SPEAKER_00: Hello, I am Anthony Garcia.
SPEAKER_00: I am so grateful that you tuned in to our social media or to our video ministry here.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for taking the time to listen to these messages.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that they're a blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any other questions or ways that we can minister to you, I would be glad to connect with you.
SPEAKER_00: You can do so through the information below.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you again, and I hope this message is a blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now that you're here this morning, if you would take your Bibles with me, go to James chapter number one.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter number one.
SPEAKER_00: And then if I could ask for some help this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Jordan, would you mind helping me out, Brother Philip?
SPEAKER_00: Would you mind?
SPEAKER_00: If you need some notes here this morning for the message, if you would just place your hand in the air and these gentlemen will get you some notes to help you.
SPEAKER_00: And it has some cross-references for us and some of the main thoughts from the sermon here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But James chapter number one today, and we're just gonna look at two verses here in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But perhaps in the Bible, one of the greatest stories of transformation is the story of the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us know the Apostle Paul, known as Saul, who in the initial mentioning of Saul, he is standing there holding the coat of those who would take Stephen outside the city, take giant rocks, and hurl them at Stephen until he was put to death.
SPEAKER_00: And Saul was there consenting, giving permission, allowing this to take place.
SPEAKER_00: This is who the Apostle Paul was.
SPEAKER_00: He was not just one that disdained Christianity, but he outright persecuted Christians.
SPEAKER_00: He went on his way with orders to be able to take others that believed in Christ, that preached Jesus, to take them, to throw them into prison, to put them to death.
SPEAKER_00: This was Saul's life.
SPEAKER_00: This was who he was.
SPEAKER_00: But on the road to Damascus, Jesus met Saul.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus encountered his life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus rescued Saul from himself, and Jesus transformed him from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 9 gives us the account of his testimony.
SPEAKER_00: And he fell on the earth and he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
SPEAKER_00: It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
SPEAKER_00: And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
SPEAKER_00: And this man, Saul, who was a Christian persecutor, now becomes one who declares the good news of Christ to whoever would hear it.
SPEAKER_00: You see, true religion, true biblical Christianity, the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change everything, to change an individual from the inside out, and it will, true religion will have an impact on the whole person.
SPEAKER_00: Consider with me this morning what James says in chapter number one.
SPEAKER_00: Can I invite you to stand one more time together as we read God's word?
SPEAKER_00: James 1, and we're just gonna read two verses this morning, but of course we're gonna uh um replay a little bit of the previous verses because they all come together here.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number 26 says, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
SPEAKER_00: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows and their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together this morning.
SPEAKER_00: As I pray out loud, would you pray in your heart and ask the Lord to speak to you today from his word?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you again for your goodness to us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, that you allow us to even be here this morning is by your grace you've given us the the breath of life in our lungs today.
SPEAKER_00: You've given us ears to hear this morning, you've given us a mind to think and to comprehend and to consider what your word says.
SPEAKER_00: And Holy Spirit, I trust that this morning you will take your word, you will convince us of the truth, you will convict our hearts, and you will change us by your grace today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I come before you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Not as someone who is well learned or brilliant in my speaking capacity, I come before you this morning as one in need of you.
SPEAKER_00: God, I need your help to feed your flock.
SPEAKER_00: God, I need your help to feed these that have come to not hear man's opinions, Lord, but to hear your word.
SPEAKER_00: And so, God, would you fill me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, would you take me and use me as an instrument in your hands?
SPEAKER_00: And would you help each of us to have ears of faith?
SPEAKER_00: God, as you've already spoken to me, would you change me?
SPEAKER_00: Would you transform my life?
SPEAKER_00: And would you transform all those that are here this morning?
SPEAKER_00: God, perhaps our greatest need here today is to know you in salvation.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you would open up your word to the heart that needs to know you today and to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that today would be that day of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: God, to the believer, to the Christian that needs to be encouraged today, that we need to be corrected, we need to be instructed.
SPEAKER_00: Oh God, would you help us this morning?
SPEAKER_00: We ask for your blessing on your word.
SPEAKER_00: We know that it won't return void.
SPEAKER_00: We trust it to accomplish your purposes.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated this morning.
SPEAKER_00: James writes these two verses.
