You're gonna seek to please Him. You're gonna seek to be the testimony that God wants you to be before a lost and dying world, as well as an encouragement to fellow believers that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. We have the privilege of baptizing tonight. And of course, as we do that, the one being baptized is not going to be saved because they're in the baptismal waters. It's because they already are saved that they are going to follow the Lord and believers baptism. And what they're essentially saying is they're declaring before all, they say, look, I'm saved, I'm on my way to heaven. And it's because there was a time where I asked Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sin and come into my heart and save me. And that's the emphasis that James is placing in these five chapters. He's trying to let the church know that, hey, if you say you're saved, you need to live like it. And what's interesting to me is that he saturates this book with prayer, living with the awareness that God is with you all the time. And it's interesting about James as well. This is tradition, of course. James is known as Old Camel Knees because tradition says he spent so much time in prayer. And I find it interesting that God would have him pin these words and really emphasize the subject of prayer. Number five in my notes, James mentioned his place as a servant. If you look at James chapter one, verse one, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad greeting. So he does not emphasize his position as far as his bloodline being a offspring of Mary, but of course, Joseph, his father, but what he does is he emphasizes his spiritual connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. God's not so much concerned about our bloodline. He's concerned about Jesus' bloodline and how the blood's been applied to our life. Amen? And so we see that here in this particular aspect as well. Due loss means servant. And it's interesting, if you study servanthood in the New Testament, is a servant in this context was a willful servant. It was not a compulsive thing in this context. A slave or servant had no worries in the Bible days. This is interesting. No worry about clothes, housing, and food. It was all the master's, the slave owner's responsibility to take care of their servant. Now that's interesting to me. In light of one of the great sermons, I would have to say the greatest sermon that's ever been preached, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sermon on the Mount, if you go to Matthew chapter six, and we find here these words where he tells us about how he'll take care of us. Right smack dab in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is preaching, and he says these words in verse 24 and following. No man can serve two masters. So he's already talking about servanthood. He says, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life. See, you put yourself in the servant's place. He didn't worry about a thing. He says, What ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on, is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Jesus was always giving illustrations that the people could really wrap their minds around. He was the master teacher. And they would understand the position of a servant. They would understand the responsibility of a master. And so He's using this illustration in His message to get a spiritual truth across. In fact, He's talking to His children, those who are receiving Him as the Messiah, and He's trying to set their minds at ease because they're concerned, wondering, what's gonna happen to us? How are we gonna be cared for? How are our needs gonna be met? He says, for which of you, verse 27, by taking thought can add one cubit into his stature? And why ye take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow's cast into the oven, "'Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? "'Therefore take no thought, saying, "'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink?' or where with all shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek." He's essentially saying, that's what all the unsaved people are worried about. They're running helter skelter around trying to meet this need and that need. They wonder what they're gonna eat. They wonder how they're gonna pay their bills. They wonder how they're gonna have clothes on their back and all this kind of stuff. And it ought not be amongst Christians that we worry about things like that. Pastor, I've got bills and I've got obligations and I've got things like that. Hey, don't you know that God knows that? Your father knows that? And look what he goes on to say. He says, for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought, for the things of itself, sufficient to the day is the evil thereof." In other words, many times we are worrying about Monday. Here it is Sunday, we're worried about tomorrow already. We're worried about Friday already. We're worried about this and that and the other. And he says, don't worry about tomorrow. Just trust me. Seek first the kingdom of God. Be what you need to be before God. Be the best Christian that you can be before God and let him take care of the details of life. He's obligated himself to do just that, amen. So it's interesting how he uses the phrase here that he's a servant, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then I see too that James, with tradition says, was thrown down from the temple gallery. In