The Difference Maker

WHERE FAITH MEETS LIFE
The Difference Maker
Pastor Mark Johnson
June 5, 2011
 
James 5:13–18
1.  The Role of Confession
When trouble of sickness is rooted in sin, part of the pathway to healing is confession.
  • If it is private sin, I confess to God. 
  • If I have sinned against a person, I have to confess to them and ask forgiveness.
  • If I have sinned before people, I have to confess in front of people.
 
Sincere confession is not only healing, it is confidence building.  It makes the group even healthier.
 
We have to be ready to forgive.  An unforgiving spirit is a prideful spirit.
It is also an infection that keeps the body from being healthy.
 
Let God’s Spirit lead you in this area and humble yourself to find His health.
 
II.  The Difference Maker
 
James 5:16b-18
We say it all the time; “Prayer Makes a Difference”
 
The call of James to the Church; You have a powerful and effective tool, use it.
 
He start with “the prayer of a righteous man.”  Almost in the fear that someone will say; ‘Well then, I am unqualified.”
 
He points out Elijah - A man just like us BUT HE BELIEVED GOD.
 
He confronted a wicked King and pronounced a three-year drought and at the end of three years he announced that the rain would come.
 
 
The standard of righteousness is:
  1. My faith in Jesus as my righteousness.  I can come before God through Jesus.
  2. The condition of my heart.
 
Psalm 66:16-20
The lesson: We have a powerful and effective, difference-making way that God has given us.  Are we using it?
 
The key with Elijah is that he heard God and he prayed.
 
I recent study said:
  • The average Christian in America prays seven minutes a week.
  • The average pastor in America prays ten minutes a week.
 
What is your prayer life like?
 
Either we don’t believe this passage or we are not desperate enough.
 
Jeremiah 5-12
 
What is ahead for our country if we continue down the path we are on?
 
The problem in our country is the spiritual climate.   It is time to be desperate.
 
When you go into a dark room you don’t shout out the darkness.
You turn on a light.   How do we do that?
 
Turn on the light: good works, righteous lives, revelation of God and prayer.
 
“We shall have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but we have only one swift hour before the sunset in which to win them.”  Robert Moffatt
 
PRAYER IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE.

« Back to All Sermons