SPEAKER_00: We must remember, in light of the new birth in Jesus Christ, I'm going to continue to point us back to the fact that we have to be born again.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be born into the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be begotten by the word of truth, lest we go into some form of moralism or just behavioral change on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: We must look to the transformation.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why Saul was changed was not because he had more religion at this point in his life.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why he was changed is because he had now a relationship with Jesus Christ the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Philip was telling me on Wednesday night how much uh uh Anderson and I kind of look alike.
SPEAKER_00: And uh if you look back in some pictures, we do have quite a bit of resemblance to one another.
SPEAKER_00: We look quite alike, and the reason why Anderson looks like me is because he has my DNA, right?
SPEAKER_00: The reason why our kids look like me and some of them look more like Liv is because they have their parents' DNA that has been passed on to them and so affects the way they look.
SPEAKER_00: It affects the way they act, it affects their personality.
SPEAKER_00: All those things, for better or for worse, were passed on from me and from my wife to our children.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we take that understanding and we apply it to a spiritual likening, we apply it to the spiritual birth.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been born again, you've been born into the family of God, you've placed your trust in Jesus Christ, then there should be, because his DNA is now in you, a new resemblance of your likeness to his likeness.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what James gets at throughout this epistle, throughout his preaching and his encouragement to these Christians that were scattered abroad, that if you have the new birth, if you've been begotten of God, then it should be lived out within your life.
SPEAKER_00: There should be a resemblance.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what we find in the text this morning is we find true religion.
SPEAKER_00: We find true religion.
SPEAKER_00: And true religion is not found in what you can do to earn a spot in heaven, but true religion is found in what Jesus has done for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's by faith in Christ that saves an individual.
SPEAKER_00: That means that you now have a new destination, but it also means that you can have a new way of living.
SPEAKER_00: True religion is powerful enough to change me.
SPEAKER_00: That's our first point this morning.
SPEAKER_00: True religion, it is powerful enough to change me.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we have to look at this in the backdrop instead of looking at it and beating ourselves up and saying, man, I've got to be a better person.
SPEAKER_00: We have to look at it from have you been born again?
SPEAKER_00: Are you a new creature?
SPEAKER_00: Even as Brother Philip encouraged us to look to what is true concerning the word of God, even fighting for it, preaching it to ourselves without the new birth, without the word of truth, we have no religion, we have no true gospel, we have no hope, and we will see no change in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: The fact of salvation is this that you and I, we were hopelessly sinful.
SPEAKER_00: We were enemies of God and full sin and wickedness against him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that we were mostly good people, we were mostly nice people, and we just needed Jesus to kind of be added on to our kindness and our goodness.
SPEAKER_00: No, the fact of the matter is that we were sinners away from God, wicked, no way of earning our spot in heaven, and we needed Jesus to rescue us, to implant in us the word of truth.
SPEAKER_00: You see, true religion, it is not a works to earn salvation, but it is salvation that changes our works.
SPEAKER_00: True religion, it's not I do these things to earn salvation, but when we found true religion, when we found true salvation, it will change the way we live.
SPEAKER_00: The new heart is it's a completely new life that could only be gifted by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel 36 26 says, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 5 17.
SPEAKER_00: We've been looking at this verse quite a bit because it's so wonderful and it speaks to what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, if any man be in Christ, you have your salvation in him, you've trusted in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, you are a new creature.
SPEAKER_00: Old things are passed away.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, all things are become new.
SPEAKER_00: True religion is powerful enough to change me.
SPEAKER_00: Even the most deeply rooted habits and heart issues that have been a part of my life for so long.
SPEAKER_00: And here, James speaks concerning the tongue, concerning our conversation, concerning what bubbles out from the heart, out through our words and our mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And we won't touch on everything that James has to speak about the tongue because in chapter number three he's gonna go into it in more detail.
SPEAKER_00: But here he says, if any man among you, he seems to be religious, he says that he has religion, he says that he worships God, but he doesn't bridle, keep in check, hold in check what comes out from the mouth, what his tongue says, the religion that he supposes he has is one that is vain, empty, it is devoid of force, it is useless.
SPEAKER_00: We can say it this way: it is a powerless religion, and there are many powerless religions that preach enlightenment, that preach you can change yourself, that preach this self-improvement type of theology.
