July 14, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The effectual prayer of the righteous man can accomplish much.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
But doctor Tony Evans says, tapping the power of prayer
requires a clean heart.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
If you're not willing to deal with sin, then you
will not have access to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. We've all heard
the expression when all else fails, pray, But doctor Evans says,
our best efforts begin with prayer, and today he explains
how to make it your top priority. Let's turn to
James chapter five as we join him.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
First of all, let's look at the priority of prayer.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Is anyone among you suffering, let him pray? That is,
instead of complaining in verse nine, and instead of swearing, cussing,
fussing and making false osen verse twelve, open your mouth,
but not for those purposes. If you are going through affliction,
that's what the Greek word for suffering means, and.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It can be used of any kind of affliction.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It can be physical affliction, it can be emotional affliction.
It can be circumstantial affliction. It can be financial affliction.
It can be familial affliction. No matter what the classification
of affliction is, if you are going through it, let
him pray. Now, what's very important is that what God wants,
(01:25):
as he communicates through the apostle games, is that prayer
should be the priority.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
That is the thing you should do. It should be first.
What is prayer? Maybe we ought to start there.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
If we're going to prioritize it, what is it that
we're prioritizing. Prayer is simply intimate communication with God.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
That's it. You don't need a ten dollar definition.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Prayer is simply intimate communication with God. Far too many
of us want to throw in the towel before we've
thrown up the prayers. When you pray, what you are
doing is gaining access to grace. Pray that you might
(02:13):
get the grace of God in order to deal with
the problem that you have encountered.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I don't know what your trial is and what you're
facing today, but grace is available, but only at the throne,
and you can only approach the throne through prayer. He
raises another question in verse thirteen. He says, is anyone
cheerful let him sing praises If things are going well,
(02:43):
then there is no.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Trauma, and things are smooth right now.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Praising, because if he sends affliction to develop you, that's God.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And if he sends deliverance to deliver you, that's God.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So whether you're afflicted or whether you're cheerful, is all God,
and says.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
It is all God.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You ought to be praying or praising. Secondly, the people
of prayer. Verse fourteen here is one of our tough verses.
Is anyone 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.
(03:30):
First of all, we've got to deal with this word sick.
The Greek word here for the word sick is the
word weak, means weak. It can refer to any kind
of weakness. In fact, it is used in the Scripture
of different kinds of weaknesses. Certainly when you're physically incapacitated.
The traditional use of the word sick, you're weak.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
You're weak physically.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But I'm sure many of you have said this phrase,
I'm sick of being broke.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Anybody sick that way today? Uh huh. And you're really
sick too, that's real sickness.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Okay, it can be physical, but it is not limited
to physical. It means you are encountering what verse thirteen
says and affliction. The difference in verse fourteen is what
that affliction is doing to you. It's beating you down.
It's beating you down, it's weakening you. You are beginning
to buckle at your knees because of what it is
doing to you. Some of us wouldn't call it sick.
(04:28):
Who is just here today and gone tomorrow. You know,
if you sneeze one time, you wouldn't call that. You
wouldn't call that being weak. That's an inconvenience. But he's
talking about your knees of buckling. The circumstance has weakened you.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
He says. If the suffering of verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Is beginning to weaken you in verse fourteen, then you're
going to need support help because your needs are beginning
to buckle. Now, if you walk in your knees beginning
to buckle, that means you need help to stand back
up because you're weak. If you are weak, and it
(05:09):
can be any kind of weakness that you're suffering, then
you are.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
He says to call the church.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
In fact, He says, you are to call the elders
of the church, that is the spiritual leadership who sits
as representatives over the rest of the congregation. So it
is a representative group that represents the bigger group because
they belong to the church. And your purpose for calling
them is because you are weak. You don't believe you're
(05:43):
getting through to God. In fact, you may be too
weak to even talk to God. And all of us
have been in that situation where things are so bad
we just don't feel like praying, or we try to
pray and we can't even keep our minds on what
we're trying to say. We've just been weakened by our circumstances.
He says, if you have been weakened by your circumstances.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Get spiritual help.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
The text says, when you have been weakened in any
kind of category, you ought to call the spiritual leadership
of the church, and they are to come and buoy
you up through prayer. They are to pray over him.
And that is because the praying you could do in
(06:31):
verse thirteen you can't do in verse fourteen. Then he
comes to verse fifteen point three, the promise of prayer
and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one
who is.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Weary. That's what the word means sick. In verse fifteen,
it means weary. Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
We started off where he's suffering, but he's praying himself.
In verse fourteen, he becomes weak, so he needs some help.
By the time you get to him, he's weary. And
there's not a person in here who hasn't been there,
just tired, just wondering is it worth it? Should I
just go out and do it my way? Because God's
(07:13):
way is taken too long. You're just tired of it.
