Sermon - Faith on its Knees: "Kingdom Wisdom " Series

Sermon Outline
Focus: Kingdom wisdom recognizes that prayer is not our last resort—it is our first
response.

I. Kingdom Faith Prays in Every Season
        In suffering, we pray.
        In joy, we praise.
        Every circumstance is an invitation to draw near to God.

II. Kingdom Faith Refuses to Fight Alone
        God never intended us to carry our burdens by ourselves.
        Pray with and for one another.
        Healing often begins when we bring our burdens into the light.

III. Kingdom Faith Expects God to Move
        Our confidence is not in our prayers, but in our God.
        Prayer is powerful because God is faithful.
        Prayer isn’t our last resort – it is our first response.

IV. Questions for Reflection
        What is my first instinct when life becomes difficult?
        Where is God inviting me to trust Him more deeply?
        Who can I encourage or pray for this week?

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

What James is going to say, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, please hear me. Prayer isn't where life ends. Prayer is where life begins. Prayer isn't our last resort. Prayer needs to be our first resort.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes weekly sermon podcast. We're so glad you joined us, and we're honored to be part of your spiritual journey. Today, Pastor Jarrett precedes that continues with our sermon series, Kingdom of Wisdom, using the book of Jesus, written by the Half Brother of Jesus. Today's message is titled, Based on Its Meaning. Kingdom Wisdom recognizes that prayer is not our last resort. It's our first response. And now, here's Pastor Jarrett.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

