When you're suffering, who do you go to? James closes his letter with an answer the modern world doesn't expect: call the elders of the church. Let them pray over you and anoint you with oil. Elijah was an ordinary man, and his prayers shut the sky for three years. James saves his final word for the whole congregation: if someone wanders from the truth, go get him. God puts His people in each other's lives for exactly that reason.

The Rev. Robert Smith, pastor emeritus in Ft. Wayne, IN, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study James 5:13–20.

Luther called it an “epistle of straw,” but then preached from it for the rest of his life as the Word of God. In this series, host Pastor Phil Booe and guest pastors walk verse by verse through the Letter of James, written by the brother of our Lord, the leading pastor of the Jerusalem church, and a man who thought Jesus had lost His mind until the resurrection proved otherwise. James writes to scattered Christians who are suffering, squabbling, playing favorites with the rich, and letting their tongues run wild. This series takes James at his word, reading him as a confessor of Christ who stands with Paul and not against him. Faith without works is dead, he tells them, and then he spends the rest of the letter showing them a better way.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.