But yet you still got that faith, you still believe.
You're just so tired. He gives you a promise, and
this is one of the great promises of the New Testament.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
The prayer offered.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
In faith, will will Will, Will, will, will.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Restore the one who is sick.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Now, folks, this is why this verse cannot just be referring.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
To physical sickness.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
One, because if it was referring the only physical sickness
you'd never die.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Or you have to do is pray to prayer faith,
and every time you got sick, you get well. Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Number two, we know through scripture that it's God's will
sometimes for sickness to occur in the life of the
believer for his own purposes.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Like job.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So let anybody tell you, well, if you're sick, you
are automatically out of the will of God. No, you
may be right smack dab in the middle of it.
God took the young lady Jonnie Erickson, and she's been
in a wheelchair and she's been paralyzed from the neck down,
but she loves to walk again. Yes, but God decided
I have a ministry that I want to give you
(08:27):
that's gonna be unique. I'm gonna let this happen, and
now worldwide people who have her dilemma of being encouraged
by her like never before.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
It's not a spiritual problem. It's a sovereign plan.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Now, don't ask me why, because I don't know why
God does this with that person and that with the
other person. I don't know that's his plan. All I
know is we better be able to reach them when
it happens, he says. The prayer I'm talking about when
offered in faith, we'll pick up the one who is weary.
That's the promise God promises you. Not necessarily, he may
(09:02):
bring the solution to the problem. But what he's promising
you is divine encouragement in the midst of the problem.
That's the And you know, many of us could go
a long way if we just get encouragement. Many of
us couldn't do a whole lot if we'd just be encouraged.
And that's what the church is suprovide a place of encouragement.
Church can't solve all your problems. Church can't fix everything.
(09:26):
People get mad at the church. Are you better talk
to God? But the church can help you reach God.
It can encourage you. And the Lord will restore the
weary one and raise him up. Raise him up from what,
raise him up from whatever it is, whatever has caused
the weariness.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's what he said.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
But he says it must be the prayer of faith,
the prayer of faith. What does the prayer of faith well?
According to First John, chapter five, verse fourteen and fifteen,
the prayer of faith is the prayer that is entrusting
itself to the will of God. That's a prayer of faith.
The prayer of faith is confident of what the will
(10:08):
of God is. And the will of God is not
for me to be miserable in my trials. The will
of God is for me to count it all joy
when I face all kinds of trouble. I know that's
the will of God because James has already told me
that in chapter one. So I can say, Lord, I
don't know whether it's your will for me to stay
in this situation.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And I don't know how long, but I know James
told me.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You want me to be joyful in it, and I
am not joyful right now. I'm mad, But I know
that this anger is not the will of God. You're
giving me joy as the will of God, so I'm
gonna trust.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
You to get it. Now. Here's a problem.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Suppose your faith is too weak. You're supposed to pray
the prayer of faith and that will restore you. But
maybe you don't have the faith to pray the prayer
of faith. That's why you call on other people who
are not going through the trial you're going through right now,
so you can piggyback on their faith.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Doctor Evans will come right back with a powerful biblical
story that shows how leaning on the faith of our
friends can change everything. First, though, I wanted you to
know that today's lesson is part of Tony's seven part
series on the Power of prayer. It's a practical look
at how to move your prayers beyond the ordinary and
start experiencing real results, including spiritual breakthroughs, wisdom for life's decisions,
(11:20):
and the piece that comes from knowing that God hears you.
We'll send the full audio series as our thank you
gift when you make a contribution to help us keep
Tony's teaching on this station. Plus, we're including Tony's new book,
Anchored by Prayer, a devotional guide designed to help you
pray boldly, consistently, and in alignment with God's will. It's
(11:42):
a perfect resource to help if you've ever felt stuck, distracted,
or discouraged in prayer. This special double offer will only
be available for a short time, so visit Tonyevans dot
org right away to get the details. You'll find a
prominent link right on the homepage. If it's easier, you
can call us day or night at one eight hundred
(12:03):
eight hundred thirty two twenty two and let one of
our team members help you. I'll repeat that contact information
for you later on. Right now, let's rejoin doctor Evans
for more of today's message.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Mark chapter two tells the wonderful story. It talks about
the sick man. He was physically weary. He was laid
out on a pallet, and Jesus was teaching. Jesus is teaching.
He's laid out on a palate, and they said, we
got to get you to Jesus.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
He was too weak to get to Jesus by himself.
He was too invalid to get to Jesus by himself.
And so what happened was the men came and lifted
him and took him to the house where Jesus was teaching.
