1. James 1:26-27
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2. Are you religious?

3. Pure and genuine religion in the
sight of God the Father means caring
for orphans and widows in their
distress …

4. But if a widow has children or
grandchildren, these should learn first of
all to put their religion into practice by
caring for their own family and so repaying
their parents and grandparents, for this is
pleasing to God.

5. A father to the fatherless, a defender
of widows, is God in his holy
dwelling.

6. Learn to do right; seek
justice. Defend the
oppressed. Take up the cause of the
fatherless; plead the case of the
widow.

7. He was despised and rejected by
mankind, a man of suffering, and
familiar with pain. Like one from whom
people hide their faces he was
despised, and we held him in low esteem.

8. Are you religious?

9. Pure and genuine
religion in the sight
of God the Father
means caring for
orphans and widows
in their distress …
Opportunity not
an obligation

10. Pure and genuine
religion in the sight
of God the Father
means caring for
orphans and widows
in their distress …
Response not a
Recognition

11. Pure and genuine
religion in the sight
of God the Father
means caring for
orphans and widows
in their distress …
Community not
condescension

12. Pure and genuine
religion in the sight
of God the Father
means caring for
orphans and widows
in their distress …
Purposeful not an
evangelistic
strategy

13. External standard

14. Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that
you are a prophet. Our ancestors
worshiped on this mountain, but you
Jews claim that the place where we
must worship is in Jerusalem.”

15. Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe
me, a time is coming when you will
worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem.

16. Yet a time is coming and has now come
when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are
the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must
worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

17. External standard
Inward Change

18. . . . Humbly accept the word
planted in you, which can
save you.
Do not merely listen to the
word, and so deceive
yourselves. Do what it says.
Application
not just
agreement

19. If you claim to be religious but
don’t control your tongue, you
are fooling yourself, and your
religion is worthless.

20. Pure and genuine religion in the
sight of God the Father means caring
for orphans and widows in their
distress andrefusing to let the world
corrupt you.