We are closing out a series of messages we started seven weeks ago out of James's letter to the early church. And we're calling the series Kingdom Wisdom. It really fits under the umbrella of the greater focus of this collective year at Church of the Lakes. We are pushing the kingdom of God. What does that mean? Cultivating a Kingdom of God mindset so we can be more effective kingdom builders within our circles or places of influence. And certainly wisdom has a place to play in that. Am I right? I say that because, you know, we live in a culture, really in a world that is just inundated with information. I mean, with the dawn of AI, we at the click of a button can get information, data on anything under the sun. However, even though we are inundated with information, we are really a people starving for wisdom. And so what James has been doing for us over the course of these seven weeks is really helping us learn how to cultivate a spirit of wisdom that can carry us through our day-to-day living. And so today he's gonna add one more layer to deepen that conversation. Uh when it comes to gaining wisdom, James is gonna give us one more final picture. It's maybe the simplest one in this book, uh, but profound in the way he kind of conveys it. And it's not the picture, an image of a preacher grabbing the pulpit trying to preach truth. It's not the picture of a theologian going off to an ivory tower to write a new book. It's not even a picture of somebody that is trying to win arguments on social media. The picture he gives us is of a believer on their knees in prayer before the living God. And so we're gonna open up and read the last few verses of this letter that James Wright wrote. Now he wrote it to the church two thousand years ago, but still wrote it for us today, because the truths of God are timeless that have been written down in this book. But listen to God's word. Are any among you suffering? If so, they should pray. Are any cheerful, they should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick, they should call the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. For the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and any one who has committed sin will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Why? So that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth yielded its harvest. My brothers and sisters, if any among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sin. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Will you pray with me? Gracious and loving God, I do thank you so much for this morning. Uh the chance to hear your life-giving word reflected. And God, the task you give me, the blessed task to offer up uh perspective on that life-giving word, reflection on it. And I just pray, God, in the midst of this moment, that you just saturate this word with the blood of Jesus, that you empower it with your Holy Spirit so we can truly give you glory and bring edification to each and every one of us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to start with a question this morning. Uh, since James starts with a question, I want to start with a question. And here it is. What's your first instinct? When life falls apart for you, what is your first instinct? When you receive bad news, what is your first instinct? When you find out that a loved one is suffering or sick with terminal illness, what is your first instinct? When anxiety begins to well up within you and tries to grip your soul, what is your first instinct? You know, if we're honest and we haven't conditioned ourselves to do it, our first instinct usually isn't to pray, is it? What do we start to do? We start to calculate, don't we? We start to worry. We go to ChatGBT or Google AI and we start to research. We start making the phone calls, we we try to fix the problem, we work harder, we think longer, we stress more, and after we've exhausted every other possibility, then and only then do we pray. Almost as if prayer is somehow God's emergency backup plan. The last card we pull and play when all the other cards have failed. But friends, today James is gonna press us a little bit by turning that line of thinking upside down. What James is gonna say, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, please hear me. Prayer isn't where life ends. Prayer is where life begins. Prayer isn't our last resort. Prayer needs to be our first response. You know, you can often tell uh what a person depends upon by watching instinctively where they run to when life becomes difficult. Is that fair? Think of a child at a playground, public playground. A child, say they they skin their knee jumping off of a swing or bump their head going down a slide. When they do that, what they don't do in that moment is stop to evaluate all the options of what to do next, right? No. They don't go pull out their phone and go on Google AI to diagnose themselves with the systems, the symptoms that have presented themselves. They don't make a five-step recovery plan to how to heal with the deal with a skin knee or the bump on the head. What do they do? They run to mom and dad. Well, mom, but if mom's not there, then they'll run to dad, right? Why? Because dependence is natural for a child. Children run to the one they are dependent upon. Church, that's prayer. Prayer is us running to our Father in heaven. You know, the older I become, the more I begin to realize that spiritual maturity in my mind isn't necessarily dictated by the biblical knowledge you possess. Spiritual maturity in my mind is dictated by how quickly your heart turns towards your God, the Father in heaven. Listen, James has spent five chapters describing mature faith for us. And now again, he's leaving us with that one final image. It's not a preacher behind a pulpit, not a theologian in Ivory Tower, not a person winning arguments with anyone on social media. The final image