Guess what they did. The house was too crowded, too
many people were asked to hear Jesus preach, and they
couldn't get to Jesus. So what they did was put
(12:57):
a rope around the man's palate, got up on the roof,
pull the man up to the roof, cut a hole
in the roof, let the man down through the roofs
in front of Jesus. And that's what Jesus said. The
Bible says, and when Jesus saw he is the key
(13:18):
word their faith.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Now, he didn't see the sick man's faith. He didn't
seek the weary man's faith. He saw collective faith. He said,
he saw their faith. In other words, the sick man said,
I can't get to Jesus. I'm too weak, my bones
are too to brittle, I'm too crippled.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I can't get to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Will you guys come over here and help me get
to the Jesus that I can't get to by myself.
I need to get to Jesus' help, It says he
took care of the weary man.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Now listen to me.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
The other men didn't have a problem, at least not
right then. They help the other man get to it.
But they were one.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Of the reasons for the solution. Let me tell you why.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
If you're a person to trust God and you're not
going through bad times your the health, because one day
you're gonna be the one on the ballot. One day
you're going to be the one too weary to trust God.
And the idea of having the small group nucleus of
saints is so that you have a group who can
take you to Jesus when you can't get there yourself.
So he goes on to say, I will raise him up.
(14:30):
And if he has committed any sins, they will be forgiven.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
That's a very important phrase.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
If you have committed sins and you call the elders,
which he has previously said, and admitting that what I'm
going through could be because of my lifestyle right now,
then if you're willing to deal with the lifestyle, God
will remove the weariness that is the result of the lifestyle.
If you're not willing to deal with sin, then you
(14:56):
will not have access to Jesus Christ. The Bible says
the first Grinstan eleven, verse thirty. Because of sinful lifestyles
and some of the saints, some are week some are sick,
and some die young. You can expect to be weary
if you're not committed to dealing with sin. What this means,
brothers and sisters, is that God will meet you in
your struggle, and while he may or may not bring
(15:19):
that struggle to an end, depending upon his purposes, he
will change you in the midst of it. Finally, the
promise productivity of prayer. Therefore, confess your sins to one
another and pray for one another. He's now gone beyond
the elders to the fellowship of the saints one another.
You ought to have fellowship, small groups, if you will,
(15:40):
Why should we pray for one another?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Because prayer works.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
The effectual prayer of the righteous man can accomplish much.
And then he closes with this illustration. He says, look
at a man name Elijah. Elijah, he said. Elijah was
a man of nature like ours. He was not from Krypton.
(16:08):
He was an ordinary Joe, he said.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
But he was a prophet. Yeah, but he was an
ordinary prophet.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
We know how ordinary it was because when he got
out there and started doing stuff in Israel, Jezebel heard about.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
It and ran him out of town, scared of death.
For a woman.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Elijah was an ordinary man, James said. He didn't have
anything on any Christian under the sound of my book.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Who's listening to the word, if you are a Christian
in love.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
With Jesus Christ today, Elijah had nothing on you, ordinary man, but.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
He became super ordinary in prayer. Look at this. Now
follow me closely as we conclude, And he prayed earnestly.
That's the energized prayer.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Elijah got on his knees and says, your people are
not following you, God, not your people. See your power
close up heaven. Now you got to know what you're
doing if you're gonna shut down the sky. And guess what,
an ordinary man shut down the sky, not a SuperOrdinary man.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Ordinary Joe shut down the sky.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Now where did he get that from? I think where
he got it from. He got it from Deuteronomy eleven.
Because Deuteronomy eleven says, when you fail or obey me,
I'm gonna close up the sky. There will be no
rain on your crops. But if you return to me,
I'll open up the sky. I will rain on your crops,
and your crops will begin.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
To grow again.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You know where he got that. He prayed biblically, He
knew the words. You know the reason why we're not
getting answers to prayer because we don't know what we're
praying about. Not only did he pray biblically, he prayed specifically.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He didn't do what we do.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Let me tell you our prayers, which is a non prayer. Prayer,
Lord blessed me today, her Lord watch over me today.
That's a vague prayer. You don't even know if God
answered it or not. You know why a lot of
us don't see God because we don't have anything sacific
we want you are to praise specifically, tell God what
you want.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I had a sister. One time she went to She went,
she said, I need a new car.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I went to God and asked, my two favorite colors
are green and blue. She said, I don't know if
a green and blue car the Lord. I want you
to give me a green and blue car because those
are my two favorite killers. She went car and found
the car she wanted, perfect green, but no blue. She said, well,
(18:30):
I'm not sure this is the will of God because
I want a green and blue car. There's no blue here.
She said, I don't know if I'm taking, but it is.
The car want salesman is explaining it to her. He said, well,
let me show you the hood. Lifted up the hood
and the motor had been painted blue. She said, Glorral,
(18:51):
some of us will never know whether we've heard from
God because we prayed vaguely. He prayed specifically. In First
King's chapter eighteen, verse thirty six. He said, I you
are going to obey the specific thing you're gonna do, Lord,
the specific things that I've requested of you today. Not
only did that, but he prayed humbly. In chapter eighteen
(19:12):
of First Kings Verse forty two, which tells his story.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
It says he got on his knees and put his.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Head between his legs. See that was the position of humility.