SPEAKER_00: But the religion that Jesus invites us to is one that transforms not just the exterior, not just the outward words that we say, but he transforms us all the way in the deepest part of us, all the way in the inner man.
SPEAKER_00: He transforms us in the heart, and by transforming our heart, that's what changes what comes up in the bucket, what comes out in our words.
SPEAKER_00: When our speech goes everywhere, and when we say whatever, when we're not mindful of our words, it is not just a slip-up, it's a revealing of what's in the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 6 45, Jesus says, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil.
SPEAKER_00: For of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaketh.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we look at true transformation, true religion, the gospel, what Jesus Christ promised to give us life and life more abundantly, it is a religion that is powerful enough to change me.
SPEAKER_00: My exterior behaviors, my conduct and way of living changes not because I'm more of a moral person now, but because I'm a saved person.
SPEAKER_00: I want to continue to emphasize this.
SPEAKER_00: We sometimes think it's just a oh, don't say that and don't do that, when really what Jesus desires to do is to transform us from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: He desires to give us a new heart.
SPEAKER_00: And true religion is powerful enough to change us.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, that I mentioned earlier, before he used to condemn Christians, now he preaches for everyone to become a Christian, before he used to persecute Christians, now he's willing to suffer for the gospel's sake.
SPEAKER_00: Before he used to hate people that didn't believe his way, now he weeps for people that don't believe on the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Before he used to account himself worthy of God, now he knows the truth, that he is the chief of sinners.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel message is not a message that we preach in vain here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We believe this morning that the gospel message is powerful enough to transform our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And we can look into our life and we can testify that there's been a great change since I've been born again.
SPEAKER_00: There's a change in your heart, a growth in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I know I've heard the testimonies of some in this room of how God has transformed you.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not by any power of our own, it's by the power of true religion, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: My words can be different now.
SPEAKER_00: My conversation can be different now.
SPEAKER_00: I can put off gossip, I can put off complaining, I can put off lying, I could put off these thoughts that I have, I can put off these actions that I have because my heart is different.
SPEAKER_00: Not because I'm just trying to add a bunch of rules to my life and say, okay, I'm gonna do this and I'm not gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm not gonna do this.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's a heart change that takes place, and Jesus can give you the power to be transformed.
SPEAKER_00: And this doesn't mean that we're perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean that we're perfect.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that once you slip up, man, you lose your salvation because all of us would be have lost our salvation immediately after we gained it, right?
SPEAKER_00: I would have lost my salvation some hundred times by now, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just in this last week.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean that we're perfect, but it certainly means that we're growing, that we're changing, that we're becoming more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: See, a religion that can't change you is not a real religion.
SPEAKER_00: It's not powerful, it's not worthy of following, it's not worthy of living out.
SPEAKER_00: But the message of the gospel is one of transformation.
SPEAKER_00: Later in James 3, he'll go into more depth concerning the tongue.
SPEAKER_00: But I want us to also see this this morning that true religion is pure religion.
SPEAKER_00: True religion, it's powerful enough to change us, but it's also pure religion.
SPEAKER_00: It meaning that it's it's ethically, it's without corrupt desire.
SPEAKER_00: It's living morally right and undefiled.
SPEAKER_00: Pure religion and undefiled before God, verse 27, and the father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that on our last point, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, unless we tie these verses back to the ones that we looked at last week, how can we know what is pure?
SPEAKER_00: What is moral?
SPEAKER_00: What is right, what is accepted in God's eyes, unless we look back at the fact that we need to look into the perfect law of liberty.
SPEAKER_00: We need to look into the word of God and continue therein.
SPEAKER_00: It is God that sets the standard, it is God that outlines what is holy, it is God that outlines what is righteous, not man, not the culture, not the cinema, not the friends, not whatever influential person there is that says, you know, that was wrong maybe back then, but it's not so wrong anymore.
SPEAKER_00: No, my friend, God is the standard.
SPEAKER_00: God is the one that has given us the perfect law of liberty.
SPEAKER_00: True and pure religion is not what we deem in our own eyes as right in dismissing what God declares as holy.
SPEAKER_00: As, unfortunately, some so-called religious people would like to do.
SPEAKER_00: There is all sorts of corruption that you know this isn't really wrong, and this is actually right and actually fine.