other words, you notice that just about all the disciples, of course, suffered martyrdom. We know that many of the Christians were really scattered abroad and there was great persecution that fell on the church. But tradition says that James was actually thrown down from the temple gallery. There was an over, there was like a balcony up there that sort of wrapped around this way. And he was thrown down, but he survived. And so when he, the tradition says he lived the fall, so they beat him with clubs. And instead as they were beating him, he was praying for them. You read Martyr's Mirror, the Fox's Book of Martyrs, and it gives some accounts of those Christians. Up through Martyr's Mirror, I think, takes you through the 17th century. And as you read some of the things they went through and the unbelievable torture that they endured and the deaths that they died, it's really quite mind-boggling for those of us in our Western culture that live in a land of somewhat freedoms. And it's amazing how that this man, as he was being beaten and he was praying for them, I wonder, you know what he was praying. You know, there's Jesus on the cross and he says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And what did Stephen say in Acts chapter seven, as he's being stoned, he said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. I don't know, tradition doesn't tell us what the prayer was. I don't know if somebody heard it in words and just didn't pin it down or whatever, but it's amazing that he would be praying as they're beating him to death. That's James. the penman of these five chapters. I wanna give some highlights and point out just the aspects of prayer that apply to us as we think about living out our faith. We need God and we need to be men and women of prayer. If you'll look verse five of James chapter one, I want us to see that there's prayer. We need to pray regarding the decisions that we face. We need to pray regarding the decisions that we face. In James chapter one, verse five, the Bible says, if any of you, notice that he's writing to believers. Are you a believer tonight? If you say yes, then it says, if any of you, if any of you, but you say, I don't know that God would answer my prayer. If any of you, if any of you, If any of you, you've got God's Word on it. You say, but you know, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. If any of you, I got saved later in life. If any of you, you know, I've got so much to learn. I'm just learning as I go here. If any of you, if any of you lack wisdom, That means you don't have a whole lot of applied knowledge. You don't know how to apply the knowledge that God has given you or someone has encouraged you in. You say, if any of you lack wisdom, and wisdom is applied knowledge. That's why you go to Proverbs and it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But it also says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. And so we find here that he's saying, look, you may know the Bible, but do you know how to apply it? How many times have you come across a situation and you've said, I don't know what to do here. Yet, hey, you read your Bible, you pray every day, you go to church, you're trying to live right, and a decision comes up and you say, okay, what do we do in this situation? If any of you lack wisdom, look what it says. Let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. So here, you know, Jesus Christ is your personal savior. And you say, I don't know what to do in a situation like this. I think we need to make this a matter of prayer. So you get on your knees and you begin to pray. And you say, Lord, help me. I don't know what to do here. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally. I like that word liberal. It's about the only time I like liberal, you know? But at the same time, hey, he says, I'll give it to you in abundance is what he's saying. He's not saying that just give you enough to squeak by. He says, I'll give you more than enough. I'll give it to you in liberal dosages. And he says these words, he says, and upbraideth not. How many times you say, Lord, I should have been here sooner. I should have been here sooner. I've waited too long. God, here I come. And I'm asking you, I need to know what to do. I'm between a rock and a hard place. And I don't know really what to do in this situation. But I'm asking you for wisdom, help me. Help me. And he says, he upbraideth not. That means he's not gonna be up in heaven, so to speak, and say, huh, who do you think you are now coming to me? You should have been here last month. And here you come to me. And he begins to upbraid us and give us a hard time. He doesn't do that, that's not our heavenly father. He says, here, let me help you. Let me give you what you need. Man, well, that's a loving God. And he says, and it shall be given him. You lack wisdom? You're faced with some really life altering decisions. You need the wisdom of God and you need to be a person of prayer. And I say this, if in doubt, don't you do something until you have God's stamp of approval upon it. And that's what James, it's interesting that these five chapters, he starts out with this premise. And he goes on to say these words, if you look at verse six and following, he says, but let him ask in faith. And that means that you have confidence, you believe that God will answer your prayer. You've come to the right place. You've come to the throne of God. Hebrews, let us come