He not only got his knees, he bowed his head
and put it between his kneeds. He not only did that,
but he prayed persistently. In chapter eighteen, verse forty three
of First.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
King, it says.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
That he prayed seven times, but not only did he
pray specifically. Verse forty one, forty three, and forty four
teaches us he prayed expectantly. Let me tell you what
he did. It was time for the drought to end.
The people that repented, it was time for God to
keep his promise and bring rain.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And watch this now.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
So he's praying as he bows and prays, Lord, bring
the rain. He sent his servants and said, is the
reigning yet? They said, no, let's pray. Lord, you promised
to bring the rain. Bring the rain.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Send them back. Is it raining yet?
Speaker 4 (20:05):
No?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Is it raining yet?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
No?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Is it raining yet? No?
Speaker 1 (20:08):
He got to the seventh time. God still hadn't said
a word. It says at the seventh time he set
the servants out.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Is it raining yet? The servants came back and said, no,
it's not raining now.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
But way out there in the distance, there's this tiny
little cloud that's no bigger than a man's hand. He says,
way out there, way father, I see this little crowd,
but it's not raining. Sky's blue, and I just said, okay,
grab you stop the sky get right bust out here.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, but we only see a.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Tight cut that listened. The sky's getting right bust. He
told them the scuy's go bust the bubbles. And in
a few minutes it poured. Because he prayed expecting to
see something, and even when the something he saw it
didn't look like anything, he knew that God was good
all the time.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
He knew that God was gonna come through. So he prayed.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So if you want to get a hold of God,
and we have to stop being double minded, we have
to stop living two ways at one time. We're gonna
have to stop believing man and believing God. And if
you're a two week to believe God, call some spiritual
people so they can believe God with you. And what
don't let him go tell? He answers you. God has
three answers, yes, no and slow Okay, yes no, and slow, Yes,
(21:19):
I'll give it to you, No, I won't give it
to you, or I will give it to you at
some point, but you're going to have to wait on it.
Whether it's yes, pray tell you yeah, yes or no,
Pray till you hear no like Paul did, or slow
keep praying till you hear something. Either way, God will
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
If you've never reached out to Jesus and ask him
to lift you out of your sin and give you
eternal life, We'll stay with us. Doctor Evans will return
to explain how you can do that in just a moment. First, though,
if you'd like to review today's message on your own
or share it with somebody else, you can get the
full length version by checking with us about the title,
(21:56):
The Power of Prayer. Better Yet, This lesson comes as
a part of doctor Evans's current teaching series by the
same name, The Power of Prayer. This is a compilation
of sermons we're making available on digital download as well
as on either CD or USB flash drive, and for
a limited time, we're also including a copy of Tony's
(22:17):
brand new book, Anchored by Prayer. Both the audio series
and devotional book are Yours is our way of saying
thanks for your support of the Alternative. Just visit Tonyevans
dot org or call one eight hundred eight hundred thirty
two twenty two to make your request. That's Tonyevans dot
org or call one eight hundred eight hundred three two
(22:40):
two two. And now one final reminder, the latest episode
of Stories from the Storyteller is now available. In The
Great Catch, Kelsey's social media struggles turn into a lesson
about using our gifts to point others to Jesus, just
like Peter and his miraculous catch of fish. It's the
perfect time to introduce the kids in your life to
(23:03):
this inspiring animated series. Watch it now at tonyevanstv dot com.
That's tonyevanstv dot com. Sometimes it seems like our prayers
just bounce off the ceiling before they ever get to
God's ears. Tomorrow, doctor Evans will explain how we can
make our prayers more productive. Right now though, he's back
(23:26):
to talk about the most productive prayer you could ever pray.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
You're not a Christian because you're religious, or because you
go to church, or even because you believe in God.
You're a Christian because you've accepted Jesus Christ as your
personal sin bearer.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Being religious, doing good works.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
That's nice, but it's not sufficient when God demands perfection.
Tewo Corinthians five twenty one says, he who knew no sin,
became sin for us that we might become the righteousness
of God in him. So what God has said is
he placed your sin on the cross, on the Christ,
and then judge Christ for your sin. If you will
(24:04):
go to Christ, he will take Christ's righteousness, which is perfect,
and he will credit it to your account. So you
will stand before God as though you've never sin, not
because you're sinless, but because you've got a sinless credit.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
On your account.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
If you will receive Jesus Christ right now, if you
will invite him into your life, leaving that he died
for you and rose for you personally, he will credit
your account with perfection because He's already credited your sin
on the Jesus Christ. So go to Christ right now
and get this free gift of salvation that he's offering
to all who come to him for it.