SPEAKER_00: But what we have to do is study out the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because 2 Timothy tells us all scripture, it's given by inspiration of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, mature, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
SPEAKER_00: God's the one that sets what is right and what is wrong.
SPEAKER_00: God's word informs us how we are to live.
SPEAKER_00: What is to be put off in our lives, and what is to be put on.
SPEAKER_00: Another passage of scripture that you can read later on, we won't take the time to read it this morning, is Colossians chapter number three.
SPEAKER_00: In Colossians chapter Chapter number three, God tells us what's to be put off and what's to be put on.
SPEAKER_00: See, true religion does not allow for sin to remain or to hide it under the rug or in the heart's closet or to excuse it because true religion, pure religion, is just as Jesus lived.
SPEAKER_00: True religion calls us to purity, to confession of sin, and an alignment of our lives under the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, forgiveness is offered.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, grace can be obtained.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 6, 1 and 2, Paul writes to the Christians at Rome and he says, What shall we say then?
SPEAKER_00: Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?
SPEAKER_00: And we'll just continue to live in sin and God's gonna forgive it, and there's more grace to be heaped on me, and he's gonna understand, and I can get away with it.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says, verse number two, God forbid.
SPEAKER_00: How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
SPEAKER_00: Your life, if you're a believer, if you're a Christian, if you know Jesus, you now have a new life.
SPEAKER_00: You're dead to sin, you're alive unto God.
SPEAKER_00: And so God calls us on to holiness.
SPEAKER_00: He calls us to live righteously.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of verse number 27, he tells us to that we are to keep ourselves, pure religion, undefiled before God.
SPEAKER_00: It's keeping himself unspotted from the world.
SPEAKER_00: To keep is to attend carefully, it's to guard.
SPEAKER_00: Unspotted, it means to be irreproachable, spotless, there's no holds on us.
SPEAKER_00: Is anyone else like me that you just are like a stained magnet?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else, man?
SPEAKER_00: You're a stained magnet, you eat, you go throughout the day, you're just all of a sudden you go to pull out the shirt that you just got and you're getting ready to iron it, and it's like, oh man, there's a stain on it again.
SPEAKER_00: That's me.
SPEAKER_00: I get stains on all my pants, all my clothes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, how did that end?
SPEAKER_00: I just don't even try anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We'll try to get it out.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, uh, I'm just gonna live with it.
SPEAKER_00: I got little kids and I'm a messy eater, it's just gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: But there are times where you take those extra precautions, right?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's when you're wearing the white shirt.
SPEAKER_00: And those are the times when you always seem to get something on, right?
SPEAKER_00: But it's the white shirt.
SPEAKER_00: So when you sit down for the meal, and it always has to be spaghetti when it's the white shirt, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you sit down for the meal, and and usually instead of inhaling my food, I'm a little bit slower, right?
SPEAKER_00: A little more delicate at the dinner table to kind of make sure that I don't get a stain on me.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And usually it's not, it's not even always, I don't want to blame it on my kids, but I'm gonna blame it on my kids, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's not always me.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's the kiddos who they'll eat with their hands, right?
SPEAKER_00: They'll get something on it, and they go, Daddy, right?
SPEAKER_00: And they'll try to hug me or put their, they'll try to climb on me.
SPEAKER_00: Brandon's dealt with this too, or they'll try to go cry, climb on your brand new shirt, right?
SPEAKER_00: Those are the times where like hold them like they have a stinky diaper, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I love you, but I'm gonna love you from over here, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna hold you out this way and turn them around, take them to the sink, wash them off, and then sure enough, I still have a stain on me.
SPEAKER_00: But you know when you get like a new shirt or you're trying to be extra careful and extra cautious.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're on guard, right?
SPEAKER_00: You might even put the extra napkin.
SPEAKER_00: You might even, if you have it, put on the apron, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not gonna get a stain on this clothes.
SPEAKER_00: And you're careful about it.
SPEAKER_00: You're guarding yourself from it.
SPEAKER_00: You're waiting for that piece of food to fall or for the kiddo to wipe their hands on you, and you're trying to avoid it, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're doing all you can to be careful so that you remain spotless.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Jet's little.
SPEAKER_00: He does not care if he has any stains on him.
