Welcome to the new edition of the Weekend Sermon. I am happy to be able to post the message this week, and I am thankful for this opportunity that the Lord has given me. I hope and pray that you are all doing well and staying healthy.
In today's passage from the book of James, we see three directives from James to those who are believers in the Lord Jesus. First of all, James tells us that if we are experiencing troubles, we need to pray about them. I don't know about you, but I have a lot of problems that I face as I try to make it through this life. I know that there are people that are a lot worse off than I am, but everyone faces trials, troubles and tribulations as they try to make through life.
When we are going through difficult circumstances in this life, our first recourse should be prayer. We should go to the Lord and ask Him to help us and deliver us in our times of adversity and problems. We need to keep this in mind, we serve the King of the Universe. He is the one who created and sustains the entire universe. The Lord certainly has the power to help us in our time of need. And, He wants to help us no matter how big or small the problem is. We are told in I Peter to cast all our cares upon the Lord because He cares about us.
I saw a sign in front of church once that read, "Prayer is not a last resort." We should take that to heart. Always take it all to God in prayer.
Our next directive from James tells us that if we are happy, we should sing songs of praise. As believers in Jesus, we can always be happy and rejoice that our sins are forgiven. There are other times in life when good things happen, and we are really happy about them. At these times, we can sing a song of praise to the Lord for the good things that He has brought into our lives.
When we are in church, we sing songs of praise because we are rejoicing in all of the blessings that the Lord Jesus has given us. No matter what the circumstances that we are facing, praising the Lord in song will help us to make it through. There was a song that I heard once that said, "Nothing improves my day like praising the Lord". How true that is.
Finally, we move to James' third directive. He tells us that if someone is sick, they should call for the elders of the church to come and anoint them with oil. If the person has sinned in some way, they should confess and ask forgiveness. The elders should pray for the sick person so that the sick person might recover from his or her illness.
Many churches practice anointing of oil for the sick. It is entirely Scriptural as we can see here in James. I believe that we should make it a habit in our church services to always pray for the healing of the sick. This passage in James relates a specific anointing. It can take place in church, at home, or in a health care facility.
Unfortunately, some churches have forsaken the practice of anointing the sick. When my Grandpa was sick, my Grandma asked the pastor and leaders to come and anoint him with oil and pray. They said that would not do that because it was, according to them, "too Pentecostal". That is very sad.
The Lord has called us to pray for the sick. I know that the Lord healed me of vitiligo, and I am thankful for it. When we are sick let us pray for one another that we might be healed.
We have these directives from the Lord. Let us practice them for His honor and glory. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please pray that I will get to feeling better. Also, please pray that I can figure out what to do about my car.
Please continue to pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Pray that people will do what is right and get vaccinated. Pray that the sick will recover.
Pray for peace in the trouble areas of the world. Afghanistan is at the forefront of my mind. Let us also pray for peace in Yemen, Syria, Libya and Chad.
There are terrible fires in the US and Greece. Pray that these will be extinguished.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those who live in the nations of Turkey and Sierra Leone. Pray that many will come to know Jesus.
Next week, we will continue our study in the book of James. We are just about to wrap James up. I will post the verses on Monday, and I hope to have a review on Wednesday. I did not post anything midweek this week. I've been dealing with a lot of different things. Please pray for me. May God bless you all. Amen.
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