- 4 weeks ago
The Common Sense Bible Study crew wrap up our study of James with an in-depth discussion on James 5:13-20, focusing on the themes of prayer, faith, and healing. We explore the relevance of music, singing, and relationships to healing and overall wellbeing.
From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.
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From Jay Carper at Common Sense Bible Study (https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com) and American Torah (https://www.AmericanTorah.com).
This content is free, but I accept contributions via Paypal at https://jaycarper.com/paypal.
Follow me on X: https://jaycarper.com/twitter
Follow me on Facebook: https://jaycarper.com/fbat
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00:00:00i've always been curious about this part of james because i don't i don't think we see enough of
00:00:07this in the body and i don't know why honestly you know signs and wonders like jesus said
00:00:15greater than these you will do i know the cessationist camp says well no that was just
00:00:20for the apostles it's all been done away with but i don't know that i agree with that yeah i know
00:00:27that i i don't agree with that i think that there are a lot of groups of of christians who take it
00:00:33you know the signs and wonders way too far yeah definitely but i don't see anything in scripture
00:00:40that would justify believing that they've stopped i can understand where people get there just from
00:00:45personal experience i haven't seen any miracles so they must not exist but that's both biblically
00:00:52analogically not sound right all right so i'm going to be reading from the net version this time
00:01:01and i don't think i've read from that one before so we're doing james 5 verses 13 to 20
00:01:09and i put some other passages on the screen that have a lot of correlation with this passage
00:01:15the leviticus 14 passage i think that that one is especially interesting and it answers some of
00:01:22the questions i actually have about some of the things that james says i'll read through it in the
00:01:27new english translation net follow along in whatever translation you've got and as we're reading
00:01:34pay attention to significant words and phrases any major ideas that he's that he's talking about
00:01:43and we'll talk about those before we go on to the detailed study
00:01:47is anyone among you suffering he should pray is anyone in good spirits he should sing praises
00:01:53is anyone among you ill he should summon the elders of the church and they should pray for him and
00:01:58anoint him with oil in the name of the lord and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick
00:02:03and the lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven so confess your sins to
00:02:09one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed the prayer of a righteous person has
00:02:14great effectiveness elijah was a human being like us and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain
00:02:19and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months then he prayed again in the sky gave
00:02:24rain and the land sprouted with a harvest my brothers and sisters if anyone among you wanders from the
00:02:30truth and someone turns him back he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering
00:02:35path will save that person's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins
00:02:40okay so as we're reading through that
00:02:45what major topics
00:02:49words phrases do you remember hearing
00:02:55where they stood out to you confess confess and pray
00:02:59confess and pray obviously there's healing and sick what else is going on in here there seems to
00:03:09be a lot of imperatives um if you're sick then you do this if you're if you're happy then you sing
00:03:18praises it just there seems to be you know a lot of encouragement but also a lot of to-dos
00:03:25things that are on our part that we have to do and guidelines that we have to follow
00:03:30yeah for when we get in the ditch pray earnestly praying for one another
00:03:37uh several things here about relationships you know living as part of a community
00:03:44going astray from the truth turning your brother back
00:03:48correcting a brother yeah rebuking yeah rebuking so is with verse 17 be um
00:04:02something i could use to pray for the weather you can certainly try
00:04:09i i have heard stories of people who have prayed for weather changes and the weather changed
00:04:15outside of just the bible all right so yeah elijah is in there
00:04:21it's always good to pull out the significant people mentioned too
00:04:25okay so what do you think i mean we've already talked about it so this is kind of a gimme but
00:04:32what is the main topic here what is james really talking about
00:04:35how to live out your faith yeah but in a specific context
00:04:41within in the how your faith and the living out of your faith impacts your physical health
00:04:49prayer yeah and yeah and how it affects the efficacy of your prayers so let's let's take a look at this
00:04:59each verse here or sets of verses verses 13 and 14 they kind of go together is anyone among you
00:05:08suffering he should pray is anyone in good spirits he should sing praises is anyone among you ill he
00:05:13should summon the elders of the church and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the
00:05:17name of the lord all right so let's take it from the top is anyone among you suffering
00:05:23one thing i think that's worth pointing out there is that the word for suffering
00:05:28the greek there it's not a single word it's actually talking about anything evil so in english we think
00:05:37when we read this overall passage we think oh this is talking about illness
00:05:41it is but the specific word that james starts with isn't illness is anyone among you sick he doesn't
00:05:49say that is anyone among you suffering is there something bad happening to you and the specific
00:05:55word is about evil is anyone suffering evil and that's another one that we tend to get a little
00:06:02confused about in english we think evil means satanic or wicked but that's not really how the word evil
00:06:09is used in scripture evil refers to anything that's bad or unpleasant god sends evil on people
00:06:16in that context it's talking about uh weather events you know storms hail plagues war all all these
00:06:25kinds of things that aren't necessarily wicked or evil in the way that we normally think of it like
00:06:31associated with demons and monsters there's just bad for the person who's suffering it so anything
00:06:37that causes you suffering is evil in this context so i mean the esb and net these these translations
00:06:45they're not getting it wrong by saying is anyone among you suffering because if they said is anyone
00:06:51among you suffering evil well a lot of people are going to get the wrong impression from what is being said
00:06:56because it's not talking about is someone doing harm to you or somebody cursing you or something like
00:07:03that that's not really what he's saying is are you just suffering something bad could be an illness
00:07:08could be financial troubles could be it really could be curses or or evil people attacking you
00:07:15all of those things would qualify so this james's instructions here aren't just limited to physical
00:07:22illness that's the main topic that's the context in which he's talking about it but it's not just that
00:07:28anything where you are that is causing you suffering you can pray to god for relief from that
00:07:36so he divides this up he says if anyone is among you suffering he should pray if anyone is in good
00:07:42spirits essentially means happy joyful feeling good he should sing praises does that mean that if anyone
00:07:49is suffering they should not sing praises and if anyone is in good spirits they shouldn't pray
00:07:54why do you think james is splitting it up that way is it just showing contrasting not necessarily a
00:08:03command but just a contrast you know i look at the very first sentence like you said in my translation
00:08:08it says is any one of you suffering evil um and then the very next sentence is anyone in good spirit so
00:08:14it's like bad spirit good spirit you know is just showing the contrast not necessarily a command
00:08:21this is what you have to do yeah i think that's accurate he's handling the circumstances
00:08:27you know we're our response is supposed to be according to the circumstance at hand
00:08:33there's instruction and suffering and then also like he said in the contrast how we're to behave in good
00:08:41spirits as well we're to give thanks and all things yeah and i don't i don't think he's not
00:08:47meaning to limit this to say if you are enduring some kind of evil then the only thing that you should
00:08:54do is pray and if you are happy the only thing you should do is saying you shouldn't pray he's not