boldly before the throne of grace to find help and mercy in a time of need, amen? And he says, let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. In other words, you're saying, eh, you know, I don't know if he's gonna answer this prayer or not. He may not answer it the way you want it to be answered, but I tell you what, whatever way he answers that prayer, is the best thing for you. Paul realized that in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Three times praying, God heal me, heal me, heal me. God says no. Because my strength is made perfect in your weakness. And then Paul says, okay, I got it. I got it, I understand it. I'm rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest on. If you can use me more by being sick, if you can use me more by having this physical malady and trouble and problem, I'm willing to embrace it. I'm willing to be thankful for it. I'm willing to praise your name for it because I know this is what's best. You'll only get that as you spend time in the presence of God because our flesh is repulsed by that. But God says, but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. You notice the troubled waters. He says, For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways." How many times you go over to the throne of grace and you say, God, we don't know what to do here. But then you run to this source and that source and this one and that one. And you try to finagle your way out of a situation. You try to get that answer yourself. The Lord says, I don't operate that way. You need to trust me. And our God is trustworthy. Remember the title of the message this morning. Promises made, promises kept. He keeps every one of his promises. Is that not a promise? If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth all men liberally and that braideth not and it shall be given him. That's something as we would say to hang your hat on. That's something to take to the bank and know that the check would be cashed. That's something that we can believe God for, amen? And so it's interesting that here in chapter one, we find prayer is so vital as we face the decisions in life. And folks, life is a series of decisions, are they not? I see, I find it interesting that there was a point in time and we just happened to be in the book of Joshua and remember the Gibeonites, how that they wore the old clothes and they got the moldy bread and they made like that they were from a far country and they were only from seven to 10 miles away. The Bible says that Joshua and the leadership there did not seek counsel at the mouth of the Lord. The inference theory is if they had sought God's counsel, he would have saved them from heartache. He would have saved them from making a mistake because the Gibeonites were a thorn in their side the entire time. So what a warning for us. The next time you have a decision to make, Take it to God in prayer. Ask God to give you that wisdom. Ask God to give you the wisdom. Ask God to answer that prayer. He says he will. Then number two, I take from chapter two. I want us to read verses 21 and following. And I say this, that prayer is evidence of faith in God that precedes action. You see, what we wanna do many times when we're faced with an issue is we wanna know what the end result of this thing will be. We wanna see how it all works out. And God is not to try to satisfy our curiosities. We're to live life, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Amen? Just those simple mundane things of life. But it takes the food to sustain life. but we're to do it for the glory of God. Make Him real, make Him big in our lives. We see that in the scriptures. And we find here that you need to believe Him before you act. Those priests, when they were getting ready to cross the Jordan and they had the Ark of the Covenant on them, God says, I want you to go into the water. And as their feet would touch, the water, then the waters parted. They didn't wait there at the brink as the Jordan was overflowing. They didn't wait there and say, well, you know, come on, God, part the waters. You say you're gonna part the water, you're gonna make a way for us. No, they had to take that step. They had to take the step. And once they took the step, that's when the waters parted. You need to believe God. no matter the circumstances. Look what he says in verse 21 of chapter two. He says, was not Abraham our father justified by works? Now remember, when he's talking about justification here, he's talking about before man. In chapter 15, verse six of Genesis, it says that Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He says, seest thou how faith wrought, verse 22, with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? He says, and the scripture was fulfilled with Saith, and this is the passage I just referenced from Genesis 15, six. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. He acted because he believed, but he believed before he acted. And that's something we have to see here, that prayer is evidence of faith in God that perceives the action. Sometimes we wonder, man, how is this happening? How is this one able to do this? And so on and so forth. And we try to put some human criteria to it. We try to say, well, it's because he has a high IQ, or it's because he has a lot of money, or he has this, or it's because of his family connections. And what we do is we take all the glory away from God. And God likes to take the fullest things of the world to confound the wise. Amen. And so we see where it goes on to say, see then in verse 24, chapter two, see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works. Remember when you looked in the early portion of Joshua again, how that she told those spies, she said, man, we're fearful because we know the Israelite God is God and there is none else. See, she already believed in the God of Israel. She was putting her trust in the God of Israel. And we find that when she put that scarlet cord out. And it says here, likewise, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works? When she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. In other words, the inference here, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you're gonna seek to live it out. You're not gonna be perfect, Paul says that, he wasn't perfect, but yet he was striving to be, but he's not saved by his works. In other words, it says we are in Ephesians chapter two, verse 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We are not saved by works, but because we're saved, we work. You see, it's having it in the right place. And that's the whole premise of James. And that's why I think that James is riding here and he's showing us the importance for we believers to just immerse ourselves in prayer. That knowledge of that awareness of God, every moment of every day where we're in His presence because He says, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. There's never a time, dear Christian, that you are without God as a Christian. Never a time. Praise God for that. Chapter two, I think is powerful in that lesson. Chapter three, quickly. Prayer brings wisdom that emanates from the inner man. Prayer brings wisdom that emanates from the inner man. I want us to see, this chapter deals with the tongue, okay? But it clearly mentions that no person can control their tongue. The inference is that the Holy Spirit can. We must pray our dependence upon him. If you have a problem with your mouth, then you have a problem in submitting to the Holy Spirit of God in your life. And it says that no man can tame the tongue. No man can do that. It takes God for a believer to talk right and not be a sower of discord, not be a critic. not be a slanderer, not be a liar, not being a false witness. I mean, if we're not careful, we'll lie. We won't tell the truth, but with the indwelling presence of Christ, as we commit even our tongues to the Lord Jesus Christ, He can straighten out our speech. Amen. Look what it says in verses 13 and following. Who is a wise man? This is James 3 verse 13. Who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter, envying, and strife in your hearts. Glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. You go to James chapter five and it tells us what some of the works of the flesh are. We won't read him tonight, you can do that. But just stop and think what he's saying. That in a congregation and in a believer's life, where he's not controlling his mouth, there's confusion in every evil work. So isn't it interesting that some of these so-called societal big sins that Christians seem to get embroiled in really emanate at times just because of the poor use of someone's mouth. He says, where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work, but 17, but the wisdom that is from above, godly wisdom, first is first pure. than peaceable. It's not about getting your way, it's about being a peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers. Matthew chapter five, Sermon on the Mount. He says, gentle and easy to be entreated, easy to be approached. You have a problem, are you easy to be approached? You can get your hackles up. You're gonna be vengeful. Gotta have your way. It says, be entreated full of mercy. In other words, sometimes it's not a matter of getting your just desserts, it's about extending mercy. That means giving undeserved kindness to someone. Wow. Let that sink in. Aren't you glad that we have a merciful God? You need to sit down and read Matthew 18 sometime. And it says here, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Praise God. So we see here number three, chapter three, prayer brings wisdom that emanates from the inner man. It's what's in a man that comes out of a man. Some of you, oh, I didn't mean to say that. Oh yeah, you did. You said it. Oh, I spoke in haste. Yes. Now you have something to take to the throne of grace about. Get that right. Amen. Chapter three, I believe is saturated in the, even though the main, topic here, it's a treatise on the subject of the tongue. It really shows the importance of prayer in the believer's life because it's something that a man cannot tame. Look at verse 5, even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth, and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell." Wow. He says, verse 10, out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren. So this is a problem we all face. You know, I do, you do. He says, My brethren, these things ought not so to be. So we all have a place to work, right? Running our mouth, using our mouth right. And we could go on for that. But chapter four, chapter four, I must hasten. Chapter four, I believe, I say this selfish praying brings continual conflict instead of peace and direction. I know it's a bit wordy. Selfish praying brings continual conflict instead of peace and direction. Because God doesn't answer selfish praying. And so we go on in our conflicts. and our problems and our frustrations and our anxieties. And here in chapter four, it says, from whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your what? Lusts that war in your members. You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. Look at this, we're repulsed by this. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? He's talking about spiritual adultery. He's talking about being an adulteress and an adulterer. That's man and woman. Spiritual adulterers. Pretty serious stuff. Pretty serious stuff. He says here, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Thank God for his grace. Wherefore, he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. First eight verses of scripture there. I mentioned the verse 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 31. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. In other words, when we think about this passage of Scripture being a prayer passage and asking a miss, we have to answer the question, why do we pray? What are we praying for? Do we come with our shopping list and say, God, I want this, I want this, I want this, I'll take a little of this, a little of that. God, if you'll do this, I'll do this and so on and so forth. Or you just come before him and say, God, I'm yours. What do you want from me? Before I start thinking and saying the things that I feel like I need, but I want to defer to you, because you truly know what I need. What are you asking for and why are you asking it? And the Bible has the answer in verses six to eight. I'm just gonna run through this list and give you food for thought. Number one, you need to humble yourself. Humility means to make yourself low. And when we come before the throne of grace, we ought to be very low, not think so highly of ourself. As Psalm 8 says, what is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. I mean, we are so far down. and we need to recognize our place. God, you are so good and you are so kind to even invite me in your presence. You remember Esther when she was gonna go in to see the king? She told the servants that went to tell Mordecai, you know, if he doesn't extend the scepter, I'm a dead woman. But I'm gonna do it. You fast for me. You tell those around you to fast for me. In essence, she was saying, fast and pray for me. Because she had to get permission. Folks, because you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you're told to come boldly before the throne of grace. God the Father is always, he always has his door open to you. His scepter, so to speak, is always extended. you can come." Isn't that good? What a blessing that is. He extends that to each and every one, but we need to humble ourself. We need to submit ourselves to him. Submission means what? To let him have his way. If I'm walking a certain way, somebody comes along, I let them go. I defer to them. Someone wants something and I want something, what do I do? I want what they want. You go ahead. It's not about my will, as Jesus even said in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not my will, but thy will be done. If it's possible, let this cup pass for me. If there's any other way, God, that we can bring redemption to mankind instead of me being forsaken by you and taking on the sins of the world, here he is, a perfect individual, pure. And he's gonna become sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What a powerful truth. What a powerful truth. We need to submit to him, resist the devil. What does it mean to resist? That means push against him. Have you ever stood on the one side of the door and the other, and somebody's pushing on that? That's resistance. We're to resist the devil. The devil's gonna come and try to ruin your testimony. You say, but I'm going to heaven. That's right, but you know what? You're to be a testimony to the world. of God's amazing grace. And he saves a wretched sinner like me and like you. And as we live out the Christian life, people say, wow, Christ makes a difference in people's lives. For if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Resist the devil. Say, devil, leave me alone. I plead the blood of Christ. I asked for a hedge of protection. Leave me alone. I'm serving God. Do what Jesus did in Matthew chapter four, Luke chapter four, when the devil tempted him in the desert. What did he do? He quoted scripture. Oh, take these stones and make bread. You're hungry. You've been 40 days and 40 nights. Body's crying out for food, oh, you can have some food. Jesus said, no, no, no, you're not to tempt me like this. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Your spiritual life is much more important than any physical fulfillment you can get from this life. Resist the devil. And I say this, get close to God. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Just go before the throne of grace and say, God, I want a makeover. I want a makeover. I want to be righteous. I want to be right. I want to grow in grace. I want to be molded according to your will in my life. Get close to God. And I say, get clean inside and get clean outside. Don't excuse your outside. Get clean inside and let the outside mirror what's on the inside. Amen. Look quickly, let's look at chapter five. I wanna read verses 14 to 18. And this is the healing passage. And I say this, as I think of prayer and how it permeates these five chapters, how it permeates this book, I say, prayer changes earthly circumstances. Prayer changes earthly circumstances. We see this in chapter five and verse 14. There's any sick among you. Let him call for the elders of the church. Preachers aren't to run around saying, let me heal you, let me heal you, let me heal you. If there's a faith healer out there, why doesn't he go to the hospital? He says here, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Verse 15, and the prayer of faith, that means that you have no doubt beyond any doubt whatsoever. You have no doubt that he is able to meet this need to bring healing to you. And the prayer faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And you know, we read that, we stop at verse 16 and we go, wow, what's he mean by all that? And what a great God we have. He answers us. He illustrates it. With an Old Testament, remember, for every New Testament principle, He gives an Old Testament illustration. What a great God we have. He's not gonna leave us hanging. He's not gonna leave the Christian life up to guesswork. You try to figure it out. It's not like a mouse trying to go through and find the cheese in the middle of the thing. He says this, Elias, that's Elijah. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. Just like us. Just like us. And he prayed earnestly. He was serious about it. None of this just bow your head, pray for the food, and then look up at the same time kind of stuff. earnestly that it might not rain. He's serious about it. How serious are you about your needs? He says, 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. Three years and six months it didn't rain. But then he prayed again. And the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. I always say this when I read this passage of scripture. I would say, isn't it amazing that God, he was still answering Elijah's prayer three and a half years later. Wow, isn't that tremendous? And he goes on to say here, brethren, he says, and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. What's he talking about there? He's talking about how that you can be involved in helping someone be reclaimed to a position of being right with God. Just because we sort of get our minds wrapped around, convert means to be saved. No, convert means to change. Amen. So we see here that prayer changes earthly circumstances. And I look here, I said the power of healing prayer in verses 14 to 18. And then I made reference already to Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, those first 10 verses of scripture. And I say the power of sustaining prayer. And that is even if God chooses not to bring the healing, we find that, hey, that's where you can glory in that particular aspect of your sickness, illness, or earthly circumstance. And that doesn't necessarily mean that your circumstances changed, but your outlook concerning your circumstances has changed. When Brenda had that lung resection done in about 1982, We went before the preacher on that Sunday night, and that preacher anointed Brenda with oil. And you know what? She wasn't healed. The next day, she went into the hospital in Chicago, and there was a five-hour surgery where they took the upper lobe of her right lung out. It didn't change our earthly circumstance, but the outlook was changed because we knew that God was doing something. We didn't know all that God would do, but we trusted him. And that set and brought peace to our lives. Prayer will do that, even in the most grieving circumstances, even in the heartaches of life, even in the worries and concerns of life. As you give them over to God in prayer, He will minister to your spirit. He will minister to your heart. He will meet that need. He will give you exactly what you need to take the next step, to do the next thing, and you can rejoice in what He's doing. Prayer. James, living a life of prayer. And that's available for all of us. You say you have faith. You say you have faith. Faith without works is dead. We have a God that can be trusted for more than just the saving of your eternal soul. If He can save your eternal soul, He can take care of anything that goes on in this life. We have a great God. We started this service, count your blessings. Name them one by one, and it will surprise you to see what God has done. What a great God. Let's all stand with our heads bowed, our eyes closed, please. Thank God for His Word. He knows exactly what we need. Thank God for the Bible. Where would we be as New Testament believers without the Word of God? We are a privileged people. It's time for invitation, and we give an invitation, and what we seek to do at the invitation time is give you an opportunity to continue to allow God to work in your mind and heart of how He's spoken to you. So maybe you're here tonight, you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. That's the first decision you need to make, and it's the most important decision you'll ever make in your life, is to trust Christ. Don't reject Him. Don't put Him off. Christian, is your life saturated with prayer? What I mean by that is you walk day by day. You might be involved in working with your hands. Maybe you're engaged in a lot of mental work and you wonder, how could I really put this into practice? It's that awareness that you're in the presence of God and God is in your presence. And as you do your work and he's guiding you and leading you and your thoughts are on him as well as your work. And you know that he's guiding you because you've submitted yourself for that day as Paul gave himself day by day by day.