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Foreign.
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Good morning and welcome to another weekday podcast, and welcome to this Monday. My name is Chuck Allen, and it's my joy to walk you through a little bit in the Book of James today.
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Let's start with this question. When you're sick, when you're really sick, what's the first thing you do?
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Now, some of us, we go to bed, pull the covers over our heads. Some of us start searching our symptoms online, which is typically a mistake, I've learned. And a lot of us, if we're honest, we just try to tough it out. We don't want to be a bother to anybody. We don't want anybody fussing over us. We tell our family, I'm fine, when clearly we're not fine.
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You know, I've been in hospital rooms. I've been in funeral homes. I've been with people that are fighting all kind of illnesses. And I've noticed something.
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The people who are hurting the most are typically the ones who waited the longest to tell anybody. They carried it heavily and they carried quietly. They didn't want to be a burden. And by the time somebody found out, well, they'd been walking through the hardest part of the valley all by themselves.
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That's one of the reasons why one of my favorite passages in the New Testament comes from James 5. 13. It says, Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick?
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Here's this, y'. All. You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. And such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.
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Now, notice the order of things there. James didn't say, if you're sick, just wait a little while until you feel better, then come to church.
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He didn't say, handle it privately and don't make a fuss about it. He said, you should call.
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The sick person is the one who reaches out. Now, that's not a weakness. That's obedience.
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Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is pick up the phone and say, I need somebody to pray with me. And then James mentions oil. Now, I know for some folks that can sound a little weird, but in the world that James was living in, olive oil was a part of everyday life.
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They used it on wounds. They used it to cook with. They used it to pay for things. It was trade.
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When the good Samaritan stopped to help the guy on the side of the road, he poured olive Oil on his injuries. Oil was a sign of care. It was something you did for someone you loved. But it was so much more. All through the Scripture, oil is a picture of God's presence, God. God's spirit and God's blessing. Kings were anointed with oil. Priests were anointed with oil. And in the 23rd Psalm, David says to the Lord, you honor me by anointing my head with oil.
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When Jesus sent his disciples out by two, Mark tells us they healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil.
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So when the elders come and place a little oil on someone's forehead, there's no magic in that bottle.
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The power isn't in the oil.
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James is super clear about that. It's done in the name of the Lord, and it's a prayer offered in faith.
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The oil you see is a picture. It's a way of saying with someone that you can actually feel you belong to God. You are not forgotten. And we're placing you in his hands.
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I think there's something really beautiful about that. Last week at the corner gathering in Peachtree Corners, when we had a men's Bible study with men of valor, we had a little anointing service.
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To be super clear, James says, the Lord makes you well, and I believe that. Not the oil, not the person praying, not the people around you. I've seen God heal in ways that doctors couldn't explain.
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But I've also anointed people who didn't get better in this life, and God healed them in heaven. I don't believe for a second that God let them down or that they didn't have enough faith.
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Sometimes God heals right away. Sometimes he heals over time through doctors and medicines and rest and treatments. And sometimes he gives the final healing, the one where there's no more pain or tears at all.
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So the promise of James 5 isn't that you'll always get the outcome you asked for.
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Now the promise is that you don't have to face it alone, that God hears the prayers of his people.
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So let me ask you today, is there something you've been carrying around quietly?
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A diagnosis that you hadn't told anybody about? An illness that's dragged you along and you just stopped mentioning it? Or maybe it isn't physical. Maybe it's something heavy on your heart or your mind.
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Affliction can come in a lot of different ways.
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I want to encourage you, no matter what it is, to do what James says.
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Call.
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Call a pastor, call a friend, call someone spiritually mature, someone who knows how to pray over you. And then you don't have to have the right words. Just be willing to let somebody come alongside you.
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Let's pray together. Lord, thank you that you never meant for us to suffer alone. Give us the courage to ask for help and give us the compassion to answer when somebody calls. Be near to the folks that are listening today who are sick, afflicted and hurting. No matter what that is or what the genesis of it was.
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In Jesus name, Amen. Have a good day my friend, and walk in the power of knowing. The Lord wants to anoint you.
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Allow him with peace and healing and joy. Have a great day my friend. I'll see you back tomorrow on another weekday podcast.