00:08:59trying to say that it is what alan is saying where there's a contrast and this is something that's
00:09:05called a merism in literature where merism kind of sounds like mirror and that's sort of the idea
00:09:13where you're presenting two opposite extremes and it's meant to include everything in the middle
00:09:18so this is a parallelism with a merism built in the parallelism is anyone suffering you should pray
00:09:27if anyone is in good spirits you should sing praises but each one of the the points in this
00:09:34parallelism is also a merism anyone suffering anyone in good spirits you should pray you should sing
00:09:40so our immediate reaction to suffering is to cry out to god said god save me from this
00:09:48if we think about the hebrews in egypt and you know god heard their cries
00:09:54and god heard the cries of the oppressed from sodom and gomorrah and these are prayers and god
00:10:02responded to that but singing is also a valuable thing when you're suffering evil the singing itself
00:10:10is not necessarily prayer although it can be you can certainly sing your prayers david did it often
00:10:16enough but the singing has other effects that can help improve your situation so the prayer is the
00:10:23effective thing that calls on god the singing is something that can help you at the moment and on the
00:10:29other side and the other side of this merism a merism is meant to include everything in between but on
00:10:35the other side when you're good spirits your instinct is to sing to whistle um you know anything that
00:10:42you know the happiness just comes out of you it everybody expresses this a little bit differently
00:10:48some people will talk tell jokes some people sing uh some people will dance just instinctively
00:10:54but it's this outward expression but the thing that you're that james is encouraging you to do
00:11:02is to offer praises to god for your good circumstances and in both cases this is a communication to god
00:11:09about what's happening with you god knows what's going on with you you don't have to tell him for him
00:11:15to know but for whatever reason god wants us to tell him anyways he wants us to tell him when bad things
00:11:21are happening and he wants us to ask for help and he wants us to tell him when good things are
00:11:26happening and he wants us to credit him for those good things but that also makes me think of what
00:11:34paul said about you know i can do all things through christ who strengthens me and the context of that is
00:11:40suffering that he can rejoice in the worst circumstances and in the best because it all ultimately it is
00:11:50it all either comes from god or is being used by god to move things in a better direction for those
00:11:56who are faithful so we can't praise him in our suffering even though we don't feel like it at the
00:12:02time because we can praise him for knowing the end result whatever we're going through now god can use
00:12:09it to make us stronger to improve our circumstance circumstances to bless somebody else somehow there is
00:12:16going to be a good end result from our suffering i would like to add that it's through our suffering
00:12:24that we really get to know him we don't necessarily get to know him always in the good times but when we
00:12:31go down through those valleys where we feel like it's hopeless i think that's when he really begins to
00:12:38reveal his ways to us and we don't necessarily know a system any longer as much as knowing him
00:12:46i think that's a good point can you expand on that a little bit maybe give some examples
00:12:52like paul said you know to live as christ to die is gain and to know him the power of his resurrection
00:13:02and the fellowship of his suffering that knowledge that paul had of the risen lord was through
00:13:09suffering and persecution and famine and hunger and nakedness and all the things that are listed
00:13:16in scripture that say will never separate us from the love of god but i think as believers we have to go
00:13:22through that and that's the real treasure that we gain in the suffering is the knowledge of him the true
00:13:29knowledge that peter were close to yeah the building of our faith in my own life anyway yeah having
00:13:37endured the suffering and come out the other side we learn to trust god more or even looking back on
00:13:46suffering and seeing that even through it all god is still providing a way or we wouldn't be there to
00:13:51look back on it and he seems to take a real clear form in the midst of the most horrendous suffering
00:13:58we just see him i we see him so clearly and we see things that we never saw before in his word and
00:14:07we hear his voice talking you know deep within our soul if we learn to just navigate and trust that
00:14:16and i think the way that we learn that is through suffering and some of the hardest things we go through
00:14:21mm-hmm yeah and we learn perspective yes one of the things that you that atheists are always
00:14:31complaining about is if god is an all loving god then why do people suffer i mean there are some really
00:14:39terrible things that happen in the world and how can you be good how can you be both all powerful
00:14:44and good and still allow these terrible things to happen but how would we how do we even know that
00:14:51those things are terrible we only know they're terrible because we also experience really good
00:14:56things to contrast them with and for all we know there are much worse things that we could be suffering
00:15:02and god has spared us from those things and instead he allows these lesser evils to happen to us
00:15:08so that we can learn to appreciate the greater goods and i i know that sounds awful when you think of
00:15:14some of the terrible things that people suffer but well i i heard someone say at one time that he allows
00:15:22what he hates to accomplish what he loves and i think that perfectly puts it because yeah we don't
00:15:30understand his ways i mean isaiah even says you know my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not
00:15:37your thoughts but that kind of puts it in a perspective for me that he he is accomplishing
00:15:45like romans 8 28 says he is working out all things for my good to those who love him and who are called
00:15:51he does allow what he hates to accomplish what he loves i just think that sums it up beautifully
00:15:58yeah i mean you can look at the most famous bit of suffering in history
00:16:02we wouldn't have salvation if it weren't for yeshua's suffering if he didn't allow the jewish
00:16:09religious leadership and the romans to collude
00:16:11to torture and execute him we wouldn't have the opportunity to pray for healing
00:16:17and the opportunity to pray for forgiveness of our sins
00:16:20that would be pointless but because of his suffering
00:16:24we can be healed
00:16:25yeah there there are all kinds of ways that that god can use suffering to to work good he can further
00:16:32his plan of redemption in the world reveal his character through the rescue and the way that he
00:16:40provides for people who are oppressed he can mold character he can create nations through a process of
00:16:49suffering the hebrews were transformed into into the nation that he needed them to be
00:16:56by being enslaved in egypt and then suffering those 40 years in the wilderness without that they wouldn't
00:17:02be who god needed them to be to move into the promised land so there's always a reason for it and
00:17:09i don't think that god ordains every bad thing that happens he's not out up there saying i'm gonna make
00:17:16this person suffer in this way and and you know send all these bad things happen to this other person
00:17:21but he is there knowing what's happening and working behind the scenes to make sure that if we trust in
00:17:29him and if we are faithful to him he will make sure that those bad things that do happen work to the
00:17:36better of his entire kingdom including us sometimes we don't see that as individuals we might see you know
00:17:44bad things that happen to to me might god might allow that so that somebody else in my life
00:17:51will experience something that they wouldn't have experienced if i didn't have this bad thing happen
00:17:56or uh it's going to give me an experience that then i can use later on to help other people who suffer
00:18:03through these things same things and if god didn't allow anybody to hurt anybody there'd be no choice
00:18:11what is the meaning of good if nobody can choose to do good so we have to have the opportunity to
00:18:17choose to do bad it's there yeah we could probably go on all night just about the philosophy of evil
00:18:24but yeah all right so the couple of things here that i didn't want to talk about briefly i mean
00:18:35we could probably talk for weeks in just this one passage but some things about music i actually
00:18:43listened to a conversation from alan butler talking about this topic and how music can affect people