SPEAKER_00: He does not care, right?
SPEAKER_00: You put him in the high chair and there's food, you don't have to put him in the high chair.
SPEAKER_00: He'll find food.
SPEAKER_00: He is a hungry boy all the time, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you put him in the high chair, and man, he'll have food all over him.
SPEAKER_00: The other day he had paint all over him.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that tasted as good, but uh, he had food all over him, he'll have paint all over him, he'll have whatever all over him, right?
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't care if he's all stained up.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't care.
SPEAKER_00: Mama's gonna come along and wash him up, right?
SPEAKER_00: He has no concern if he is spotless.
SPEAKER_00: I'm afraid that sometimes we as Christians we live without any concern of being spotted and dirtied and living immorally like the world does.
SPEAKER_00: And we have no concern of it because, well, God's just gonna clean me up, anyways, and and and I know God's just gonna forgive me, and he's just gonna offer me grace when instead we should be careful that we don't fall into sin, go into sin, live a life that is displeasing to God Almighty because He is holy, He is forgiving, He is gracious, but when we live to where we don't care, anything goes, it's all fine.
SPEAKER_00: We have misunderstood what it cost Jesus to give his life for our sakes.
SPEAKER_00: We've misunderstood what grace really is.
SPEAKER_00: That grace was not offered to us so we can presume upon our sin, but grace was offered to us so that we could be free from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: Live the life that he has called us to live.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, sadly, we don't always take care because we presume upon it and we misunderstand the cost.
SPEAKER_00: We misunderstand all that it costs, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's like when you're a child.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't understand when you're a kid how much stuff costs, right?
SPEAKER_00: You don't know how much your parents spend on taking you out to eat or buying you the new toy or uh paying rent or a mortgage, right?
SPEAKER_00: You don't comprehend those things, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's not until you get older and then you have those responsibilities on yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And then now it's not I'm not even counting it in money anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm counting it in hours worked.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh man, that you know, fill your gas tank up, that's five hours of work, right?
SPEAKER_00: Man, that's a whole week worth of work.
SPEAKER_00: And you start to understand a little bit more the cost behind it.
SPEAKER_00: You see, when we are living lives that are unconcerned about holiness and unconcerned about the way that God calls us to live in light of who he says we are, we are living in an immature way that lacks understanding of just how much it costs.
SPEAKER_00: And it does cost on several fronts.
SPEAKER_00: You see, at first there's a cost for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We think at times, I can get away with that sin, and I can do that, and it's not a big deal, but there's a cost to yourself.
SPEAKER_00: God is not mocked whatsoever we sow, that is what we are going to reap.
SPEAKER_00: And so we think I can handle the consequences, not a big deal, but you are sowing to your flesh, you are sowing to sin, and the consequences may not be immediate, but they're always there.
SPEAKER_00: For your own life.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we have to remember something.
SPEAKER_00: We don't live this life in isolation.
SPEAKER_00: Your sin affects more than just you.
SPEAKER_00: My sin, it affects more than just me.
SPEAKER_00: My sin will have an impact on my dear wife, on my children, on my family, on you as a church.
SPEAKER_00: My sin is not an isolated thing.
SPEAKER_00: My sin has an impact on others, and our sin does affect and causes trouble, not just for ourselves, but for those around us.
SPEAKER_00: But there was also the great cost that Jesus paid for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: It was not something that was without penalty, difficulty, humiliation, suffering.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus took upon himself for you and for me.
SPEAKER_00: He paid for that sin, he paid for that unrighteousness, he paid for that rebellion when he died on the cross of Calvary, a real physical death, where the nails were pierced into his hand, where they ripped out his beard and they beat him and they spit on him and they smote him and they whipped him.
SPEAKER_00: This Jesus took that punishment as an innocent individual for our sake.
SPEAKER_00: You have to understand the cost to it.
SPEAKER_00: The cost to our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't be flippant.
SPEAKER_00: Misunderstanding grace itself and the great price that was offered.
SPEAKER_00: You see, true religion, it is a pure religion, ethically, morally, righteously, and not under our own rules, under the perfect law of liberty.
SPEAKER_00: If we don't look back to the word, then we can misunderstand what God expects.