The effectual prayer of the righteous man can accomplish much.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
But doctor Tony Evans says, tapping the power of prayer
requires a clean heart.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
If you're not willing to deal with sin, then you
will not have access to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. We've all heard
the expression when all else fails, pray, But doctor Evans says,
our best efforts begin with prayer, and today he explains
how to make it your top priority. Let's turn to
James chapter five as we join him.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
First of all, let's look at the priority of prayer.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Is anyone among you suffering, let him pray? That is,
instead of complaining in verse nine, and instead of swearing, cussing,
fussing and making false osen verse twelve, open your mouth,
but not for those purposes. If you are going through affliction,
that's what the Greek word for suffering means, and.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It can be used of any kind of affliction.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It can be physical affliction, it can be emotional affliction.
It can be circumstantial affliction. It can be financial affliction.
It can be familial affliction. No matter what the classification
of affliction is, if you are going through it, let
him pray. Now, what's very important is that what God wants,
(01:25):
as he communicates through the apostle games, is that prayer
should be the priority.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
That is the thing you should do. It should be first.
What is prayer? Maybe we ought to start there.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
If we're going to prioritize it, what is it that
we're prioritizing. Prayer is simply intimate communication with God.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
That's it. You don't need a ten dollar definition.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Prayer is simply intimate communication with God. Far too many
of us want to throw in the towel before we've
thrown up the prayers. When you pray, what you are
doing is gaining access to grace. Pray that you might
(02:13):
get the grace of God in order to deal with
the problem that you have encountered.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I don't know what your trial is and what you're
facing today, but grace is available, but only at the throne,
and you can only approach the throne through prayer. He
raises another question in verse thirteen. He says, is anyone
cheerful let him sing praises If things are going well,
(02:43):
then there is no.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Trauma, and things are smooth right now.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Praising, because if he sends affliction to develop you, that's God.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And if he sends deliverance to deliver you, that's God.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So whether you're afflicted or whether you're cheerful, is all God,
and says.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
It is all God.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You ought to be praying or praising. Secondly, the people
of prayer. Verse fourteen here is one of our tough verses.
Is anyone 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.
(03:30):
First of all, we've got to deal with this word sick.
The Greek word here for the word sick is the
word weak, means weak. It can refer to any kind
of weakness. In fact, it is used in the Scripture
of different kinds of weaknesses. Certainly when you're physically incapacitated.
The traditional use of the word sick, you're weak.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
You're weak physically.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
But I'm sure many of you have said this phrase,
I'm sick of being broke.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Anybody sick that way today? Uh huh. And you're really
sick too, that's real sickness.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Okay, it can be physical, but it is not limited
to physical. It means you are encountering what verse thirteen
says and affliction. The difference in verse fourteen is what
that affliction is doing to you. It's beating you down.
It's beating you down, it's weakening you. You are beginning
to buckle at your knees because of what it is
doing to you. Some of us wouldn't call it sick.
(04:28):
Who is just here today and gone tomorrow. You know,
if you sneeze one time, you wouldn't call that. You
wouldn't call that being weak. That's an inconvenience. But he's
talking about your knees of buckling. The circumstance has weakened you.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
He says. If the suffering of verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Is beginning to weaken you in verse fourteen, then you're
going to need support help because your needs are beginning
to buckle. Now, if you walk in your knees beginning
to buckle, that means you need help to stand back
up because you're weak. If you are weak, and it
(05:09):
can be any kind of weakness that you're suffering, then
you are.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
He says to call the church.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
In fact, He says, you are to call the elders
of the church, that is the spiritual leadership who sits
as representatives over the rest of the congregation. So it
is a representative group that represents the bigger group because
they belong to the church. And your purpose for calling
them is because you are weak. You don't believe you're
(05:43):
getting through to God. In fact, you may be too
weak to even talk to God. And all of us
have been in that situation where things are so bad
we just don't feel like praying, or we try to
pray and we can't even keep our minds on what
we're trying to say. We've just been weakened by our circumstances.
He says, if you have been weakened by your circumstances.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Get spiritual help.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
The text says, when you have been weakened in any
kind of category, you ought to call the spiritual leadership
of the church, and they are to come and buoy
you up through prayer. They are to pray over him.
And that is because the praying you could do in
(06:31):
verse thirteen you can't do in verse fourteen. Then he
comes to verse fifteen point three, the promise of prayer
and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one
who is.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Weary. That's what the word means sick. In verse fifteen,
it means weary. Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
We started off where he's suffering, but he's praying himself.
In verse fourteen, he becomes weak, so he needs some help.
By the time you get to him, he's weary. And
there's not a person in here who hasn't been there,
just tired, just wondering is it worth it? Should I
just go out and do it my way? Because God's
(07:13):
way is taken too long. You're just tired of it.
But yet you still got that faith, you still believe.