00:18:51and so i you know i did a little bit of research on the side also but just listening to music can have
00:18:58a profound effect on your state of mind and your physical well-being and even though james specifies
00:19:04sing praises if you're in good spirits because that's our instinct to to sing when we're happy
00:19:09i would also encourage you to sing when you're not happy when you're suffering listen to music and sing
00:19:15because music can it can lower your heart rate your blood pressure it can it can motivate you
00:19:25yeah calm your nervous system it can actually hasten the healing from injuries so if you've had an injury
00:19:33or a surgery or something listening to music can help you heal faster probably because of all these
00:19:40other effects that it has on your nervous system you know if it calms everything down well then your
00:19:44body can focus more of its energy on actually healing instead of trying to calm itself down everywhere else
00:19:50and that in turn can reduce your pain so music can induce a sort of meditative state it's
00:19:58it's almost the same or better in some cases for some people than meditating for pain relief i don't do
00:20:08i haven't studied a lot of meditation so i don't really understand it all but i do understand that there are
00:20:13some forms of meditation that you can do that will pretty much stop your body from either perceiving or
00:20:21responding to pain so that you know even if those pain signals are still being activated you're not feeling
00:20:28so that then you can concentrate on other things and your body can calm down and you can heal but music can do
00:20:34the same thing just listening to music when you are in physical pain or injured can help you heal faster
00:20:42and then if you sing it's even better because singing can it can boost your immune system it can improve
00:20:49your sleep reduce stress and it can also relieve pain you know improving your respiratory health help you
00:20:56with your breathing and make your lungs stronger just the effects of music are systemic and obviously
00:21:04different kinds of music are going to have a different effect but one of the things that i didn't expect
00:21:09that i read was that fast tempo music hard rock or you know whatever kind of fast tempo music you like
00:21:16to listen to in the immediate it can increase your heart rate your blood pressure but as the music
00:21:25progresses your blood pressure and your heart rate come back down and when the music's over your body
00:21:31has an all-over relaxing kind of thing i don't paula probably understands the terminology here
00:21:39better than i do come over here it's all but it's like it's the stress response and then um the
00:21:48adaptation so the adaptation allows it to come down yeah so you listen to something really exciting for a
00:21:56few minutes and then go to something calmer in the calm music has an even more profound effect than it
00:22:02would have if you had not started with the more rousing tunes i have an example of that if you want to
00:22:11hear after our motorcycle wreck when we were in therapy for the traumatic brain injury patients
00:22:19that were in tier the therapy program that we were in they would literally when they have them up
00:22:25walking or doing anything and i mean saying like taking one or two steps literally someone behind
00:22:32them with a guitar was playing music while they were learning how to walk again yeah and we saw a lot of
00:22:41success with that they used music and then they also used dogs that would come and get in the bed with
00:22:49you know with the therapy patient and snuggle with them and let the therapy patient rub on them and
00:22:56pet them and live on them and stuff and they really had incredible results from music and animals for
00:23:04traumatic brain injury patients yeah i can believe that those are all important things that james is
00:23:11getting to in this passage not the animals necessarily but connection connection with other people is what
00:23:17he's talking about but animals serve the same function in some ways they're better at it than people
00:23:22because i mean you can scratch the ears of a dog and pet a dog there's not many people who will let you do
00:23:29that it's not going to have the same effect um but yeah i did i do remember reading about especially
00:23:36people with with brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases that listening to music can help you know help
00:23:46their bodies regain balance and motor function people with uh alzheimer's conditions like that
00:23:54they can actually help them sustain memory i mean you're not going to gain a whole lot once you're
00:23:59going down that route there's not a whole lot you can do to go to reverse it but you can help slow it
00:24:06down and for some conditions you can actually help people recover memory through music yeah well not to
00:24:13mention that singing praises is pleasing to god yeah so well we see that we see that with david that
00:24:21dichotomy like he was this massive warrior but then he would also be on the rocks playing his harp and
00:24:27singing to god um and just pouring his heart out to the lord and then he would go care from people then
00:24:34he'd go back to his heart you know and we know the music we know the music therapy that
00:24:40had an effect on saul david would come into the house of the king and play when the evil spirit
00:24:47from the lord would come against saul and he would be relieved in that music yep that's true i actually
00:24:55had a couple of references from the psalms here psalm 69 30 i will sing praises to god's name i will
00:25:02magnify him as i give him thanks that will please yahweh more than an ox or a bull with horns and hooves
00:25:08so david is saying that singing praises to god is more pleasing to god than taking a burnt offering
00:25:17and the burnt offering thing is probably is a little foreign to us today since none of us have
00:25:24really been in a culture that did that and we're 2 000 years removed from it in the hebrew culture
00:25:30but that was the main point of a burnt offering was it was worship but god wants our praises more
00:25:38than he wants our sacrifices what was the other one there was another psalm i had written down 147
00:25:4611 this one is i don't know if this is david's or not i think it is yahweh takes delight in his faithful
00:25:56followers and in those who wait for his loyal love extol yahweh o jerusalem praise your god o zion
00:26:02for he makes the bars of your gates strong he blesses your children within you
00:26:07and there's there's a bunch of other stuff that god does for us but you know the thing is that
00:26:14we're not only told that god loves to hear praises but we're instructed to give praises
00:26:21in hebrews uh hebrews 13 hebrews 13 15 and 16 through him then let us continually offer up a
00:26:31sacrifice of praise to god that is the fruit of our lips acknowledging his name it's really just verse
00:26:3615 and there are lots of other places especially in the psalms where we're told to give praises to god
00:26:43so the the form that those praises usually take at least in scripture is in song you know all of
00:26:54the psalms are of course meant to be sung and there there are songs recorded in the historic books even
00:26:59in torah and in the book of revelation it's god loves to hear us singing and it's good for us it
00:27:07encourages healing prayer was the other one here says if anyone among you is suffering let him play
00:27:14and so completely apart from divine intervention prayer by itself has positive health effects
00:27:24if you're praying can lower your stress it can improve your mood your overall sense of well-being
00:27:30it's very again it's like music it's very similar to meditation where just spending some time praying
00:27:39to god can help you feel better and feeling better can actually help make you better the prayers of other
00:27:46people can have some of the same effects on you but only if you know about it if other people are
00:27:53praying for you god hears that but you don't so in some cases it's actually i mean i know i feel a
00:28:00little weird about telling people all the time hey i'm praying for you but it really is encouraging
00:28:04there's probably a downside to that one of the things that my mom told me i mean i know you're
00:28:11all you're all aware that my mom passed away last month but one of the things that she expressed was
00:28:16that her entire church was praying for her all the time and they were always telling her that you
00:28:22know when she walked in the door telling her you know we're praying for you we're we know you're
00:28:25going to heal we know you're going to get better and so she just felt like there was so much pressure
00:28:31on her that if she didn't heal was she letting everybody else down and so there can be a downside
00:28:39to that so you know i would exercise a little bit of caution in how exuberant you are at telling