he gives us is a believer on their knees. First lesson I see from this is kingdom faith praise in every season. So James begins with those two searching questions. The first is this Is anyone among you suffering? Answer, pray. Is anyone among you cheerful? Answer. They should sing songs of prayer. Now, what James did not say is if is anyone suffering, they should panic. Is anyone suffering? They should complain. He's not saying that. He's not saying if you're suffering, call everybody you know so they can commiserate alongside of you. What does he say? Pray. And likewise, when life is good, James doesn't say in that moment, congratulate yourself. He doesn't say take all the credit. He doesn't say call your friends and gloom. What does he say? Sing songs of praise. Friends, James is teaching us something so profound here. It's simple but profound, and here it is. Every season in life in James' mind is an invitation to draw ever deeper to our Heavenly Father. When you're suffering, pray. When you're filled with joy, praise. When you experience loss, pray. When you gain the victory, praise. When you receive bad news, pray. When you receive good news, praise. Church, prayer isn't reserved for crisis moments in life solely. Prayer has to be the language of the kingdom of God. I love how Matt earlier brought up 1 Thessalonians 5. What does Paul say? Pray constantly or pray without ceasing. Does that mean you spend 24 hours a day with your heads bowed, your hands folded on your knees? That's not what Paul is saying. What Paul is saying when he says pray without ceasing is cultivate a constant awareness of God's presence in your life. Like, friends, prayer becomes less like an emergency phone call and more like breathing. I mean, consider breathing for a moment. How many of you woke up today and had to remind yourself to breathe? Like, we rarely think about breathing, right? We don't schedule it, goodness. We don't have to remind ourselves to do it. Church breathe. We simply breathe because it's the natural rhythm of our lives. James says prayer needs to become that for the believer. The natural rhythm of how we carry our lives. Not because life is always easy, don't mishear me. But because our father is always near. Friends, one of the greatest indicators in my mind to spiritual maturity is where does your mind first go? Or where do you run to? What's your first instinct? When fear comes, do you first run to worry or do you run to God? When success comes, do you first run to pride or do you run to gratitude? When uh uncertainty comes, do you first run toward panic or do you run toward prayer? Like, vision with me for a moment. What would it what would happen if we became a people whose first instinct was to pray and and not be prayer as a last resort? Like, how would that transform our homes? If prayer is what we leaned on to first instead of as a last resort, how would that change our marriages? Our parenting? How would that change the way you carry yourself at the office or in the classroom? Goodness, how would that change the dynamic of our our collective congregation? Friends, imagine if before every difficult conversation we prayed, before every major decision we prayed, before you click post on a social media forum, you prayed. Before every doctor's appointment, you prayed. Before every celebration, you praised. Man, prayer would no longer be an event that we have to attend. Rather, it would be the atmosphere in which we live. And that is exactly what James, the half-brother of Jesus, is envisioning right now. Friends, kingdom people don't simply pray occasionally. Kingdom people live with hearts that are continually tuned toward their Father who is in heaven. But James doesn't stop there. He says, Listen, prayer was never intended to just be a personal, private manner between you and God. Next thing James says is that kingdom we wisdom teaches us that we were never meant to carry our burdens alone. Never meant. Look at verses 14 to 16. James continues, are any sick among you? If so, they should call the elders of the church and have them pray over them. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The second lesson we see here is that kingdom faith refuses to fight alone. Even for self-made Americans, kingdom faith refuses to go it alone. Notice something extraordinary that James says here in verses 14 to 16. James never pictures the Christian journey as a Christian life as a solo journey. I think Brian says, Pastor Brian says it all the time. And you can't do the Christian life alone. The Christian life was never a solo journey. When you're hurting, hear me, don't isolate yourself. When you're struggling, don't pretend everything's okay. When you're overwhelmed with life, don't carry that burden alone. That's what James is saying. Call the church, call the elders, invite others to pray to come in, confess, receive encouragement, right? James assumes, friends, he assumes this, that kingdom people bear one another's burdens. We talk about that all the time. We are the one another religion. We love one another, we encourage one another, we pray for one another, we bear one another's burdens. Do you know one of Satan's greatest strategies against us? You know, certainly the devil's desire is to pull us away from God and God's kingdom, right? His greatest strategy in that effort is isolation. Why? Because an isolated sheep is a vulnerable sheep. And the devil knows that. And he's gonna whisper self-sufficiency in your ear. He's gonna whisper lies in your ear to pull you away from God's people and therefore God and his kingdom. He's gonna whisper things like this.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Just give it to yourself. No one's gonna understand, anyways. Oh, you've got this. You're self-made, you're strong. Don't let anyone see your weakness.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