You're just so tired. He gives you a promise, and
this is one of the great promises of the New Testament.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
The prayer offered.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
In faith, will will Will, Will, will, will.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Restore the one who is sick.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Now, folks, this is why this verse cannot just be referring.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
To physical sickness.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
One, because if it was referring the only physical sickness
you'd never die.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Or you have to do is pray to prayer faith,
and every time you got sick, you get well. Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Number two, we know through scripture that it's God's will
sometimes for sickness to occur in the life of the
believer for his own purposes.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Like job.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
So let anybody tell you, well, if you're sick, you
are automatically out of the will of God. No, you
may be right smack dab in the middle of it.
God took the young lady Jonnie Erickson, and she's been
in a wheelchair and she's been paralyzed from the neck down,
but she loves to walk again. Yes, but God decided
I have a ministry that I want to give you
(08:27):
that's gonna be unique. I'm gonna let this happen, and
now worldwide people who have her dilemma of being encouraged
by her like never before.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
It's not a spiritual problem. It's a sovereign plan.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Now, don't ask me why, because I don't know why
God does this with that person and that with the
other person. I don't know that's his plan. All I
know is we better be able to reach them when
it happens, he says. The prayer I'm talking about when
offered in faith, we'll pick up the one who is weary.
That's the promise God promises you. Not necessarily, he may
(09:02):
bring the solution to the problem. But what he's promising
you is divine encouragement in the midst of the problem.
That's the And you know, many of us could go
a long way if we just get encouragement. Many of
us couldn't do a whole lot if we'd just be encouraged.
And that's what the church is suprovide a place of encouragement.
Church can't solve all your problems. Church can't fix everything.
(09:26):
People get mad at the church. Are you better talk
to God? But the church can help you reach God.
It can encourage you. And the Lord will restore the
weary one and raise him up. Raise him up from what,
raise him up from whatever it is, whatever has caused
the weariness.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's what he said.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
But he says it must be the prayer of faith,
the prayer of faith. What does the prayer of faith well?
According to First John, chapter five, verse fourteen and fifteen,
the prayer of faith is the prayer that is entrusting
itself to the will of God. That's a prayer of faith.
The prayer of faith is confident of what the will
(10:08):
of God is. And the will of God is not
for me to be miserable in my trials. The will
of God is for me to count it all joy
when I face all kinds of trouble. I know that's
the will of God because James has already told me
that in chapter one. So I can say, Lord, I
don't know whether it's your will for me to stay
in this situation.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And I don't know how long, but I know James
told me.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You want me to be joyful in it, and I
am not joyful right now. I'm mad, But I know
that this anger is not the will of God. You're
giving me joy as the will of God, so I'm
gonna trust.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
You to get it. Now. Here's a problem.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Suppose your faith is too weak. You're supposed to pray
the prayer of faith and that will restore you. But
maybe you don't have the faith to pray the prayer
of faith. That's why you call on other people who
are not going through the trial you're going through right now,
so you can piggyback on their faith.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Doctor Evans will come right back with a powerful biblical
story that shows how leaning on the faith of our
friends can change everything. First, though, I wanted you to
know that today's lesson is part of Tony's seven part
series on the Power of prayer. It's a practical look
at how to move your prayers beyond the ordinary and
start experiencing real results, including spiritual breakthroughs, wisdom for life's decisions,
(11:20):
and the piece that comes from knowing that God hears you.
We'll send the full audio series as our thank you
gift when you make a contribution to help us keep
Tony's teaching on this station. Plus, we're including Tony's new book,
Anchored by Prayer, a devotional guide designed to help you
pray boldly, consistently, and in alignment with God's will. It's
(11:42):
a perfect resource to help if you've ever felt stuck, distracted,
or discouraged in prayer. This special double offer will only
be available for a short time, so visit Tonyevans dot
org right away to get the details. You'll find a
prominent link right on the homepage. If it's easier, you
can call us day or night at one eight hundred
(12:03):
eight hundred thirty two twenty two and let one of
our team members help you. I'll repeat that contact information
for you later on. Right now, let's rejoin doctor Evans
for more of today's message.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Mark chapter two tells the wonderful story. It talks about
the sick man. He was physically weary. He was laid
out on a pallet, and Jesus was teaching. Jesus is teaching.
He's laid out on a palate, and they said, we
got to get you to Jesus.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
He was too weak to get to Jesus by himself.
He was too invalid to get to Jesus by himself.
And so what happened was the men came and lifted
him and took him to the house where Jesus was teaching.