00:28:45somebody else that they're going to be healed unless god has told you that person is going to be
00:28:50healed pray for their healing and believe it but be careful in how you you express that to the other
00:28:57person because that might actually have a detrimental effect on their health group prayers you know
00:29:03praying with other people in a group uh what we might call a corporate prayer this has uh this can
00:29:09enhance social cohesion among the group we all feel like we're more of a group just even though we're
00:29:15not actually having a conversation with the other people it is strengthening those relationship ties
00:29:22in a very subtle emotional kind of way but those are just the physical effects of praying those aren't
00:29:29the miraculous effects but we know that god does answer prayer so the real question we have is why are
00:29:36some people healed and some people not or why are why is healing sometimes seem to be partial
00:29:42in my mom's case she was told a year and a half ago that she had six months to live
00:29:49and even if she did chemo that might give her another two or three months and she'd be miserable
00:29:53the whole time well she decided not to do the chemo she pretty much didn't do anything at all except
00:29:59eat what was a couple of uh apricot seeds every day for a year or so and she lived a year longer than
00:30:09they said she would and for the most of that time she was fully functional she did her work she could
00:30:16drive her car go to church sing in the choir uh it was only in the last few months where she really
00:30:21wasn't able to do anything there were there was maybe a month or two right in the middle where she
00:30:25had some some physical effects swelling things like that but it wasn't really what people were expecting
00:30:33and you know they gave her some diuretics you know did some exercises and stuff and that cleared up
00:30:38for months she seemed to be fine this was kind of a partial miracle not just kind of this was a miracle
00:30:45that she was not only able to live a year longer than they told her but she her quality of life was
00:30:52way better than anybody had a right to expect all her doctors told her that she's going to be miserable
00:30:58lots of pain and suffering and she's going to be bedridden for almost the entire six months that
00:31:03she would be alive well she wasn't she was only bedridden for about the last month and even then
00:31:09she could get up and move around and talk to people a little bit still still worked a couple hours a day
00:31:14for most of that so even though she wasn't completely healed i mean she was 85 years old and we can't
00:31:22really expect to live forever in these bodies she did live longer and better when you say she got the
00:31:29ultimate healing yeah she did i mean she's she is going to be resurrected at the end and her body is
00:31:36going to be completely new so this is one of the one of the ultimate promises of healing that we have
00:31:43that there is no question if you are one of god's faithful you will be healed absolutely you might not
00:31:50be healed in this body we can't guarantee that but there are some things that we can do i mean i
00:32:00you've got to be careful with this we shouldn't treat god like he's a magic eight ball or um a slot
00:32:09machine you know you you can't say the magic words and expect god to perform you know he's like a trained
00:32:16seal maybe that's a better analogy he doesn't respond to our commands god does what he is going
00:32:22to do but he has said that if we do things within his will he is more likely to respond to that
00:32:31positively so for example if you believe that god heals and you believe it without doubt god is more
00:32:40likely to heal you i'm not saying that he's guaranteed to heal you because there may be another
00:32:45purpose he has in mind maybe your suffering is for a different purpose that you don't know about
00:32:49or maybe there are other things that are getting in the way of that healing but if you don't believe
00:32:55you are very unlikely to be sometimes it's not even really your belief take the uh the men who lowered
00:33:04the lame man through the roof that yeshua healed well it wasn't really that guy's faith that yeshua
00:33:11responded to it was his friend's faith and think of the lame man that peter and john healed outside
00:33:16the temple that guy wasn't asking for healing he wasn't expecting it they he asked for money and
00:33:23peter just reached down and said i don't have silver or gold but what i have i give to you be healed and
00:33:29he grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to his feet and he was healed so the belief is an important
00:33:36element in prayer for healing but whose belief and how much belief i'm not going to say that you know
00:33:45i certainly don't believe in the word of faith kind of movement where you know if you believe something
00:33:49is true then god's going to make it true and i don't believe in manifestation where if you just say
00:33:56it often enough and you believe it hard enough you can change the universe i don't think the universe
00:34:01works that way it all belongs to god god is the ultimate power not you and me god is not a trained
00:34:07seal to respond to us giving him the right commands or throwing him a fish god does what he is going to
00:34:15do according to his will but there's the next ingredient according to god's will and this was something
00:34:23that we talked about i think uh either at the beginning of this chapter or in the previous one i don't
00:34:27remember but james talks about it how if you don't get what you pray for i think this is back in chapter
00:34:33two actually you don't get what you pray for because you're praying amiss you're not praying in accordance
00:34:38with god's will stop praying selfishly stop praying for things that you shouldn't have pray for the things
00:34:45that god says you should have and pray in accordance with your mission peter was a fisherman and later he was
00:34:54a teacher and a prophet even if he had prayed to god saying you know make me the king of of judah so i
00:35:02can kick these romans out well it didn't matter how much faith peter had that's not in accordance
00:35:07with god's will for peter that wasn't his mission so pray for things that are in accordance with the
00:35:14mission that god has given you and that are in accordance with his law and his things that are
00:35:21appropriate you don't pray that you can have somebody else's wife or husband that's not
00:35:27appropriate either uh you don't pray for your own personal benefit better to pray for other people
00:35:32i mean obviously you do pray for your own personal benefit and healing and things like that i'm just
00:35:37saying you don't pray for your own enrichment abraham in abraham isaac and jacob were all
00:35:43fabulously wealthy but none of them prayed to god for wealth god gave that to them because it was
00:35:51part of his plan for their mission on this earth same thing with solomon in order to be king he had
00:35:56to have a lot of wealth at his disposal but he didn't ask for that he asked for wisdom to govern
00:36:01the people so god said okay i'll give you the wisdom to govern the people but you're going to need a lot
00:36:06of wealth to go along with it unfortunately solomon made some bad choices to go along with the wealth too
00:36:12but well there there leads into another important element for prayer and that is humility and faithfulness
00:36:22and obedience if you are refusing to to be obedient to god's commandments you are very unlikely to receive
00:36:30healing one obvious example would be namen the syrian general he came to israel because he had you know
00:36:40in a raid in northern israel he had captured some slaves and among those slaves was a young girl who
00:36:47said you've got leprosy and all this stuff you're doing up here isn't giving you healing but i know
00:36:53about this prophet back in israel he can tell you how to be healed and so he went to he went to israel
00:37:01and found elisha who told him go bathe in the jordan river and you know at first he wasn't going to do it
00:37:09but he humbled himself and he bathed in the jordan river and he was healed
00:37:12now he didn't know all of god's law but he he did what he knew he humbled himself he obeyed the prophet
00:37:20and then he tried to worship god the best he knew how within his limited pagan circumstances
00:37:26and god honored that so if we know what to do and we don't do it then we're living in sin
00:37:36and we're inhibiting our own healing we can pray all we want but if we have unrepented sin and we know
00:37:44about it we shouldn't be surprised if we don't get the healing we're asking for another one is
00:37:50relationships uh paul talks about how i think it was paul might be peter now that i think about it
