7.1.25 – James 5

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Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.

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Today we finish the book of James. We’ve come to chapter 5. We’re going to learn about the rich, patience in suffering, and the power of prayer. Let’s listen in to our guest reader, Denise Washington Blomberg. She’s been on Christian Radio here in Denver for over 20 years. She currently co-hosts the morning show on 91 AM KPOF, The Point of Faith. That’s a show that I get to go on every year and talk about Bible reading and the Ezra Project and AdBible. So let’s listen in to Denise on James chapter 5.

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James chapter 5. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields. which you kept back by fraud are crying out against you. And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers. so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church. Let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

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In 1990, when I was 35 years old and I finished the book of James with this chapter, I wrote, The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. Pray and uphold one another. Ten years later, in the year 2000, when I was 45 years old, I read James chapter 5 and I wrote, The Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Then I wrote the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Thank you for your compassion and mercy. Help me become more effective at prayer. 15 years later, in the year 2015 at 60 years old, I finished the book of James with these comments. Don’t abuse others to gain riches. Be patient and steadfast in the faith. Say yes, say no. Don’t waffle, don’t lie. Pray for those who are sick. I pray my prayers have great power and work. Thus ends my use of those three journals for the book of James. Let’s take a look at chapter 5. If I were rich, which I’m not, I would take some heed to verses 1 through 6. It’s an admonishment by James to not put our faith or our trust in our wealth. Your riches have rotted. Your gold and silver have corroded. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. Now there’s nothing wrong with being rich. But if riches have corrupted you, if you’ve gained riches by fraud, if you have mistreated people, then your riches may be crying out against you. I don’t have the problem of being rich, so let’s go on. Verse 7 tells us, Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Verse 8 says, That was written thousands of years ago. People are always anticipating the coming of the Lord. We see that in every age. But he hasn’t come yet, has he? So we are to take the advice of James. Be patient and establish our hearts. He goes on to tell us to be steadfast. To me that means live life. Don’t be slothful. Don’t be lazy. Don’t be waiting on the coming of the Lord. Be about God’s business while we sojourn on the earth. The next instruction from James is in verse 12. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. To me that means your word ought to be good. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you can’t do it, say no. As Christians, we should be dependable. My own personal mission statement in life is to be a man of His Word, capital H, capital W. But it also reminds me to make my yes be yes and my no be no. We all know people that that’s not true of. We all know people we can’t count on. So as Christians, let’s be different. Let’s be people of our Word. And the chapter and the book close with the power of prayer. Verse 13, Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Verse 14, Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him. Verse 15, And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Verse 16, Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another. Also, the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Or in some other versions, the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James uses an example of Elijah. His prayer life stopped rain for years. Then he prayed again, and it rained. So how’s your prayer life? Do you believe in the power of prayer? Do you exercise the power of prayer? If you’re suffering, pray. If you’re sick, pray. Also, pray for others and give God the glory as you see your prayers answered. This passage here at the end of James reminds me of a powerful testimony I received in Fiji when I was there on a Gideon trip. I’m not going to incorporate it into this message, but I am going to add it at the end. It’ll take a few minutes for you to listen to it, but you will enjoy it. James ends his chapter with these words. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. You may know someone who’s wandered from the truth. Pray for that person. Give witness. Give a testimony to that person if it’s permittable. Do what you can to bring that person back to the truth. That person’s soul is at stake. Do all you can to bring his soul from death to life. What a great way to end the book of James. As we close out, let’s go back to the beginning. We said the book of James was to live out one’s faith, to learn to be a doer and not just a hearer of the word. He has challenged us to give up the ways of the world for the ways of the Lord. In this short book of five chapters, he’s given us 50 commands, not suggestions, seeking to move us to action. I hope you’ve been blessed by spending time with James in his short book. Father, we close with these reminders. To count it all joy when we are suffering in trial and tribulation. To go to you when we lack wisdom. To be quick to hear and slow to speak. To be doers of the word and not hearers only. To understand that our faith is demonstrated by our works. to let our tongues praise you and not curse those you’ve created, to submit ourselves to you, to resist the devil and draw near to you, and to pray for ourselves and for others. Father, we thank you for these practical applications that we can live by. And maybe even you’d use us to bring someone who doesn’t know the truth back to you. Father, we give you thanks for the book of James. May we now be doers of the word and not hearers only. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Now for that testimony from Fiji from chapter 5 verses 14 through 15. If you want to hear how a sick man with dengue fever was healed in the name of the Lord in Fiji, listen in. I went to Fiji on a Gideon assignment. I was there to start a new camp on the island of Latoka. I was gathering information about churches and prospects on that island. And I came across this man in a cake shop. The cake shop owner said I should go sit with him, that he was a pastor. So I went over and introduced myself as a Gideon and sat down with this pastor. He shared this story with me. He said, a man named Frank went from Australia to Mana Island, Fiji with another man’s wife. While there, he got dengue fever and thought he was going to die. He called the hotel manager to arrange for a doctor. The manager said a doctor was not available on that remote island, but he could arrange for a plane to fly him to the main island for medical attention. Frank said, get the plane. He hung up, noticing the phone was sitting on a Bible. He was so sick, he wasn’t sure he could wait long enough for the airplane. So he opened that Bible placed by the Gideons to James chapter 5, verses 14 and 15. He read… Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. He picked the phone back up. He called the manager. He said, Forget the plane. Give me the elders of the church. The manager once attended church, but had not been going recently. He asked Frank what church he attended, but Frank wasn’t going to church either, so they were trying to find elders to a church neither one of them attended. The manager thought he had some Christians on his hotel staff, so he gathered up two men, one who was actually not a Christian, and the man telling me this story, this pastor. The three of us went to Frank’s room. This pastor, this man telling me the story, said this. He said, I said to Frank, first you need to repent of your sins and ask for forgiveness, as James 5.15 says. Then they would pray for healing. Frank confessed his sinfulness and asked for forgiveness. He said, we worship God for Frank’s salvation. As we worshiped, an explosion occurred in the room, knocking the non-Christian to the floor, the manager to the floor, the woman into a chair, and healing Frank. What happened afterwards? The hotel manager recommitted his life to the Lord and went on to become a pastor. The non-Christian became a Christian. The woman went back to her husband in Australia and Frank went on to Bible college and is now a missionary in China. All because of a Bible placed by the Gideons under a telephone in a hotel room on Manna Island, Fiji. Every time I read James chapter 5, I remember that story. I hope you were blessed by it. It’s about the Word of God, and it’s about the power of prayer. May God bless you as you spend time in His Word and in prayer. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. It’s not too late to get your copy of the writings of the Old Testament historical books to follow along with this AdBible program. The book contains our studies on Job, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. We’ll be in those books for the next several weeks. The book has comments on every chapter, applications for your life, and a place for you to record your thoughts on each chapter of each book for future reference. Visit EzraProject.net and order the writings of the Old Testament historical books today so you can get more out of these radio programs and more out of your Bible. I know you’re going to enjoy it. And want to share it with others.