Sunday Sermon Starter 10-3-11

The last few Sunday mornings in our Young Adult Bible class we have been discussing the final night of Jesus’ life in which he instituted the Lord’s Supper and was betrayed by Judas in Gethsemane. One thing emphasized in the material we’ve been covering has been particular points characterizing His prayer life which is one full display that evening. As we studied I was reminded how easy it is for our prayer lives to get off track if we do not give close attention to them. Prayer is simply to valuable a blessing for us to neglect. While the prayer life of Jesus is full of “prayer pointers,” in the sermon that follows I actually turned our attention to the writings of James for practical wisdom on the emphases we need to place on our prayer lives.Title: Approaching the Throne: James’ Pointers for Prayer

Text: James 5:13-18

Main Point: Too often the emphases man places on prayer are of little consequence (posture, usage of Old English pronouns versus modern English pronouns, etc) while the truly important variables that should be discussed are ignored. James’ writing contains no less than six Divinely inspired points for how to strengthen our prayer lives.

Discussion Points:
1. We Should Pray Individually – vs. 13 (“Let him pray”) – Prayer must be a very personal activity, not one we shift onto the shoulders of others. Jesus personally prayed (Mark 1:35; Mark 6:46; Luke 6:12) and we must as well (Matthew 6:5-6).

2. We Should Pray Collectively – vs. 14 (“Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over them…”) – While prayer is to be an individual task, Christians have the opportunity to unify their hearts together in prayer collectively. Jesus prayed with others (Luke 9:28; John 17:1) as did the first century Christians (Acts 2:42).

3. We Should Pray Believingly – vs. 15 (“the prayer of faith shall save the sick…”) – James had earlier addressed this same principle in more depth (James 1:5-8). Jesus taught His apostles the necessity of praying in faith (Mark 11:20-24).

4. We Should Pray Fervently – vs. 16 (“…the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”) – “Fervent” means “intensely devoted and earnest.” It is not to be something merely rattled off without thought (Matthew 6:7). Prayer is a time of intimate communication, not mindless recitation.

5. We Should Pray Specifically – vs. 17 (example of Elijah specifically praying that God would not send rain) – The result of Elijah’s specific prayer was a 3 ½ year drought (1 Kings 17:17ff). Jesus taught His disciples to pray specifically (Matthew 6:8-13).

6. We Should Pray Repeatedly – vs. 18 (after confronting Ahab and overcoming Baal’s prophets Elijah prayed again that rain might come and it did in abundance – 1 Kings 18:41). – Jesus is the ultimate example of one who prayed repeatedly, but Paul also illustrates that necessity (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is to be a repetitive part of our lives, not “one and done.”

Sorry for the lack of alliteration. No matter how hard you try, sometimes it just will not fit. Hope this edition of our Sunday Sermon Starters will be helpful to you in emphasizing the need of building strong prayer lives to increase the bond of our relationship with God!