00:37:56how if a husband and wife have if there is a problem in their relationship then their prayers
00:38:02could be hindered so i think he specifically said this about the husband where if he is abusing his
00:38:08authority over her then his prayers could be hindered and i think when paul talks about the covering
00:38:16when he talks about the wife's covering says you know that she's supposed to have her head covered
00:38:21when she prays and prophesies in public for the sake of the angels now there's all kinds of controversy
00:38:27in in different opinions about exactly what that meant my own personal opinion is that he was talking
00:38:33about the angels of god's throne room that if you look at the the ark of the covenant and the things
00:38:41that are around it there are two objects that go together in the holy of always the ark of the
00:38:46covenant and the altar of incense and the altar of incense is actually outside the veil of the holy
00:38:52of holies but once a year the high priest takes some coals from that altar puts them in a in a censer
00:38:58and brings them into the to the holy of holies where the smoke rises up between the teravim who are on top
00:39:06of the ark and the incense is supposed to represent the prayers of god's people so i take this to mean
00:39:15that those angels in god's throne room the caravim or seraphim or whatever they are
00:39:21that in some way they act as gatekeepers and so if you are in rebellion against the authority that god
00:39:29has placed above you then there are some gatekeepers who are going to say these are the proper channels
00:39:36you go this way not this way so if all of those relationships are in a godly alignment
00:39:42then your prayers are unhindered from you all the way to god it's not that you are praying through
00:39:48this other person that's not the point the point is that your relationships are in alignment and they
00:39:53are honoring god and if that is the case then your prayers are not going to be hindered by those
00:40:00gatekeepers now there's certainly some speculation there so i could be wrong about that but that's
00:40:07how i understand it take that with a grain of salt yeah so take it with a grain of salt i think there's
00:40:13a scripture witness to back that up i'm not sure if it's messiah's own direct words but he says that
00:40:19if you are bringing your gift to the altar and have something against your brother to leave your gift at
00:40:24the altar then go make it right with your brother and then come back and offer your gift yeah and that
00:40:29is exactly so that that's not related to authority relationships but it is related to relationships
00:40:34if your brother has something against you you have done something wrong your job is to go and repent of
00:40:41that and make it right with your brother and then come back to the altar because your being your wrong
00:40:47that you have done to your brother is unresolved and that's going to interfere with your prayers
00:40:52and in part that has to do with just unrepented sin but it those relationships are important
00:40:59one other major thing here is in verse 14 when he talks about summon the elders of the church
00:41:07this is this comes from the same thing about relationships you can't summon the elders of
00:41:13your church or your congregation or fellowship synagogue whatever label you put on it if you don't if
00:41:19you're not part of a congregation and if you're not part of a congregation who has elders that
00:41:25doesn't mean the elders have to wear robes or they have to be especially appointed to be elders they
00:41:30just have to be generally recognized as these are the spiritual elders in this congregation so
00:41:36we are told multiple times in scripture that we are supposed to meet with other people
00:41:43shabbat is a holy holy convocation which isn't just a reading out of scripture but a calling out a
00:41:51gathering together we're calling the people out to hear the scriptures read and to congregate in god's
00:41:57name each of the feast days are holy convocations and in hebrews the author talks about you know don't
00:42:06forsake the gathering of yourselves together we are required to gather together with other believers on a
00:42:12regular basis in today's world we have the uh the convenience of being able to choose who we're
00:42:19going to gather with if we don't like this group of people we can drive down the road to this other
00:42:24group of people that's not the way that it's supposed to be you are supposed to gather with the people in
00:42:29your town yeah obviously you can't just you have to do some picking and choosing i mean i'm not going to go
00:42:38down to the catholic church because there's a whole lot of stuff there that i think is a big problem
00:42:42and that's true with a lot of churches i'm going to look for a fellowship of torah keepers people who
00:42:49are keeping god's commandments and keeping the sabbath because if i don't there's going to be so much
00:42:54conflict it's not going to resolve these relationship requirements we need to be in relationship with god's
00:43:01people but we need to be in relationship with godly faithful people who are keeping his commandments
00:43:08and i would say that if the only fellowship you can find is a sunday church who doesn't recognize
00:43:15the sabbath but they are sincere in their worship of almighty then fellowship with them do the best you
00:43:23can with what you've got yeah all that to say that you that you shouldn't be picking and choosing
00:43:30based on the people you're most compatible with that was one of the big themes in this letter of
00:43:34james is that we are supposed to be fellowshipping with the people that god has placed us among
00:43:40and that means we're going to be rich and poor different races different backgrounds all trying
00:43:46to get along together and our love for one another is going to be part of our witness to the world around
00:43:51us and it's going to make us better people and those relationships are a big part of our healing
00:43:56you will be a healthier person if you have good relationships with other people
00:44:01and you'll have people who can pray for you you'll have those elders who can come and pray for you
00:44:06so we have belief what most people call faith the belief that god can heal and that he is going to
00:44:15heal you have humility faithfulness obedience faithfulness obedience humility all kind of the
00:44:21same thing you have unforgiveness of others relationships out of order or rather relationships
00:44:30in good order in order for your prayers to be effective your prayers need to be in alignment
00:44:35with god's will for you and in alignment with his commandments his standards of righteousness
00:44:39you need to be part of a community who can pray for you especially a community that has elders who can
00:44:47pray for you i forgot about persistence persistence and the emotional feeling behind your prayers are also
00:44:56important i got to admit that these two criteria kind of bug me a little bit i think if i ask god for
00:45:04something he's he knows that i asked for it he doesn't need me to tell him again but that's not really
00:45:11what scripture portrays it does portray persistent asking i think people misinterpret the uh the parable
00:45:19of the widow and the yeah the in the noisy neighbor who just pounds on his neighbor's door in the middle
00:45:25of the night looking for bread i think they misinterpret that god doesn't want us to nag him until he gives
00:45:31in but he does want us to be persistent and our prayers need to be heartfelt they need to be fervent
00:45:37this is something that comes very unnaturally to me i don't generally speak with a lot of emotion
00:45:44i don't have a lot of outward emotion in almost anything i do you know that besides the relationship
00:45:52problems that that can cause it feels very unnatural for me to pray fervently god please
00:46:01even just saying it right now i feel like that's just so fake and that's emotionally manipulative
00:46:10and you know people do that to me i'm more likely to tell them no but i'm not god
00:46:17paula says i have some baggage that's true i'm not god god wants us to be persistent and fervent in
00:46:26our prayers okay that was a really long spiel there does anybody else have any comments or thoughts
00:46:33on what james is saying about what's required for effective prayers for healing no self-reliance
00:46:40it's relying on the father yeah and even it's not in this one i think in the next on the next screen
00:46:50maybe there's the laying on of hands and the the anointing with oil and all of this stuff but that's
00:46:58not what heals it's the prayer that appeals to god and god responds by healing so all this stuff that
00:47:06we do it's what god wants us to do but none of that is actually the thing that heals it's god who heals
00:47:13anointing with oil that's something that's here that i haven't really mentioned yet this is where