But the kingdom of God works in opposite. The gospel church speaks something else. It works exactly in the opposite. The gospel says healing begins, we're hiding ends. Now, James isn't calling us to confess every one of our sins in a public setting like this. That's not what James is saying. But he is saying that that he's inviting us to live honestly before God and one another. That church is one reason, if I can put a plug in why small groups are so important, and better yet, anchor groups. You need to surround yourself with a few people who you do life with that you can be vulnerable and transparent with, and they can be vulnerable and transparent with you. And you guys can can encourage and admonish one another as you spur one another on towards love and good deeds. It's another reason why we've been opening up the altar rails at the end of every sermon as a response to the proclamation of God's word. Listen, we don't open up these altar rails because coming forward somehow earns you God's grace. It doesn't. Guess what? You already have it. God has already in Christ bestowed upon you his undeserved favor. You have it. Nor do we open up these altar rails because somehow praying up here is more powerful than praying in your seat. It isn't. Prayer is powerful anywhere you decide to turn your focus upward in prayer to our Heavenly Father. No, we open up these altar rails, hear me, because James reminds us that we were never meant to fight our battles alone. Like sometimes what we need is someone to place a hand on our shoulder, to look us in the eye, to remind us that God is still faithful and still good. I've watched that happen at Church of the Lakes over the course of the past six months. I've seen people come up and kneel at the altar rail together. I've seen families pray together. I've seen friends weeping together. I've seen people who hardly knew one another leave as brothers and sisters because they've carried one another's burdens to the foot of the cross. You know, maybe over the past several weeks you've felt the Holy Spirit stirring in your soul to make a physical response to the proclamation of God's word, like coming forward, like so often in Scripture, and kneeling and worshiping and weeping and surrendering, but something in you has held you back. It has, you know, maybe it's because of embarrassment, I don't know, uh shyness, concern for whatever reason. Today, when we end the message and we sing our closing song, I'm gonna invite you again, those who who feel prompted by the Holy Spirit, to come and kneel at the altar rail. If the Spirit is prompting you, don't neglect the Spirit's prompting. And if you're shyer and bearers, grab the person next to you to come and kneel alongside of you. So you can bear one another's burdens together. Friends, that's the that's the kingdom that James is talking about. Kingdom faith refuses to fight alone. We're in this battle together. Here's the third and final thing, and I love it. Kingdom faith expects God to move. Expects. Look at verses 18 to 20 or 16 to 18. James writes some remarkable words here. He says the prayers of the righteous is both powerful and effective. Now, if we're not careful, we're gonna misunderstand that verse. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. What we're probably thinking right now is, well, hold on a second, I'm not that righteous. So my prayers must not be that powerful and effective. And I if I can just become more righteous, then my prayers will be more powerful and effective. But hear me, our confidence in prayer, please hear this, has never rested on our righteousness. It has always rested on Christ's righteousness for us. Church, listen, because of Jesus Christ, we have confidence to approach the throne room of God, the author of Hebrews tells us with boldness, not because we've earned the audience, but because Christ has opened the way to us. Like on the cross, he shed his blood for our salvation, for the forgiveness of our sins. So now when we claim him as our Lord and Savior, and we approach the throne room of grace, we are now clothed with the righteousness of Christ that has saved us. It's not our righteousness that makes our prayers powerful and effective. It is Christ's righteousness that is clothed upon us. And then James gives us the example of Elijah. I love the way he describes Elijah here. He says, Elijah is a human being just like we are. Now, if you know the biblical narrative, you're scratching your head going, hold on a second. I don't, I might not read the Bible much, but I know the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. He was the greatest prophet of all prophets. This is the guy that called down fire from heaven. This is the guy that raised the dead. This is the guy that never actually himself died a physical death. He was just taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. You're talking about that Elijah? A human being just like we are? Yes. There's another side to Elijah's life. Let me share with you a little bit. Elijah himself experienced fear and discouragement and loneliness, even depression. He was an ordinary man who trusted in an extraordinary God. Friends, the power was never in Elijah. The power was in the God who heard Elijah's prayers. Are you listening? I don't know about you, but that is incredibly encouraging to me. Because sometimes I think to myself, I'm not really a good prayer. I don't know the right words. Man, I don't pray like those other people pray. Prayer isn't about sounding impressive, it's about trusting in the heart of your father in heaven. You want when my children were very little, they're teenagers now, but when they were little, they never prepared speeches before asking me for help or for something they wanted. As teenagers, they kind of do now. They come with their five point argument, you know, PowerPoint slides why I should give them what they want they want as a teenager, but I digress. When they were children, they never did that. They just came to me. Sometimes afraid, sometimes excited, sometimes Sometimes in tears, sometimes with only a few words. Why? Because they knew whose child they were. Church, that's prayer. Prayer isn't about overcoming God's reluctance to answer a request, it's about resting in his love. The power of prayer, listen, has never been found in that folded hands. It's never been found in the bent knee. It has been found in the God to whom our hands are lifted. James isn't saying pray harder. James is saying trust deeper. Again, do you know why we can have this confidence before the living God? Again, it's because Jesus Christ has become our high priest. The role of the priest is to be that intercessor between us and God and God and us. Jesus became our high priest. So on the cross, if you know the gospel narrative, when he's on the cross, breathing his last breath, shedding his blood, the scriptures say he commended his spirit into the hands of the Father in heaven. And in that moment, we're told that the temple curtain that would divided the holies of holies from the rest of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now, the holy of holies that was behind that curtain, only one person, human being, once a year could walk into that holy of holies in order to present a sacrifice on the mercy seat, which sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant. They actually tied a rope to his leg because if he was in there too long and he died, they couldn't go in and get him. They had to drag him out. That's how holy this place was, because this is where the presence of God resided. And so he would go make sacrifices. So Jesus, being our high priest again on the cross, gave up his life, shed his blood into his father's hands, he commends his spirit, and that that curtain that that was divided sinful people from a holy God was torn into two. Like the barrier removed. Friends, the invitation was opened. The king of glory made a way for the rebels like you and me to become the sons and daughters of God. So that means when we pray, hear me, we're not knocking on a locked door. No. We're walking right into our Father's house. We're not trying to persuade God to love us. He already does. He made that evident at the cross. We're simply responding to the invitation that Christ Jesus has already secured on our behalf.