Guess what they did. The house was too crowded, too
many people were asked to hear Jesus preach, and they
couldn't get to Jesus. So what they did was put
(12:57):
a rope around the man's palate, got up on the roof,
pull the man up to the roof, cut a hole
in the roof, let the man down through the roofs
in front of Jesus. And that's what Jesus said. The
Bible says, and when Jesus saw he is the key
(13:18):
word their faith.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Now, he didn't see the sick man's faith. He didn't
seek the weary man's faith. He saw collective faith. He said,
he saw their faith. In other words, the sick man said,
I can't get to Jesus. I'm too weak, my bones
are too to brittle, I'm too crippled.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I can't get to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Will you guys come over here and help me get
to the Jesus that I can't get to by myself.
I need to get to Jesus' help, It says he
took care of the weary man.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Now listen to me.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
The other men didn't have a problem, at least not
right then. They help the other man get to it.
But they were one.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Of the reasons for the solution. Let me tell you why.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
If you're a person to trust God and you're not
going through bad times your the health, because one day
you're gonna be the one on the ballot. One day
you're going to be the one too weary to trust God.
And the idea of having the small group nucleus of
saints is so that you have a group who can
take you to Jesus when you can't get there yourself.
So he goes on to say, I will raise him up.
(14:30):
And if he has committed any sins, they will be forgiven.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
That's a very important phrase.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
If you have committed sins and you call the elders,
which he has previously said, and admitting that what I'm
going through could be because of my lifestyle right now,
then if you're willing to deal with the lifestyle, God
will remove the weariness that is the result of the lifestyle.
If you're not willing to deal with sin, then you
(14:56):
will not have access to Jesus Christ. The Bible says
the first Grinstan eleven, verse thirty. Because of sinful lifestyles
and some of the saints, some are week some are sick,
and some die young. You can expect to be weary
if you're not committed to dealing with sin. What this means,
brothers and sisters, is that God will meet you in
your struggle, and while he may or may not bring
(15:19):
that struggle to an end, depending upon his purposes, he
will change you in the midst of it. Finally, the
promise productivity of prayer. Therefore, confess your sins to one
another and pray for one another. He's now gone beyond
the elders to the fellowship of the saints one another.
You ought to have fellowship, small groups, if you will,
(15:40):
Why should we pray for one another?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Because prayer works.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
The effectual prayer of the righteous man can accomplish much.
And then he closes with this illustration. He says, look
at a man name Elijah. Elijah, he said. Elijah was
a man of nature like ours. He was not from Krypton.
(16:08):
He was an ordinary Joe, he said.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
But he was a prophet. Yeah, but he was an
ordinary prophet.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
We know how ordinary it was because when he got
out there and started doing stuff in Israel, Jezebel heard about.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
It and ran him out of town, scared of death.
For a woman.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Elijah was an ordinary man, James said. He didn't have
anything on any Christian under the sound of my book.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Who's listening to the word, if you are a Christian
in love.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
With Jesus Christ today, Elijah had nothing on you, ordinary man, but.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
He became super ordinary in prayer. Look at this. Now
follow me closely as we conclude, And he prayed earnestly.
That's the energized prayer.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Elijah got on his knees and says, your people are
not following you, God, not your people. See your power
close up heaven. Now you got to know what you're
doing if you're gonna shut down the sky. And guess what,
an ordinary man shut down the sky, not a SuperOrdinary man.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Ordinary Joe shut down the sky.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Now where did he get that from? I think where
he got it from. He got it from Deuteronomy eleven.
Because Deuteronomy eleven says, when you fail or obey me,
I'm gonna close up the sky. There will be no
rain on your crops. But if you return to me,
I'll open up the sky. I will rain on your crops,
and your crops will begin.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
To grow again.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
You know where he got that. He prayed biblically, He
knew the words. You know the reason why we're not
getting answers to prayer because we don't know what we're
praying about. Not only did he pray biblically, he prayed specifically.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He didn't do what we do.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Let me tell you our prayers, which is a non prayer. Prayer,
Lord blessed me today, her Lord watch over me today.
That's a vague prayer. You don't even know if God
answered it or not. You know why a lot of
us don't see God because we don't have anything sacific
we want you are to praise specifically, tell God what
you want.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I had a sister. One time she went to She went,
she said, I need a new car.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I went to God and asked, my two favorite colors
are green and blue. She said, I don't know if
a green and blue car the Lord. I want you
to give me a green and blue car because those
are my two favorite killers. She went car and found
the car she wanted, perfect green, but no blue. She said, well,
(18:30):
I'm not sure this is the will of God because
I want a green and blue car. There's no blue here.
She said, I don't know if I'm taking, but it is.
The car want salesman is explaining it to her. He said, well,
let me show you the hood. Lifted up the hood
and the motor had been painted blue. She said, Glorral,
(18:51):
some of us will never know whether we've heard from
God because we prayed vaguely. He prayed specifically. In First
King's chapter eighteen, verse thirty six. He said, I you
are going to obey the specific thing you're gonna do, Lord,
the specific things that I've requested of you today. Not
only did that, but he prayed humbly. In chapter eighteen
(19:12):
of First Kings Verse forty two, which tells his story.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
It says he got on his knees and put his.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Head between his legs. See that was the position of humility.