00:47:19it connects back to leviticus 14 leviticus 14 contains the rules for the healing of a leper
00:47:26now the high priest or the priests they're not the ones who heal the leper they are the ones who
00:47:32certify the healing of the leper and this is the same thing with god your elders aren't the ones who
00:47:37heal you they pray for you they appeal to god on your behalf but it's god who heals
00:47:42but as part of the the ceremony to declare a leper healed the high priest takes some oil
00:47:50the leper brings two sacrifices i think they're actually more than two but two in particular one
00:47:57is a sin sacrifice and one is a guilt offering and you know the difference between those two is kind
00:48:03subtle and odd and they cover different kinds of sins we'll talk about that some other time maybe
00:48:08but the priest does one of does the guilt offering first and as part of that he has some oil and he
00:48:16sprinkles it on the off on the altar and then he takes the rest of it and he anoints the leper's
00:48:21right ear right thumb and right big toe and then he takes the remainder and puts it on his head
00:48:27and then he makes the sin offering and repeats this whole thing again so the leper is anointed
00:48:33with oil twice on his right ear right thumb right toe and on top of his head now you can't use the
00:48:43holy oil from the temple for just any old healing you can't use it for your own purposes you can't
00:48:49go and you know anoint anyone who's sick with his oil and pronounce them healed that's not what it's
00:48:56for that would actually be a sin but this is of the same type of thing and i don't think that
00:49:03they probably did not you know anoint the ear and thumb and toe and that kind of thing but oil on the
00:49:09head was pretty common but i think this is what they're emulating they're emulating the ceremony that
00:49:17declares a leper and whether the oil is supposed to represent something you know the anointing of the
00:49:22holy spirit maybe in the leper i'm pretty sure that it symbolizes the same thing as the blood
00:49:30on the ear thumb and toe of the priest when he's consecrated and it represents hearing the word of
00:49:36god doing the word of god and walking according to the ways of god i'm pretty confident that's what
00:49:42that's supposed to represent and in the healing of a sick person in our congregation it should represent
00:49:49the same thing if you're not hearing the word of god if you're not doing the word of god and walking
00:49:54according to god's ways i don't think you should have any expectation of being healed okay so back to
00:50:02you questions or comments you have to come over here and talk you said you don't think they should have
00:50:09any expectation of being healed if they're not doing those things but their healing doesn't
00:50:15necessarily depend on it it's just they're not entitled to it right right okay yeah i mean it's
00:50:20not a magic formula you can't say you can't go to god and said hey god i did this and i did this and
00:50:26i'm doing this so you got to heal me and you think about nam and he wasn't keeping god's commandments
00:50:32he kept them as well as he knew he was a he had never heard of the god of israel before
00:50:38he was worshiping idols all his life and even after he encountered yahweh he still went to the
00:50:45pagan temples with his emperor and said you know god please forgive me but when the emperor bows and
00:50:51i'm holding his arm i gotta bow with him he was still a general of syria but he tried to honor god
00:50:57the best he could under his circumstances and i think god honored that so if you know something to
00:51:02be a sin now you're responsible for it if you don't know you do the best you can and i think
00:51:08that god honors that and the closer you get the better your state you're going to be in
00:51:14to communicate with god and to appeal for that healing does all that make sense uh yes it does
00:51:22this is me joseph um i think it's your talk it's amazing talk um i believe that uh it all comes down
00:51:31to faith that's it plain and simple there's people who just they're not believers like you said but
00:51:40in naaman's circumstance what happened he had to turn around and have a realization
00:51:46and like what he said i gotta believe what he told me to do if he told me if he told me just to go
00:51:52to the other water i don't remember the story but you would have done it i mean it has to do with faith and
00:52:00you know i could say obedience too but i think it's just faith because like you were mentioning to
00:52:06them about the men who lowered that their friend down you know it was their faith and you know there's
00:52:15a there's a lot of different circumstances in healing there's a lot of times when yeshua was like
00:52:19hey your your faith has made you well you're not sin anymore i know the woman who was
00:52:26for 12 years she was bleeding all she was thinking in her head was if i could just touch
00:52:33the hem of his robe i will be healed yeah and he didn't even know he's like who did it who touched
00:52:39me and of course obviously the his disciples were shocked and saying look all these people are
00:52:45pressing against you what do you mean who touched you he's like no i felt the power leave me you know
00:52:50of course i'm paraphrasing it and you know how that works but and he turned around and says daughter
00:52:55your faith has made you well go in peace something like that i might be saying a little wrong but
00:53:01yeah well same with the centurion servant in the canaanite woman and her daughter i think it was
00:53:07yes it was that one too in all those cases that person we don't know anything about their state of
00:53:13of their behavior or their state of righteousness all we know is that they believed
00:53:18in yeshua and go ahead i was going to say is that we as human beings as those who like you
00:53:28mentioned earlier our minds are not as great as his or they're not you know according to scripture
00:53:33what he says about that but it's it's we don't understand what god's planning we don't understand
00:53:39what he has we may think we do what we think is evil is good in god's eyes you know we may think
00:53:45oh this isn't right this is evil why did i have to go with it's in god's eyes it brought him joy and
00:53:51made him made him probably it was a good thing you know i imagine you know um all the bad things that
00:53:58happened in our lives that we wouldn't have gone through we wouldn't be where we are now
00:54:01and i didn't purposely want to do bad things you know sometimes we're just human and we mess up
00:54:06but in the end you know god has an ultimate plan he knows and i don't know i just it's a beautiful
00:54:14i love god his word and everything and i don't think i'm ever gonna lose faith in him i'm always
00:54:19gonna love him i mean why how could somebody stray away from the faith it's it's so amazing no matter
00:54:25what i go through all the struggles all the pain all the suffering all my history or whoever's history
00:54:31it's you just know god and his word you you'll have a sense of understanding that whatever he says and
00:54:38does and it's we have no choice like we can't we we can't really i mean we can we can have we have a
00:54:44choice in what we do and say but not the turn the come out or the turnout or all that stuff it's like
00:54:52um remember when when david was fleeing his his kingdom because one of his sons was trying to take over
00:54:57and one of the guys somebody was cursing him and and david's i guess his his whatever his soldier
00:55:04said hey when we put him down pretty much when we kill him he goes no maybe this is god's doing
00:55:09i need this maybe i need to be cursed i need to be spoken bad to so sometimes we have to accept what
00:55:17comes to us and it's hard it's hard life isn't easy but sometimes we just have to accept it and
00:55:23and we need brothers and sisters like you in the community to encourage us because
00:55:29we're human our our mind is our is our worst enemy you know we'll start start thinking i'm not worthy
00:55:36why am i going through this what did i do and yeah we might have done something to cause this is always
00:55:41a cause and effect but in the end you just if you focus and keep your eye on on god on the prize like
00:55:48like as an object lesson i was telling my daughter today i was throwing a can
00:55:52and we're like a soda and i was like hey if you just keep an eye on it you'll catch it every time and
00:55:58so i threw it and she's always scared she's like i throw a can and she was like oh she covers i go
00:56:02how can you catch it if you cover your face you can't see it coming at you it's gonna hit you in
00:56:06the head but if you keep your eye on it at least you could dodge it or you can catch it so i was just
00:56:11tossing it softly and then i did i just keep eye on it you're not gonna know what i'm gonna do i'm