unknown 24:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

James ends then with a very surprising play, in a very surprising place, but it's a place I think is really cool. He says in verse 18, My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you is wandering from the truth and is brought back. So interesting. That he ends with pursuit. He ends with rescue. He ends with people. Why? Because prayer, friends, was never about passivity. Prayer always compels us to move outward towards other people. Towards the hurting, towards the wandering, towards the power the prodigal. Well, when I when I mention those terms, the hurting, the wandering, the prodigal, who comes to your mind initially? Is it a son or daughter that strayed from the faith? That needs to come home? Is it a grandchild? Is it a friend, a neighbor? Is it someone you know who used to walk closely with the Lord but has drifted? Listen, whoever it may be, can I encourage you today, don't stop praying for that person. Don't stop loving that person. Don't stop pursuing that person because the same grace that caught a hold of your heart can catch their heart as well. You know, over the past seven weeks, James has shown us what kingdom wisdom looks like. He says, Kingdom wisdom trusts God in the trials of life. Kingdom wisdom obeys God's word and shows no favoritism. Kingdom wisdom makes faith visible. It speaks with grace to those within your circles of influence. Kingdom wisdom surrenders to the king. And again, now James leaves us with that one final picture. Kingdom wisdom is a person, isn't uh a person embodies that doesn't simply know more about God, but someone who instinctively runs toward God. Friends, prayer is not our last resort of the people of God, it's our first response. You know, as we we we prepare to stand and sing our closing song, I I want to ask you the same question I asked to start with. What's your first instinct? When suffering comes, where do you run? When hardship comes, where do you run? When fear rises, where do you run? When joy fills your heart, where do you run? James says, run to the Father. Friends, today the altar rails remain open. Oh, over the past several weeks I've encouraged you to come to this altar rail as a place of surrender. Today I want this altar rail to be a place of dependence. Maybe you're carrying a burden that feels too heavy. Can I invite you to come and kneel? Maybe you're praying for healing, mind, body, or soul for yourself or someone else. Can I invite you to come and kneel? Maybe you're praying for that prodigal son or daughter that has wandered from the faith. Can I invite you to come? Maybe today you simply need to kneel before the Father and say, Lord, teach me to depend on you again. I've gotten off center. And if the Holy Spirit is prompting you to come and you're too shy, grab the person next to you. Let them kneel alongside of you. Church, let's become a people whose first instinct is not panic but prayer. Let's be a people who don't merely believe in the power of prayer but actually pray. Because kingdom wisdom lives on its knees. Prayer is not our last resort. It is our first response. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, I want to thank you this morning for reminding us that you are always near. That you are always ready to hear the prayers of your people. Father, I gotta ask also that you would forgive us for the times that we have relied on our own strength before turning to you. God, will you teach us to make prayer our first response? Trusting that you are faithful and good in every season of our lives. By the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, strengthen us to encourage one another, to carry one another's burdens. To never lose hope as we pray for those who have wandered from the faith. God, as we leave this place, may we be a people who live and live on our knees, confident in your grace, eager to follow you wherever you may lead. We ask this all in the powerful and mighty name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and all God's people.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

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