He not only got his knees, he bowed his head
and put it between his kneeds. He not only did that,
but he prayed persistently. In chapter eighteen, verse forty three
of First.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
King, it says.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
That he prayed seven times, but not only did he
pray specifically. Verse forty one, forty three, and forty four
teaches us he prayed expectantly. Let me tell you what
he did. It was time for the drought to end.
The people that repented, it was time for God to
keep his promise and bring rain.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And watch this now.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
So he's praying as he bows and prays, Lord, bring
the rain. He sent his servants and said, is the
reigning yet? They said, no, let's pray. Lord, you promised
to bring the rain. Bring the rain.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Send them back. Is it raining yet?
Speaker 4 (20:05):
No?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Is it raining yet?
Speaker 2 (20:06):
No?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Is it raining yet? No?
Speaker 1 (20:08):
He got to the seventh time. God still hadn't said
a word. It says at the seventh time he set
the servants out.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Is it raining yet? The servants came back and said, no,
it's not raining now.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
But way out there in the distance, there's this tiny
little cloud that's no bigger than a man's hand. He says,
way out there, way father, I see this little crowd,
but it's not raining. Sky's blue, and I just said, okay,
grab you stop the sky get right bust out here.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yeah, but we only see a.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Tight cut that listened. The sky's getting right bust. He
told them the scuy's go bust the bubbles. And in
a few minutes it poured. Because he prayed expecting to
see something, and even when the something he saw it
didn't look like anything, he knew that God was good
all the time.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
He knew that God was gonna come through. So he prayed.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
So if you want to get a hold of God,
and we have to stop being double minded, we have
to stop living two ways at one time. We're gonna
have to stop believing man and believing God. And if
you're a two week to believe God, call some spiritual
people so they can believe God with you. And what
don't let him go tell? He answers you. God has
three answers, yes, no and slow Okay, yes no, and slow, Yes,
(21:19):
I'll give it to you, No, I won't give it
to you, or I will give it to you at
some point, but you're going to have to wait on it.
Whether it's yes, pray tell you yeah, yes or no,
Pray till you hear no like Paul did, or slow
keep praying till you hear something. Either way, God will
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
If you've never reached out to Jesus and ask him
to lift you out of your sin and give you
eternal life, We'll stay with us. Doctor Evans will return
to explain how you can do that in just a moment. First, though,
if you'd like to review today's message on your own
or share it with somebody else, you can get the
full length version by checking with us about the title,
(21:56):
The Power of Prayer. Better Yet, This lesson comes as
a part of doctor Evans's current teaching series by the
same name, The Power of Prayer. This is a compilation
of sermons we're making available on digital download as well
as on either CD or USB flash drive, and for
a limited time, we're also including a copy of Tony's
(22:17):
brand new book, Anchored by Prayer. Both the audio series
and devotional book are Yours is our way of saying
thanks for your support of the Alternative. Just visit Tonyevans
dot org or call one eight hundred eight hundred thirty
two twenty two to make your request. That's Tonyevans dot
org or call one eight hundred eight hundred three two
(22:40):
two two. And now one final reminder, the latest episode
of Stories from the Storyteller is now available. In The
Great Catch, Kelsey's social media struggles turn into a lesson
about using our gifts to point others to Jesus, just
like Peter and his miraculous catch of fish. It's the
perfect time to introduce the kids in your life to
(23:03):
this inspiring animated series. Watch it now at tonyevanstv dot com.
That's tonyevanstv dot com. Sometimes it seems like our prayers
just bounce off the ceiling before they ever get to
God's ears. Tomorrow, doctor Evans will explain how we can
make our prayers more productive. Right now though, he's back
(23:26):
to talk about the most productive prayer you could ever pray.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
You're not a Christian because you're religious, or because you
go to church, or even because you believe in God.
You're a Christian because you've accepted Jesus Christ as your
personal sin bearer.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Being religious, doing good works.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
That's nice, but it's not sufficient when God demands perfection.
Tewo Corinthians five twenty one says, he who knew no sin,
became sin for us that we might become the righteousness
of God in him. So what God has said is
he placed your sin on the cross, on the Christ,
and then judge Christ for your sin. If you will
(24:04):
go to Christ, he will take Christ's righteousness, which is perfect,
and he will credit it to your account. So you
will stand before God as though you've never sin, not
because you're sinless, but because you've got a sinless credit.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
On your account.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
If you will receive Jesus Christ right now, if you
will invite him into your life, leaving that he died
for you and rose for you personally, he will credit
your account with perfection because He's already credited your sin
on the Jesus Christ. So go to Christ right now
and get this free gift of salvation that he's offering
to all who come to him for it.
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