00:56:15just moving my hand around i just threw it real high and i just she kept her eye on it and she caught
00:56:19it and i'm like see nice and i go and i told her i said this goes in every aspect of life
00:56:24you keep your eye on the prize keep your eye on something that you really
00:56:28want you it's it's what christ says you seek and you shall find you know if you really seek
00:56:35earnestly with all your heart you will find it if you're gonna seek truth well be careful because
00:56:39you're gonna find truth yeah you might not like it yeah you might not like it so it's uh thank you
00:56:47man i appreciate it thanks for letting me talk uh yeah you did speak a lot but i enjoyed every piece
00:56:51of it thank you yeah well something you said about faith is it's important to remember that
00:56:58faith isn't just believing that something is true faith in yeshua faith in god is believing that god
00:57:05is true and not that he exists but that he is true to his word that he follows through it it
00:57:12every pretty much every sense you can think of the word faith in english it applies in the way that
00:57:18these words are used in scripture it means being faithful if you have faith in someone
00:57:24then you have faith that person is faithful that you are faithful to them you are you will stick with
00:57:31that person no matter what you know like like you're saying joseph that a lot of things are going
00:57:36to come and go but you're never going to lose your faith in god you will always believe in him
00:57:41not that he exists but that he is who he says he is and he will do what he says he'll do
00:57:46that's what faithfulness really boils down to we can check off all the boxes in torah and follow all the
00:57:54rules but if we don't really believe that god is who he says he is that he's going to respond the way
00:57:59he says he's going to respond what's the point that's not being faithful that's being faithful to
00:58:05ourselves in some way i guess i mean if you keep the commandments of god and you don't actually
00:58:10believe in god you're going to have a better life than if you didn't but it's not going to earn you
00:58:16anything in the long run not that you can really earn salvation but there are certainly benefits to
00:58:23keeping god's commandments and those benefits are much greater if you actually believe in the god who
00:58:27gave them on the aspect of faith sometimes the faith is you got to have the faith to stay sick
00:58:35or or to keep the problem whatever you've got the thorn in your flesh whatever you're going through
00:58:42you can pray and pray and pray for it to be removed and then if it doesn't what are you going to do
00:58:50are you going to persevere are you going to keep going are you going to give up
00:58:55amen amen to that of course persevere okay we've got several more verses to go through i mean this
00:59:04is our last session on james and i don't want to give it too short a shrift but i think we actually
00:59:10talked about a lot of the stuff in the rest of the chapter already but let's go ahead and take a look
00:59:15at him anyways 15 and 16 the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the lord will raise him
00:59:22up and if he has committed sins he will be forgiven so confess your sins to one another and pray for one
00:59:27another so that you may be healed the prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness
00:59:31okay a couple of misconceptions about this passage that i want to clear up
00:59:37the prayer of faith this is not talking about the word of faith where you just declare something to
00:59:42be true and you know god has to obey like he's a like you're making magical incantations this is
00:59:49a prayer from a place of faith you believe you are faithful and this is the the state that your prayer
00:59:58is coming to god from and then the lord will raise him up well maybe he'll heal him maybe he will
01:00:07give him you know that patient understanding that you were talking about monica where you can
01:00:12endure through whatever trial god has for you because you know that there is a greater purpose for it
01:00:17or maybe it refers to the final resurrection and i i think it's possible that james meant all of that
01:00:23just depending on who and you know what we're talking about because i don't think that james expected
01:00:29everybody who prayed to be healed no matter how righteous they were and you know i look at my mom
01:00:36you know she dedicated her entire life to serving god into helping people she chose the most unloved
01:00:44the most rejected people in society and dedicated her life to them i don't measure up to that i can't
01:00:51think of anybody who would measure up to that level of righteousness but you know she still died of
01:00:56cancer but you know like you were saying alan she will be resurrected eventually she will be raised up
01:01:04because god has promised uh in the next one here is confess your sins to one another
01:01:11i don't think this means stand up in front of the congregation and tell them everything you've done
01:01:17wrong i think this is talking about you know somebody helen or joseph somebody mentioned
01:01:23the passage where yeshua was telling them you know go to the one that has something against you
01:01:29make that right first then go back to the altar and make your sacrifice if you have done something
01:01:36wrong to somebody go to them tell them yes i know i did that wrong i'm sorry i'm repenting from that
01:01:43it doesn't mean get together in in a circle and take turns telling everybody you're dirt i don't think
01:01:53that's what's intended here this is about repentance saying i wronged you and i know it not going to do
01:02:00that again please forgive me that's the repentance going on here because it immediately follows this
01:02:08um or right before that it says if he has committed sins he will be forgiven the forgiveness comes with
01:02:15repentance okay so any comments or questions on these two verses no one of these here that that
01:02:24this last sentence the prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness and let me pull it up in a
01:02:30different translation i think the king james is what we're used to hearing on that one
01:02:35the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much that's one of those places where it talks
01:02:43about praying fervently and it seems like the translators are saying that the fervent part of
01:02:53it could be ambiguous that it's either referring to the prayer or to the power of the prayer so that's
01:03:01where the great part or the great effectiveness comes in there i think i always like to go to the
01:03:07super literal translations to get a better idea they're not perfect either but
01:03:11uh young's literal says very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man
01:03:16so saying uh working supplication so i think that is that probably is the word fervent that he's
01:03:23translating there but the example that we have all through scripture is that the emotional content of
01:03:32the prayer is a is an important part and the righteousness is important so just underscoring
01:03:38some of what we said already all right moving on to verses 17 17 and 18 elijah was a human being
01:03:47like us and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three
01:03:51years and six months and then he prayed again and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest
01:03:56so elijah who here thinks that elijah was just a person like them i cannot honestly put myself on the
01:04:07sand level as elijah me neither but what elijah really meant was that he's just immortal he wasn't
01:04:14a god he didn't have any powers of his own he was just he was a righteous man who prayed earnestly
01:04:19he was fervent in his prayers and like so many prophets they all seem to be very fervent people
01:04:25they were the prophets that are recorded in the old testament for the most part they weren't
01:04:32they weren't your average person they were you know dynamic forceful personalities and maybe that
01:04:40was just because of their proximity with god i don't know but elijah certainly prayed earnestly
01:04:47and he was a righteous man and god responded by giving him rain when he asked for it and no rain
01:04:54when he asked for it just as an anecdote you know a friend of mine tells a story of how
01:04:59he was i believe he was at his brother-in-law's house and there was a storm threatening and they
01:05:07were planning a cookout and a picnic or something and you know the family's plans were ruined and so
01:05:13he walks out on the back porch and he points up at the sky and he says rain be gone he walked back in
01:05:18the house and like 20 minutes later the clouds parted and they had sunshine for the rest of the day
01:05:23you know whether god responded to that prayer and made the rain stop or not i don't know but we know
