There Is Power In Prayer | James 5:16-18 | 6-28-26 | Sunday PM

**Pastor Andrew Montoro** (0:00)
All right, let's find our places in James 5 tonight. James 5, this is probably one of the more well-known passages in the book of James. It's a passage I have quoted many, many times just in preaching. It is an important truth that James is communicating here, as he's teaching us how to grow into Christ's likeness. As we're getting close to the end of the series here, he's teaching us what Christian maturity looks like. So let's pick it up in verse 5 James, where is my... I turned one page too many. There we go. There it is. James 5 We're going to pick it up in... Come on, Andrew.
There it is. Okay, there we go. It's like something isn't looking right. James chapter 5 verse number 16 The Bible says, confess your faults one to another. Pray for one another. Verse number 16 of chapter 5, that you may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it rained not on the earth by the space of six years, or excuse me, three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. And so that's our text tonight. Really, the emphasis is verse number 16 The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And so our title is simply this tonight. There is power in prayer. There is power in prayer. God works through regular people. When we pray, real prayer from regular people accomplishes great things. And so let's pray. Ask the Lord's help tonight. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I do come before you. I pray just with the preaching of your word. Help me to communicate, Lord, only what you've said. I pray that you would help me to speak your word and, Lord, apply it to my life and the lives of each one's here. I pray, Lord, that we would learn how to, Lord, be used of you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. This is July 4th week in the 250th year celebration of the most amazing country in the world. And America is here today because of the heroes who have served the country faithfully in uniform. And many even not in uniform, but especially those in uniform, often at tremendous cost to themselves. Many, many have paid the ultimate price for your freedom, my freedom and our liberty. And we should, July 4th should not be just an event where we celebrate summer or where we get a day off or where we're excited about cooking out or something of that. But it should be a day where we honor those who gave so much for to set us a country that they sacrificed so we could be free. And so we should use that freedom to do what is right and to do good and take the time that we have to serve the Lord. And I love American history. In a book I read, especially as a teenager, I must have read this book seven or eight times cover to cover. And it was a book that contained the stories of every man who won the Congressional Medal of Honor in World War II. And so it told some of their growing up. It told some of their background. It told the battle they were in, what they did, and the earning of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and then what happened after that event.
And according to this book, when this book was written, of the 13 million approximately men that served in the armed forces of World War II, 472 men received the Congressional Medal of Honor. And of those 472, 192 actually were there at the ceremony to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. The rest of them were awarded that honor, the majority of them were awarded that honor posthumously. Literally, they had paid the ultimate price. They gave their life above and beyond the call of duty.
That was given, that allowed them to be awarded the highest honor that our military can give to anyone who has served our country would be the Congressional Medal of Honor.
And these are heroes. These are stories that children and adults should know about our history. They should know the stories of those who gave their lives and some of the suffering they went through, not just dramatized on TV and all for entertainment purposes, but they should know the stories and they should honor the memories of those who gave their lives for our country. But for the most part, if you read their stories or if you talk to them, those who had the privilege of interviewing them, they weren't standing there in line with their Congressional Medal of Honor saying, let me tell you what I did.