SPEAKER_00: True religion is pure religion, and it isn't that we're perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not, don't misunderstand.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that you're perfect, and it's not that you do these things in order to earn heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's that you're already going to heaven, and when you get there, you want to be pleasing, you want to be a purified church, a bride that is ready for her groom.
SPEAKER_00: True religion, though, also, you see, it affects us deep within our within our character, within how we live, from the heart outside, but it also should impact our conduct.
SPEAKER_00: You see, true religion, it is purposeful enough to send me.
SPEAKER_00: True religion.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not come and die on the cross uh uh uh uh just so that we might, yes, I'm saved and now I'm good to go.
SPEAKER_00: I have my fire insurance.
SPEAKER_00: No, true religion, it's purposeful enough that Jesus came to save you and then in turn to change you so that you might live with his mission and his purposes to fulfill in this life.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, Jesus, as soon as you got saved, he would have just taken you home right away.
SPEAKER_00: Another one, man, you're saved, and you get to go to heaven right away.
SPEAKER_00: No, he leaves you on this earth so that you might be the hands, the feet, the voice, the care, the love, the compassion of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so here, James also points us to this pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.
SPEAKER_00: Lest we think true religion is only about inner isolated character.
SPEAKER_00: We just gotta isolate ourselves from all the needs and from everyone around us and just live as a spiritual monk who's dedicated to purity.
SPEAKER_00: We see here that pure religion, undefiled, true religion, it's purposeful enough that it sends me into the far reaches of the world, into the those that are deeply hurting, those that are in the most need, those that are without the most protection.
SPEAKER_00: Because the fatherless, the orphans, and the widows, especially in the New Testament time, in the first century, these were those that would have been the most vulnerable in ancient society.
SPEAKER_00: One commentator he points out that because they had no male protector for the orphans and the widows, and the inheritance always went to the sons rather than the mother in order to continue the family dynasty.
SPEAKER_00: He says the widow was left only with her dowry and her parental family who often ignored her needs.
SPEAKER_00: Orphans were destitute because they had no family, and often no one cared.
SPEAKER_00: So these were the two most impoverished groups in ancient society, and God commanded special attention to be given to them.
SPEAKER_00: And as you study the Word of God, as you read through it, my eyes have been open to this in recent years.
SPEAKER_00: As you read through the Bible, in the Old Testament, God had a special care for those that could not protect themselves, care for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: He had certain laws within Israel that were to protect the most needy, the most vulnerable, and he was particularly upset with leaders in Israel who constantly took advantage of those who were the most needy.
SPEAKER_00: And again, in the New Testament, Jesus points his attention to the Pharisees, who often were taking advantage of those who were the most needy, like the widows, and excusing themselves from this true religion that aims us, points us to serve, to reach, to care for those in the most needful situations.
SPEAKER_00: True religion sends believers out.
SPEAKER_00: We don't stand by as people suffer.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the responsibility of another.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the responsibility of the government, though there could be good government programs that could be helpful.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just the responsibility of someone else down the road, but the responsibility is for Christians to look out and to see what needs are around them and to step in, to visit, to go, to enter into those areas and meet needs.
SPEAKER_00: At the heart of Christ is care for people.
SPEAKER_00: And at the heart of the Christian religion is that Jesus came to earth and he did good works.
SPEAKER_00: And lest we think that social justice is the only aim and good works is the only thing that Jesus came to do, we must recognize that he was pointing them to the greater need of their heart and the hearts of all.
SPEAKER_00: That we are all spiritually destitute.
SPEAKER_00: We are all spiritually in need.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus came and not only did good works, but Jesus came and he preached the good news that you and I can be saved.
SPEAKER_00: And so, true religion, it's purposeful enough, though, to send me.
SPEAKER_00: There is more eternal purpose for my life than the earthly things that I give myself to.
SPEAKER_00: There is more eternal purpose for your life than the earthly things that we give ourselves to at times.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are spiritually destitute need the good news of the gospel, and it will only be heard as we are sent to tell them this good news.
SPEAKER_00: But those who are physically destitute need also the good care of others who have much to share.
SPEAKER_00: Why has God blessed us with much?
SPEAKER_00: Is it so that we can lavish our lifestyle here on earth?
SPEAKER_00: Or is it that we might be a caring shoulder, a caring hand, a caring people for those that lack?