01:05:30it happens god does respond in control the weather on our behalf if it aligns with his purposes i don't
01:05:40think we have a right to go outside and just start commanding the weather it's going to ruin my
01:05:45picnic god make it stop raining maybe if there is a specific purpose beyond your picnic that god has
01:05:52for it like maybe somebody witnesses this and it's going to change their life and they're going to become
01:05:57a great force for god but just so that you can have a nice picnic i doubt that god's going to give
01:06:02you that i don't think that's the kind of prayer that is in alignment with his will i could be wrong
01:06:08because i don't get to dictate his will to him any comments on these two verses no all right 19 and 20
01:06:18my brothers and sisters if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back
01:06:23he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person's
01:06:28soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins just like what we were talking about
01:06:34where sin in your life if you know that you're sinning and you're not doing anything about it
01:06:42that's going to hinder your prayers if you know that somebody else is sinning and not doing anything
01:06:48about it you can go to that person you you even depending on circumstances might have a responsibility
01:06:55to go to that person and say i know that you've got this problem in your life and you need to fix this
01:07:00that can be intimidating you may feel like you're going to ruin that relationship and you might
01:07:06that person might decide they don't want to be your friend anymore but you've done your responsibility
01:07:11you have that person's blood is not going to be on your hand their spiritual blood now if they're
01:07:18committing sins that might actually lead to their real physical death then their real blood is not
01:07:23going to be on your hands but if you know about it you don't do anything and something terrible
01:07:28happens to them because of that now it is on your hands i mean their their blood is on their own
01:07:33heads too they are guilty of their own sins but you share in that guilt because you didn't do anything
01:07:39about it when you knew you could and in this context mostly talking about health and healing
01:07:45so if somebody else is doing something that's causing them sickness you know some of the obvious
01:07:51examples would be sexual immorality somebody's sleeping around gonna they're gonna get you know stds or
01:07:57whatever you can warn them and say hey this is a bad idea and here's why don't do this and you could
01:08:05be saving them from a lot of trouble down the line but sins also have a tendency to to lead to other sins
01:08:12and by stopping this person from sinning in this one thing you could also be preventing them from
01:08:19sinning in all kinds of other ways or there may be other sins in their life that they're committing
01:08:23that you don't know about and calling them on this one convicts them of all the other ones
01:08:28and so even if it's something little you may be covering a multitude of sins in that person's life
01:08:36by calling them on one little one or one big one depending on what we're talking about
01:08:41and removing sins from from a person's life is going to make them healthier spiritually mentally
01:08:48physically just the way god made the universe to work so what do y'all think
01:08:54i think it's awesome i think that's all joseph has to say about that i think this is something that i
01:09:03need to be more intentional with is uh is sharing truth because it does lead to death and it isn't and
01:09:12it is vital and important that our brothers and sisters uh know uh what the truth is and and it's
01:09:18i'll tell you i may have really damaged some relationships with my brother uh very early on
01:09:25in this walk and the zeal that i was having with the truth that i was coming into um and just assumed
01:09:32that everybody wanted to know this truth um and it's it's not the case so i've i've had to really learn
01:09:39how and am learning how to be able to share this with people because you come off maybe holier than
01:09:47thou or very confrontational or you know a lot of times they just don't want to receive it
01:09:54yeah especially whenever you know i don't know how they may feel convicted of of walking in in certain
01:10:02um lies that maybe we had inherited for a long time you know but it's vital truth because it's it's
01:10:10it's our eternity that matters you know if i see my neighbor's house burning down on fire you know do
01:10:17i run over and go help them get out of the house or do i look to my wife and say let's let's have
01:10:22dinner tonight you know yeah let's not make waves right yeah it really doesn't depend on the seriousness
01:10:30of the sin and the person that you're talking to i mean sometimes you just have to be confrontational
01:10:35but most of the time you don't most of the time it's better to be gentle with people i mean if
01:10:44they're doing something that's threatening their lives and or if you continue down this path terrible
01:10:51things are going to happen to you and your family then maybe you need to be a little more forceful
01:10:54but generally you know a gentle answer turns away wrath and a gentle rebuke is more likely to turn
01:11:03away sin than a forceful one depending on who you're talking to some people people just respond
01:11:09differently and it depends on your relationship with that person too i think that word wandering path
01:11:16is is very interesting you know narrow is the way and hard is the way right narrow is the path and hard
01:11:24is the way or broad is the road and many find it it's it's just something that i've been really it's
01:11:32been on my heart for a while is is the truth and the people that their eyes are open to it and how do we
01:11:40we share that how do we get our brothers and sisters eyes open to the truth
01:11:44all has got some thoughts i think that the most important thing and i think we see this in the
01:11:54story of lot is is the influence we have in people's lives so i think that when we think about
01:12:05the things that we want to be able to share with people one of the things that we have to know is that
01:12:11we have the ability to have impact or influence in their lives so they have to respect us
01:12:18they have to see godliness in us they have to see love gentleness kind of all the fruit of the spirit
01:12:27for sure and that means relationship
01:12:32that means ultimately we have to have strong relationships
01:12:37so that's the thing i think about yeah that's really good this makes me think of what paul said
01:12:45when he was writing to the corinthians about how he presents the gospel to different groups of people
01:12:50said to the jews i became as a jew in order to win jews and to those under the law i became as one under
01:12:56the law though not being myself under the law that i might win those under the law
01:12:59a whole nother conversation about what under the law means and we talked about that
01:13:05back in our study of romans and you know that that's on the full thing isn't on youtube but
01:13:12there are excerpts of it on youtube now so you can go check that out but what he was trying to say
01:13:17there is that he tailored his message to the audience he spoke to them in length in a language
01:13:24they could understand in their jog jargon spoke to them where they were at so if you go to
01:13:31a biker gang and start talking to them about the their terrible sin of smoking and drinking
01:13:37you're not going to get very far especially if any of them have actually read the bible
01:13:42and can't find anything that says smoking and drinking is a sin
01:13:46it just you just have to know who you're talking to and that really does kind of depend on relationship
01:13:52you have to know something about them and the better your relationship with that person
01:13:57the more targeted your communication is going to be okay any other thoughts james is uh
01:14:06he's uh he's speaking to i would say he's speaking to everyone but mainly speaking to those who are
01:14:15gathering together i would say possibly those who are already believing because he's referring to those
01:14:20those who have strayed from the path you know who are who were believing and now they strayed away
01:14:27um i'm just i think it's it's amazing that yeah we should continue to encourage and
01:14:36our brothers and sisters who have strayed because it's hard and you're right we need to
01:14:40be kind of be kind of sensitive and what we say because they may not be in a place of
01:14:48they may be mourning or upset or i don't know done something really bad and feel guilty or or or the
01:14:57other way around or i don't know but i think it's amazing that um that we're all here just
01:15:06helping each other out and we need to
01:15:09that's it
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