SPEAKER_00: To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction.
SPEAKER_00: True religion, it cares for people.
SPEAKER_00: True religion is sent out to reach new people groups, new tribes, new tongues with the good news of the gospel, and it engages the community, it engages the most vulnerable with good works along with good news.
SPEAKER_00: They do not have to be opposed from one another.
SPEAKER_00: They do not have to be against one another.
SPEAKER_00: We can, as we have been attempting to do, take a bottle of water and go out into our community.
SPEAKER_00: And it may not be much, but it's what we can do at this point in time and say, hey, here's a bottle of water to help you as you're thirsty, as you're hot, and we'll try to do what we can with other resources, but this is what we can do, and let me point you to the good news of Jesus Christ who can rescue you.
SPEAKER_00: And though our lives may be difficult here, we can count on a place that's gonna be of eternal rest, eternal peace.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the good news, true religion, it enters, it does not turn a blind eye to the needs that are around us.
SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, we can at times be either so self-focused that we ignore the needs around us because it takes time, it takes resources, it takes sacrifice, and we can ignore those things.
SPEAKER_00: At times we can, unfortunately, not recognize the grace that was poured out on our own life.
SPEAKER_00: And we can look at needs and we can say, you know what, they should just do this, do that, do the other.
SPEAKER_00: And we don't know the story.
SPEAKER_00: And we're lifted up in pride, thinking, I did this, I account, I'm over here, why can't they just figure it out?
SPEAKER_00: When at times God has not blessed you just so that your life can be better here on earth.
SPEAKER_00: He has blessed you so that you can be his hands, his feet, his voice, his love to others.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot do everything.
SPEAKER_00: There's too many needs to meet.
SPEAKER_00: We can't do it all.
SPEAKER_00: But we can certainly do something.
SPEAKER_00: We can't do everything.
SPEAKER_00: But we can certainly do something.
SPEAKER_00: And this is both, there are good organizations that help and good ministries, and we'll try to do what we can as a church, but understand that there's both a corporate way in which we can gather and help and serve and reach out, but there's also a personal responsibility that we can pray through, consider what we might be able to do.
SPEAKER_00: This is an intention of you entering into it, you physically going.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just, you know, hopefully they're taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.
SPEAKER_00: We can't do everything, but we can certainly do something.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe prayerfully, you're in a position where you could consider foster care or adoption.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're in a position where you can consider those that need a mentor.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can be involved in the street ministry that we'll continue to do.
SPEAKER_00: It's a small opportunity, a way for us to take something physical, tangible, and to share the good news of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe in your own life, your own way, you can look at different avenues and different people that you can serve, that you can maybe even share a meal with someone who's in need.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you can consider helping a widow with some physical need.
SPEAKER_00: Washing her car, looking after her yard, taking care of her as you would your own mother.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's getting involved with some of the ministries that we have, the van ministries and the children and the teen ministries, to where you could come alongside and you could be a spiritual father, a spiritual mother, and you can come and help and mentor and encourage and build relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a need that God already placed on your earth.
SPEAKER_00: There's a person that you already know that's in your sphere of influence that you can be a blessing to.
SPEAKER_00: It is worthless for us to uh uh uh um give them a meal so that they're fed today, but not consider that they'll be suffering in eternity forever without the good news.
SPEAKER_00: And so let those things go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_00: Let them go hand in hand.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people mistake these areas of reaching out and serving people, and it could be a delicate thing and something that we should be walking wisdom with.
SPEAKER_00: Not every need is supposed to be met in the same way, but it won't help a person if we don't share the good news with them.
SPEAKER_00: And on the flip side, don't dismiss the power of serving someone and doing good works unto others that will open up their hearts to the good news of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You see, true religion, it's purposeful enough to send me.
SPEAKER_00: We can't do everything, but we can do something.
SPEAKER_00: Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I hope this message was a blessing to you.
SPEAKER_00: If you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you come in for a visit.
SPEAKER_00: We're located on Indian School and 23rd Avenue.
SPEAKER_00: If we can be a help to you in any other way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
SPEAKER_00: Or would love to answer any questions that you had about a sermon, or maybe a question that you have about eternal life and a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to serve you and to point you to try to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for watching this video.